Don't hold your breath.

Hi patches 02, Are people in your area required to have a dog licence? Is the fee larger for a female ... and a lot larger for one unspayed? Are they required to renew it annually? Is the fee substantial, and are there rules about number of dogs, gender, whether they've been "neutered" or not? Do you have an animal control office in your area? Will they come to your place to capture a dog running loose? If so, what do they do with the animal? Is there a substantial fee for trapping and collecting the animal, plus maintenance while in the shelter, plus penalty/fine? Few folks around here who want to let their animal run loose may choose to have animal control pick up their animal more than once, as that initial experience provides them with a substantial education regarding the financial unwisdom of letting an animal run loose. Local animals are to leave their own property only on a leash. When I was a child, my uncle, who lived on a farm on a rather quiet unpaved rural road, had a dog, which was a Border Collie cross, with medium long hair, I think, that would run after every car that came down the road - which was a rather infrequent occurence in World War II, when it was difficult to get permission to buy a tire, and gas was rationed. Their son had an air rifle, and they placed it by a post beside their milk house, which was between the house and the barn. Whenever they heard a car coming down the road, they'd run for the gun, and as the dog made a run for the road, s/he'd get a pellet somewhere in the neighbourhod of the back end. It didn't take the dog long to learn that chasing cars was not a good idea. If using an air gun would not be permitted, would it be possible for you to use a whip on the dogs? It would likely be possible to sting them a little without causing substantial pain, with skillful use. After about one experience, though, as soon as they saw you, especally with the whip, they'd stay beyond your reach ... but without leaving, unless they chose to. What about getting an animal trap from animal control? Woulde it be lawful for you to use it? And if so, what would you do? The dogs are too big to lift the cage and haul it to animal control office. Would they come and collect the dogs, then charge a substantial fee to the neighbours before they could take their dog home? If you have a front-end loader on a tractor and can find a 400 lb. block of concrete, maybe it'd be a good idea to suggest to your neighbour that if he lacked inclination or capability to confine his dog(s) to his own yard, that he might come out some morning, ready to go to work, to find that block dropped behind his car, making it impossible to move it, so he couldn't drive to work. Or away for the weekend, etc. If he were to call the police, asking them to charge you for being a nuisance on his proerty, you could explain to them that the train ran both ways on that track. Good wishes for success in finding a suitable solution to the problem. ole joyful

BKW, lol, that's where I am most of the time. My firefox updated as soon as I turned on the computer this afternoon--I didn't think that had anything to do with it, but I'm not well-versed on how everything works. CEF, what caught my eye was that there were no new post dates/times on those two threads (or the others that I've seen since then). Thanks all, for reassuring me that I'm not seeing things!

DH told me to hold 11/11/11 for a date. Not sure what we are doing yet. It's a surprise.