That ex-cop is even crazier now.

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Some of you may remember me posting a month or so ago about my husband hitting my MIL's neighbors dog. I thought it killed the dog but it didn't. Everybody thought it did but neighbor got it to a vet in time and spent about 5 grand on it and it's alive with lots of medical problems. Small dog, out in the middle of the road just laying there. He didn't see it, and the way the road is, thats possible.

So, as I said this neighbor is a retired cop. He's also kind of crazy because he's said some nutty things in the past. He went and made a complaint against my husband for driving 55 mph on the road that day when he hit the dog. He wasn't. In fact, it would be impossible to do that right there. Court for that is next week and I'm pretty sure my husband will win that because it's his word against the crazy neighbors.

Today when I dropped my husband and son off at my MIL's for her birthday party this weekend, the neighbor called them over and informed them that he's suing my husband for ten thousand dollars. My husband said "Go for it dude". WTF is this neighbor thinking? He's going to end up with a lot of legal fees and a lost suit. Ten thousand dollars. Because his dog was laying in the road. Where there is a leash law. Nope.

But he's an ex-cop. Cops are allowed to be crazy, do drugs, take steroids, etc. Who knows.

In my town maybe, but this isn't in my town. This is in the bigger city nearby. There's no way he can win this. No way at all. Plus, if my husband had hit that little rat dog going 55, there wouldn't be anything left of it. There is no way the dog could have lived or even stayed in one piece. Not in that big van.

Why was the thing not on a leash?

Even though there is a leash law, nobody out there in that area keeps their dog or cat on one. It's out in the country, on the lake, in a pretty high end area where there isn't a lot of traffic or speeding cars. It's also a cul de sac. My MIL doesn't keep her dog on a leash, my brother in law doesn't keep his on a leash, the neighbors don't either, etc. The dogs keep around the houses and down on the edge of the lake. There is plenty of room to run there without getting in the small area that is the street. Most of the dogs don't have any interest in going there and it's five miles out from a busy street. That doesn't mean that the law doesn't apply to them, that just means that they all sort of ignore it.

That's all well and good if thats what you want to do and your dog doesn't hurt anybody and you are aware that while there is a very small chance the dog will get hit by a car, there is still a chance of it. You take that chance when you let your dog out without a leash. It's not like my husband drove up on the guys property and hit the dog or swerved to try to hit it. He didn't even see it.

This dude won't win his criminal complaint (reckless driving and speeding which is what he's gone down to complain about against my husband) and he certainly won't win his civil case.

My dogs got out several years ago and one got hit and killed in the street while I was trying to catch them. She was pregnant and going to have puppies any day. She ran right out in front of the lady who was speeding but coming up the top of a hill, where everybody goes over the speed limit because it's a steep hill. The lady couldn't have stopped and I wasn't mad at her and she was very upset herself over it. I didn't even think about suing her or calling the cops on her, my dogs got out by accident and one got hit. As careful as we are, it can happen. Nothing is foolproof. However, this guy lets his dog run loose all the time. Because there isn't hardly any traffic right there at the end of the road it's pretty safe, but there is always a chance of something like this happening. And it did. I was actually afraid the lady who hit my dog was going to make us pay for damage to her car, because there is a leash law here and my dogs are big and it did some damage. She said she wouldn't think of asking us to and we both knew that it was just an accident and bad luck on both our parts. Lots of people here let their dogs run loose, even though there is a leash law and our one county dog catcher doesn't do much about it unless somebody complains. Most don't complain because most dogs are well behaved and stay in their yards. I just never felt right about letting my dogs run loose but I do let cats run loose.

I ran over a neighbor's dog once and the dog lived. The dog would stand by the highway and chase cars. In this case, it ran out in front of me so it could get a faster shot at chasing me. So I ran over it in a pickup doing 40 around a 40 mph corner.

It was a pretty good sized dog. I didn't think there was any way it could survive.

The neighbors knew exactly who did it but never said anything.

A couple of weeks later I was surprised to see the dog out there with a splint on his leg.

It also cured the dog of chasing vehicles on the highway. After that, it would sit on the side of the highway and watch you go by, but it didn't even try to chase anyone ever again.

For what it's worth, if the dog had stepped out in the highway ahead of me, I wouldn't have been able to stop. I was driving an old farm pickup that had no brakes, no windshield wipers, no brake lights, no tail lights, muffler, no inspection sticker, and no license plate. You would slow down by down shifting and letting the engine do the braking. One day the transmission failed when I was doing 70 and I overshot my destination by half a mile. I had to walk back to the combine carrying the tools and parts I had gone home to get in order to fix it.

I don't know if it's any different where you are, but here, the dog is treated like any piece of property and he'd only be able to sue for the value of the dog. A lot of people think that's unreasonable as it completely disregards any suffering for the dog, though.

I think one of the things he wants is the money back he spent on the vet. He spent 3 grand. If he had asked for money because he had to pay that then I'm sure my husband would have been happy to give him some when he could because he did hit the dog, even though he didn't intend to. It would just be the polite thing to do. But this guy demanded it and is going nuts about it. So, no. He's trying to intimidate my husband and the rest of us. Good luck with that.

Today when he told my husband he was going to sue him my son was with him and said "Man, I'm 17 and even I would have let that go by now. You're acting like a child."

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at my MIL's birthday party tomorrow. There will be booze. I'm sure that cop is going to start up some stuff he shouldn't and it's going to end up in the yard. If that happens I hope he manages to somehow end up hitting my 17 yo. He will fall right down and scream and call the cops, ambulance, etc and have that guy charged with assaulting a minor. He won't hit back in that situation. If the guy hits my husband there in front of his family, DH will have to fight back and I hope he kicks the guys ass for him.

I'd still rather see the thing worked out, but the guy is making it impossible. This guy is in his early 60s and looks like a cross between Benny Hill and Captain Kangeroo. He's got no chance at intimidation of anyone.

I think it is that way here, too.

As I understand it, around here there are instances in which you can shoot someone else's pet dog and the owner can't do a thing about it. Those are when the dog is chasing or killing your livestock. Even then, the best approach is the three S's: shoot, shovel, silence. Shoot the dog chasing your livestock, bury it, and don't say anything about it.

In my town you can shoot a dog thats loose if you feel like it's going to bite you or tear up your property. My neighbor across the street shot my lab when we first moved here because he was afraid the dog was going to jump up on him like dogs do. He wasn't afraid of being bit, he was on a blood thinner and the dogs claws would have tore him up. However he could have gone in the house, he was just a mean old man. We couldn't do a thing about it either.

In the country, dogs and cats aren't thought of like they are in the city usually. They are just property. Where it happened is out in the country but in a larger, much more metropolitan county.

Sweet Pea hugs