Seriously. Try to find one with exclusively German breeding, because their health and temperament are somewhat better than what you now find in American lines.

We have had neighbor’s dogs come under our gate and into our yard here as well, and even into our house (dog nails on wood floor and cratching up our door–not nice).

Thankfully, we have not been attacked.

I chased my neighbor’s cat out of my yard today. Pregnant women are not supposed to clean up after cats, and if this one goes in my vegetable garden, it could be a serious problem. I keep chasing it out of my yard.

Around here, the perps are usually pit bulls or pit bull mixes. That may be a function of the number of pit bulls that inhabit lower-income neighborhoods: the gangs keep them as status symbols and to use in dogfighting, and so the dog pound nearest to us, where Cassie the Corgi came from, is mostly populated with pit bull types. They get into middle-class neighborhoods when softies — like that moron woman with the Iditarod team — adopt them from the pound. People just don’t understand how dangerous a dog that’s been mistreated can be.

What a shame about that poor child. I hope her parents sued that neighbor to within an inch of his financial life.

At least the paint job will only cost money!

Of course, we semi-adopted out neighbor’s neglected cat. We loved Coconut. Only bad thing was when she ran into the house and threw up on the bed. A small price to pay for years of love. She disappeared and we inquired of the owners if she was OK–”Oh yeah, now that you mention it, we haven’t seen her for a while.”