"Hardly anything has pleased me more than the day I stole your dog"...and I'll bet he would have loved to add to that" ...and the DAY I KICKED YOUR ASS!!"

Ahem, sorry, my inner redneck was showing again. Like many of us, that's always my first reaction when I hear of a story like this. Seriously, I've never done any actual butt-whipping over something like this--only because you can't walk up on someone's porch and cold-cock them without being arrested and I am nothing if not a smart Cracker--but over the years me and my sneaky Georgia Cracker transplanted neighbor have cunningly, clandestinely and legally busted the chops of several derelict animal "owners" in our neighborhood. It takes vigilance and a relentless willigness to stay on the back of your local bureaucracy, but it can be done. Dark nights and a willingness to "bend the rules" occasionally helps a little, too. Perhaps that's a little bit too much information, but if it gives anyone who reads this ideas, then more power to 'em. Nothing is more pleasing than seeing all kinds of grief come down on the heads of animal abusers.

And yes, that couch is meant to be reclined on.

I've never had neighbors like that, thank goodness. I'm glad you're on the job over there, Amy.

Townhouse communities can be a real mixed bag. These places were very reasonably priced until about five years ago, when South Tampa real estate began to go through the roof. Unfortunately, reasonably priced usually also means more absentee landlords than is desirable. It's .01% of the renters tha cause 99.99% of the problems. But more fortunately, renters are much easier to shoe horn out of even a deed-restricted place than homeowners. And usually the twit renters who abuse their animals (it's usually neglect-type abuse...leaving the dog in our very small, fenced, concrete back yards with no shade on the 93 degree, 100% humidity days, etc, although one moron used to tape his dog's mouth shut so it wouldn't bark and I had to be stopped and talked out of going to his door) also do lots of other obnoxious things like getting drunk, fighting with the neighbors, throwing trash in the common areas, stuff like that. They almost make it too easy.