[yorkietalkjilly]

It does seem that the critters are moving inward and getting bold. Thankfully our neighborhood hadn't had any dangerous critters yet except I've had Lizzie the clear-looking lizard or salamander or whatever she was that was 3" long nose to tail, one very like her back when I first got Tibbe; and back when I still had Jilly, a baby garden snake showed up in my kitchen! I think they come in as I stand on the porch with the back door open while the dog is going potty! I leave the door open until all business finished & we both come back into the Utility Porch so sometimes it is open for 30 minutes or so, with only the storm door that's often left ajar, too, I'll admit. After the garden snake incident, I had all my landscaping redone and all big bushes, shrubs, flower beds and such undone & only small Japanese boxwood planted for shrubbery, along with my two huge trees, one in front & one in back, and the lawns front, side and back. There is just no place for critters(big or small) to hide near my house and I have no ponds, pools or a deck. So in this very busy, suburban neighborhood just 30 minutes in traffic from downtown Dallas, the most of the critters we deal with are walking, jogging or running.

When I was walking Tibbe Thursday, I noticed that only one neighbor on our block - on my side and the homes across the street - has a big dog, a Doberman. All the other dogs on our block now are small to medium size dogs, and I think 5 or 6 are Yorkies. There was a time in the late 90's - early millennium that so many neighbors had multiple big dogs but not any more. Wonder why that is?

Anyway, I pray the predator birds and dangerous critters stay further out and leave Tibbe alone!