Okay, so… Friends of mine need me to stay over at their place for a day because repairman is comming by. I always look forward to doing them this sort of favor, because it gives me dog-time.
I don’t own dogs, but my friends do. Two collie / shepards. Nice dogs, friendly dogs. I’ve dog-sat before, and they love to play, which is a wonderful stress-reliever. When they get too wound-up, just let 'em go out and play in the fenced-in yard.
So, we get into a nice game of chase-the-toy, and finally it’s time to let ‘em go run in the grass. I open the back door, as usual, and dog #1 rushes out. I wait. I look.
Dog #2 is cowering in the corner.
I call dog #2 by name, and try to coax her to come out.
No dice. She slinks to her bed and hides there.
WTF, I’m thinking.
A few hours later, the owners come home. I ask them about this oddness. They sigh and tell me the following.
Dog #2 has been fretful about going outside ever since the neighbor kids started taking an ‘interrest’ in playing in the adjacent backyard themselves. Neighbor kids have a dog of their own. A rottweiler that they keep outside most of the day on a 2’ chain, and throw rocks at. Friend’s theory is that on the recent fourth of July weekend, the neighbor kids did -something- to dog #2, but they have no proof, they’re not sure what, and now, of course, the dog is terrified to go out.
Makes me wanna smack the neighbor kids. Hard. Maybe they -didn’t- do anything wrong. But the sheer way they treat their own dog… Man. Just pisses me off.
WTF, they throw rocks at their Rottie? I don’t blame you for wanting to smack them. Someone should report them to the ASPCA .
Maybe the kids need to be on a chain, or atl least their parents.
Poor dog. 
That’s why I have 6’ privacy fence almost the whole way around the yard. I don’t trust most of the teens around here, either. I have found sticks in my yard before, and if I see anyone hanging by my fence I am out so fast and inquiring into WTF they are doing - I don’t care if I’m the grumpy old lady on my block, no one has any business around my fence.
Just turn the Rottweiler loose.
Yeah. Let the rottweiler kill the kids. That’ll make it even. :rolleyes:
Maybe the kids did something, probably so, but I know from experience that fireworks scare the shit out of some dogs. I think some open communication among the parties involved is in order to find out what might have happened.
Bandanaman: Go find a dictionary. Turn to the letter J.
Can you do this? I knew you could.
Look up the meaning of the word joke.
Of course! You can always expect nothing but absolute honesty and a sincere apology from a group of adolescents who have done something wrong.
Scout’s honor will never die. 
I’m not sure which state is “Over here!” but the treatment of the rottweiler is unacceptable and the adolescents’ behaviour disturbing. Call your local Humane Society and ask to speak with their investigations officer and tell him/her what is going on. Hopefully, they will be able to act on this information effectively (you never know, overworked, underbudget, etc.) Repeat this process with the ASPCA and Animal Control–hopefully someone will be able to help this poor dog (or put him out of his misery if he is unadoptable). These “kids” need to have the holy hell scared out of them; if it’s possible, videotape of them torturing their own dog would be very useful. The police can be contacted as abusing an animal is a crime and psychologists can get very excited about animal torture (if they’re always hanging out soiled bed sheets and starting fires then you’ve got a real winner 
).
My completely unsubstantiated guess regarding what the kids did to the dog is that they lured it to them and/or tossed a firecracker at it. Or lured it to jump on the fence to say “hi” and grabbed the dog. Dogs can be really emotionally damaged when people or animals they think are their friends hurt them and some dogs have better bounce-back then others.
Whatever they did, they need to stop this behaviour NOW, and it will obviously have to be someone outside the family, as anyone who keeps their dog on a two foot chain in the back yard knows diddly-squat about responsible guardianship.
If the parents let the kids act that way I am sure they are not very reasonable people. Just go have a calm mature discussion with them about their sadistic children … uh huh
Hmmm…
joke - n. Peyote Coyote.
Oh. Now I get it. Funny stuff.
asses
I just looked in the dictionary, but it doesn’t have ‘joke’ listed. Could you explain? FTR, it also doesn’t have ‘gullible’.
Joke? I wanted to look up the word ‘justice’ instead. I mean, if the kids are going to assault the dog, it seems only fair that he be taken off his chain and be given a chance to fight back. I learned long ago not to stick my hand in the bear cage at the zoo, and if these kids aren’t smart enough to do the same, well, let Darwin sort out the mess.
Poor doggie.
It will take quite a lot of work to get her trusting again to even want to get out the door.
Is she click trained? Perhaps this is one way to start. Treats and love and clicks… 
Next time you see the doggies, give them an extra scratch from me.