You'll be asking for a ticket with these cops in charge

The Maniac lives in a a pretty quiet suburban neighborhood with several irrigation ditches and walkways criss-crossing the neighborhood. These are great areas for getting the dogs off leash and expending their energy chasing squirrels and playing with other dogs. But technically, no dog can be off leash in our 'hood. So the other AM when a certain unnamed black Lab decided to doubleback over the street to us, she got snagged by the sheriff in the Animal Control vehicle that happened to be coming down the street. A voice called out - Hey, would you guys come over here for a minute? Two smiling officers beamed down at the dogs (not us) from the truck. We knew we were busted, so complied. Before they ever asked us for our names, they asked about the dogs' names. And asked about the coyotes that have been running in our neighborhood and recently brought down a deer. Then mentioned that the coyotes are having pups now and might consider dog to be a reasonable substitute for deer ...

Fortunately, both dogs had up to date licenses, so it all came down to severity of the crime. The Lab had a previous off leash offense in the last three years, so that meant a ticket. The indeterminate (the officer originally said 'indescribable") breed dog with the Lab had no priors, so just got off with a verbal warning.

Now this is where the love comes in - when the Lab's owner asked the friendly and sympathetic officers ("we wish there was a dog park for you guys - so many great dogs in this neighborhood!") where the $30 for the off leash ticket would go, we were told that about 80% of that will actually go to the county animal shelter. Which is where both the Lab and the indeterminate breed dog came from. So .. no losers here. Almost makes us want to get a ticket. Because our offense is actually full of goodness for dogs that don't have people like us.