If your dog doesn't like someone, you probably shouldn't either!

A nice sunny day with beautiful skies and autumn colors

Yesterday we happened to have a day of sun and beautiful autumn skies here. This combination makes that the beautiful autumn colors that are now starting to show themselves well ... and that made me want to take my good camera with the dog walks again.

Trying to look with the eyes of someone who doesn't live here

Not that I had so much change of scenery now… that is one thing I still very much miss, and which would certainly give my inspiration a boost. But as I often hear, what is no longer so interesting for me to photograph because I see it every day, might be very nice for someone else to see. So I tried to look with the eyes of someone who does not walk through the vast fields here every day.

Tried to imagine living in a big, busy city, and what would catch my eye if I walked around here?

To me this is just ordinary and even boring sometimes

That was not easy because I actually find it quite ordinary and even boring now. I know every tree and even every irregularity in the forest paths that I walk every day. Now I didn't even really go into the woods yesterday. In the weekend, and especially with sunny weather, it is just too busy for my dogs.

Lana is the most difficult dog for other people

Lana and Skipper are both relocators, for good reason. Neither of them get along with other dogs and every dog I can meet in the woods makes the walk a lot less pleasant for me. But I don't mind that much, I find it worse that I take home an irritated, stressed dog with me. Especially Lana lingers in that for a long time, and of all three dogs she is the most difficult. Truly a sweetheart to me ... and she will protect me until her death, so to speak. This has already been shown several times.

But she will always protect me

Which brings me to another point. Because even in this little paradise corner of the world there can be danger. And it is not always as quiet as it may seem. Which of course I didn't know when I came to live here, but which became clear later.

Strange feelings, my dogs didn't trust it either

When I came to live here, a direct neighbor lived there, and from the beginning I had a strange feeling about him, but you think it will be okay. He was always nice at first and tried to make friends. Still, I've always refused to do that because somehow I always didn't trust it. And my dogs didn't trust him either. That was the biggest signal to me not to befriend him. Once in my life I didn't listen to Rowan's intuition then… and it cost me a lot. I didn't want to make that mistake again. If my dogs don't trust you, sorry… but then I don't trust you either.

Invitation to go over and have a coffee

Once in the summer of 2017, I was sitting in the back of the house painting a few things and I had Rowan, Myla, Lex and Lana outside. The neighbor suddenly came through the gate into the yard, without asking if it was okay. He walked in my direction and without hesitation Lana suddenly flew up to him and bit his foot when he threatened to get too close to me. She clearly didn't trust it and was ready to bite him more. I called her over, and she sat down in front of me with her lips pursed. The neighbor stopped where he was, didn't get any closer to me… and Lana kept grunting. Rowan had now stood in front of the neighbor to stop him from walking on, and he too would attack if he took one more step in my direction. He decided to turn around but left an invitation to come and have a coffee with him. I kindly declined and never accepted his offer to come and drink coffee in the years that followed.

He started trying to terrorize

After that, his attitude changed, and he started trying to terrorize in various ways. Together with his girlfriend, whom he later got, he destroyed things in the garden here, only to want to make up for it again with… yes, another urgent invitation to come and drink coffee.

Rumors that there was a lot more going on

I have always tried to stand above his behavior and on June 29 this year it finally paid off when I saw both neighbors being picked up by the police early in the morning. Of course, I had absolutely no idea what for that, but soon there were rumors through various channels that there was a lot more going on.

The "coffee invitations"

And yesterday I was suddenly sent an app with a link to a newspaper article from which it is very clear that the rumors I had heard are completely true. It turns out that the neighbor is in any case officially suspected of drugging and raping a woman. But most likely, that is not yet official, 3 more women were drugged and raped by him. I happen to know one of those women personally, and she is a physically handicapped woman. And I also heard from her how this happened… So it turned out that he was inviting everyone to come and drink coffee.

Lawsuit will continue in December

Once there, what she still remembered is that one minute she's having coffee with both neighbors, and the next thing she knows is that she woke up at home hours later. If you then know that she has to use a walker, and that she came by taxi… then it is a very serious story. The lawsuit against the neighbor will continue on December 18 and until then he will be safely under lock and key.

So glad that I never took on his invites for coffee!

Long story short… I thought it was terrible for her of course that her (and probably 3 more women) happened to her. But how glad I am that I never accepted the offer to come and drink coffee. AND that I've always had dogs here who protected me, and made it clear to me that they didn't trust him.

Peace of mind is back again

Fortunately, those neighbors have left here, and I currently have NO direct neighbors. The house has been cleared out by the landlord so these two will not come back in any case. And, that peace that I got back there… yes that makes that I can appreciate this piece of paradise in this small corner of the world much more.

^{My little protector girl}

Trouble in Paradise