The mastiff and boxer paid us a "nice" visit today. They've been by before, half a dozen times. The mastiff drained my pond twice by dislodging rocks and almost killed all the fish. The boxer put holes in my rabbit hutch. Here is some of what they did. I will put most of this and maybe more in my next newsletter.

1. The boxer ripped at the rabbit windows again, giving my buns a heart attack. Last time, he actually made a hole in the hardware cloth.

2. They scared the chickens up to roost but did no obvious cage/fence damage.

3. They tried to eat my ill cat Elvisina.

4. They went total body submersion swimming in my 1800 gallon and 153 gallon ponds.

5. In the 153 gallon, they knocked the lilies to the bottom and lowered the water level two inches.

6. In the 1800 gallon, where I found both of them totally IN the pond, they knocked over about 20 pots in the marginal area, spilling the rocks out, dislodging plants, letting dirt into the water, defoliating and stripping a dozen plants, smushed down all the tall marginals into at thick mat, dumped my 5 5 gallon lily pots in the moderate depth area into the deep end, jumped/swam on top of the net in the deep end, scared the fish, matted down all the water celery, frog fruit, forget-me-not, lizard tail, cattails, grasses, etc. into mats, disconnected the Mag-Drive pump from the Cyprio inlet, actually picked up and moved the 2 gallon pot of golden club about 20 feet from the pond where they also dumped my new $8 fake koi which the mastiff left chew marks in, dislodged rocks (and I mean ones that I cannot even MOVE), and I could go on.

I spent a half hour reconnecting the lines, pulling the lilies out of the deep end, and righting the pots in my hip waders. I managed to lure the dogs into our old dog pen and shut them in. If you had seen my pond, you would have thought a hurricane had hit it.

I love animals but these dogs while sweet to people are the most destructive animals I've ever met! We called the owners 3 times, then animal control. A cop came who called animal control who then called the owners yet again (who said they'd be right over). The boy of maybe 12 years finally came with a friend to retrieve them (he walked the 1/3 mile or so). And, he didn't even bring any leashes! They dragged them off. Gator, the mastiff, then decided to sit. A 80 pound boy can't move a 120 pound dog! They finally left. My mother says we're going to sue for damages but I know the lawyer would want more than the few hundred we are due. It's not money I need. I need a few strong guys to help me repot! I have no such time so the pots will just fester. I wonder what the fish are thinking!

sorry to hear about this Robyn. Is your yard fenced in? No dogs go into my yard because of my dog and its fenced in. Get yourself A big dog! :D

We have 5 acres. Fencing it in would be expensive (many thousands). Plus, my parents won't allow it. I really want to fence both the property (in short fencing) and the ponds and gardens (4 groups) (in high fencing) to keep out dogs, deer, etc. Unless I hit the lottery, this isn't likely to happen.

Well, there is always small claims court. You shouldn't need a lawer.
Be sure to have pictures of the damage, and a written log of events
(like your post).

I know ... who has the time to put that much energy into just making
sure others behave responsibly. Sucks. So sorry.

I think my mother's going to let it drop. The adults who are supposed to be in charge of the dogs never did call us back. I spent an hour today cutting back some of the damaged marginals a month earlier than normal since they're all squished into the water. I have more work to do than I can consider without flipping out! So, I do one little thing at a time, working my life away.