Please note the name was withheld, and I am not sure I would print something like that due to any family members still being alive and maybe being mortified LOL
Dear Sir,
I’m getting fed up to my two teeth with the circumstances which are transforming this once pleasant neighborhood in Almonte into what is virtually a sanctuary for boisterous dogs. There may be those who delight to live in kennels. I question neither their sense nor their taste since I am not precisely sure what either of those commodities are. But for myself, I am averse to living in a kennel and, for the life of me, I can’t see why the passion for a few members of the community for barking dogs should compel me to do so. It’s not that I ’m unfond of dogs as dogs.
I’ve had dogs of my own to which I was warmly addicted. But when I had dogs I made a point of keeping them on my own premises. The dogs I dislike to the point of rabid hatred are other “people’s dogs that can’t distinguish between my garden and their own, free-roving dogs up to the size of small Shetland ponies that cavort in my flower beds, use my front lawn as a common latrine and scare the hell out of my cats which are never permitted to go abroad”.
In a weak moment, last spring, I invested rather heavily in begonias which, as everyone knows, have fleshy- tender stems that break off with the greatest of ease. By midsummer, not a single begonia was left unbroken. The chief culprits seem to be a close little coterie consisting of a greyhound of some breed unknown to me, a light brown hound of another breed and a mongrel pup of no particular breed at all. These three, travelling together on early morning tours of inspection, are responsible for most of the damage.
What prompts this particular outburst is their latest imbecilic exploit which was to chew into multitudinous holes 100 feet of hose which is kept neatly coiled, on a small concrete base around the water tap on the front lawn. There is no doubt about their culpability because my wife, rising early, saw them at it and chased them off with a stick. These are not the only dogs in the neighbourhood by any means. Good God, we seem to have thousands of them!
Only the other day a most grotesque looking creature, which appeared to be a cross between a prairie badger and a Norway rat, was trotting sedately past the house when he suddenly stopped and turned in to refresh himself in my garden in the usual way. It’s getting to be more than a bit thick. And, you can interpret that remark in any way you choose. I have unashamedly hoped that this canine plethora would be thinned out a little by police action since it is unlawful for dogs to wander, unattended, at large.
I have hoped that the mongrel pup which chases cars would some day ram its silly noodle under a moving tire. But I have abandoned such high-minded expectancies because, not more than a month ago, I saw this ridiculous and destructive creature pursuing a police prowler car which had to stop dead in the centre of the road, with squealing brakes, to allow the fool to escape.
Frankly, I don’t expect the police to abandon their fight against organized crime to chase dogs no matter how flagrantly the latter or their owners violate the town ordinances. And yet I can’t see very much difference between three vagrant dogs chewing up $10 worth of garden hose and a two-legged dog breaking into my house and stealing $10 worth of goods.
Each act is an equally unlawful invasion of property rights. And the owners of these untrained, undisciplined and uncontrolled beasts are just as culpable as the professional thief.
Signed an Almonte resident
Almonte Gazette 1923
This is my Granddaughter Miss Sophia telling this guy kind of where to go. Shot by Hannah Southwell of Carleton Place
lindaseccaspina 