Defecating dog sparks US shootout

A real pooper scooper!

Two neighbours in the US state of Mississippi drew weapons and fired at each other as an argument over a defecating dog ran out of control. It's not something that surprises me. Whether in the USA or in Britain, quite a lot of dog owners think it perfectly acceptable for a pooch to crap in the front garden of others. I get a similar problem. It's disgusting! My neighbour caught a woman letting her dog leave a pile of steaming excrement in his garden. She just laughed it off apparently.

In America (as they say on Little Britain) people do have an extra dimension to disputes. It's gun ownership. It heated neighbourly arguments, these can be a deciding factor. Either lasting damage is done as someone gets hurt or, as in this case, someone gets charged. This is just another example of why many Americans should not be let anywhere near a gun. The two men involved confronted one another over the crapping event and each claimed the other produced a weapon first. "He shot twice, I returned fire," said Jerry Blasingame, one of the men. All sounds rather childish.

Washington County Chief Deputy Sheriff Billy Barber said, "Homeowners and property owners need to respect each other's property... If a dog did that in your yard, call the law. Don't take matters into your own hands." Sounds like the law in Mississippi deals with such matters better than elsewhere. I can't see West Midlands Police giving such a definitive statement. Perhaps they should. I'd be very much in favour of the local dog owners who let their dogs "foul the pavement", as the law puts it, being rounded up and put in the pound with their pooches!

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