The neighborhood Cujos

Our lake house is on a street where less than half of us are permanent residents. On any given weekend when we're up there, it's easy to see who's home. Over the course of the past year, I've noticed that the homeowners down at the end on the peninsula's point are seldom there. Maybe because they live in Dallas and it's more of a drive than San Antonio or Austin. Whatever the reason, it seems their twentysomething kids are hanging at their lake house several weekends a month.

I don't mind that they're taking advantage of their parent's second home to hang out and boat. Our girls have a standing invite to use our lake house whenever they want. But then I noticed these young adults often have a big crowd down there, and it was typically quite loud. Since we're just weekenders ourselves, I let it go. Then we started hearing stories from neighbors about their pitbulls running loose on the street. I'm not one of those folks who think this breed is inherently vicious or bad. However, I do think the owners of certain breeds need to be dog savvy and willing to put in the time it takes to train them, so their dogs are well socialized and not a threat to others. That's where this story takes a turn into uh-oh.

The past couple times we were at the lake house, we visited with our next door neighbors who have just kicked off a remodel. They were telling us how the folks on the other side of them, fulltimers who retired there a decade ago, had warned them about the pitbulls getting loose. And not just once. It's evident these dogs are quite crafty. They're not merely jumping the fence. They're diving into the lake and swimming around the fence to get loose when unsupervised in the backyard. 

There are several instances of these dogs chasing folks who don't live on our street, but were passing through while getting their morning exercise. One neighbor was cornered in his vehicle in his OWN DRIVEWAY and unable to get out because the dogs were snarling, snapping and flinging themselves at the car door. Another time, they chased the neighbor and her contractor up into the back of a pickup truck to avoid being attacked. 

Then there's the paddleboard incident...

I've seen this woman several times in our canal on her SUP on weekends, with her pup joining her. I even snapped a pic because I thought it was so cute that it's wearing a life jacket like her and was so well behaved. I didn't witness this, but the neighbor was telling me the pitbulls went berserk when they spied the dog on the board with its owner. So they dove into the canal barking mad and started swimming after them in hot pursuit. 

A couple of our full-time neighbors have become fed up with the ongoing pitbull drama, so the local police have been called. It was just a matter of time. Citations were issued, and hopefully that will take care of the situation. Up there for the 4th of July holiday weekend, we spied two patrol units down the street after a neighbor called when the pitbulls were once again out looking for trouble.

We go up to the lake house to relax and enjoy time with friends and family. I don't want to have to be worrying about whether what appears to be the lone irresponsible dog owners on our street will once again allow their ill-behaved hell hounds to terrorize pets and neighbors. Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when they come for you. I think our neighbors have insured sufficient documentation to get these dogs seized if there are any more incidents. At least I hope so!