Note for Neighbor with the Black Lab (second draft)

This is a slight revision of the note I originally wrote on Facebook and then posted here the other day. This version includes new information and will be delivered with three bags of poop that I have scooped from my yard.

Dear neighbor:

I am surprised that your dog is still running free and defecating on yards throughout the neighborhood. I am surprised because I know that several people have requested that you take care of the problem but still your dog still runs free.

I’ve talked with several of our neighbors and none of them is happy with the situation as it stands. I’m told that you have denied that your dog is the one depositing piles throughout the neighborhood but several people (including me) have seen him running through the neighborhood unsupervised. Moreover, I personally have witnessed him squatting on lawns. This afternoon it only took me 12 minutes with a video camera to capture him doing this.

Up until this point we have not investigated our legal and civil options for resolving this problem. Please do not make us go that far. I have faith that there will be some recourse available to us that will make your life more difficult than it is now. Let’s just stop it here and you leash your dog. Or keep him in your fenced back yard. I don’t care as long as he is not in everybody else’s yard.

In conclusion, let me just say that you likely know that your behaviour has not been acceptable. If you didn’t know that, you should now. This is what society expects.