An hour ago DD runs in shouting, 'There's a staffy in the garden!'. The back garden that we thought was secure (terraced house, back garden fenced on all sides. No back access).
Sure enough, there it is, jumping up and down outside the patio doors barking. And it looks like this: <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&tbnid=dmKaskIK7l1BhM:&imgrefurl=www.dogforums.com/general-dog-forum/44791-all-about-bull-terrier.html&docid=wyRyL2hefduljM&imgurl=i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr125/Blessed03/bull%252520terriers/staffordshirebullterrier_huggitt.jpg&w=498&h=547&ei=G0qQUNDoI-jE0QWt44CIDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=399&sig=116389307987245435093&page=2&tbnh=154&tbnw=146&start=21&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:21,i:143&tx=33&ty=75" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here
Now I consider myself quite 'doggy' person - I like them, am not afraid (usually) but this dog's body language warned me off. It was very nervous, and you could see its muscles were tense. I told the kids to keep our soft as shite labrador inside and phoned the police - the non-emergency number.
They told me they'd be out within the hour. I went back to the kitchen and looked at the dog again, thought better of going out and trying to make friends with it. DD suddenly remembers that the house 3 doors down have a dog and she thought she had heard the woman call for it so I went down to the house and told them I thought their dog was in my garden, and they came around and fetched it back. The dog was VERY strong and as the man left he was clearly struggling to control it. The man said that they'd put the dog in back in 'the cage' and apologised. I suspect the dog is a guard dog and not just a family pet. It didn't look like the sort of dog you'd have sat on your lap of an evening. (no prejudice against staffy type dogs, they're gorgeous and make lovely pets, but this dog didn't give off a cuddly vibe. The opposite in fact).
I phoned the police back and told them they didn't need to send anyone around, but wanted my concerns noted that the dog's accommodation wasn't secure, and that I concerned about the safety of my dog and children should it get into our garden again when we're in it.
Anyway, dd had a massive strop with me for a) phoning the police in the first place and b) phoning them back and asking them to log my concerns about the dog's accommodation. I suspect DH also thought I was making a fuss over nothing.
Was IBU to do this? What would you do?