The pups next door are dead
Bronson and Marley, the pups that went next door, are dead. Not only that, so is Billy, next door's cat. It all happened last Friday morning, and I'm at a loss to remember what and where I was at the time, but I only found out about it this morning, while chatting over the fence to Daryl.
Both pups had parvo earlier in the year but Daryl and his wife caught that in time and they recovered after a vet's stay. Both were much loved by their owners and Daryl had even bought a ute to take the dogs to obedience school(!). But it seems that Billy had a habit of teasing the dogs while they were in their pen (a cyclone fence arrangement around a couple of sheds). Marley had recently become a bit more difficult to manage and on the Friday morning they broke through a combination wood and metal wall and got to Billy, who was asleep on the veranda. In front of their daughter's eyes, they attacked and killed the cat, ripping it apart, and then running around the backyard with the body.
Daryl was contacted, came home, and put down both dogs.
Billy had been his cat for several years, and was a tough little bugger (he swiped Bobby on the nose earlier this year) and was even chased up a tree when Hallie got through the fence. But he didn't deserve to die in such a fashion. While I was horrified at the details, I understood why they'd put the dogs down themselves and not taken them to a vet. If they'd have done nothing, maybe the dogs would have killed again, either another pet, or attacked a child even.
This is horrifying stuff. My neighbours did their best, and it still happened. Some years ago I came home to find 10 dead ducklings, killed by an alpha drake. I suspect one of them, and though I didn't kill it, I "put in a request" to the universe/Goddess that it should die, and it did within a fortnight. Then I gave away the flock, to friends and others.
I understand, and the pups had better not escape out into their yard while they are still here for the rest of the year.
On a separate issue, I think I need to keep a close eye on both Stripe and Belle, K&M's pups. On more than one occasion they've almost caught Ebony, and I had to pull them off Gabby on one occassion (she's very wary of them now). I do not want to go away to Perth at the end of November and find one of my pets dead.