Dog Bites Dog

It's tough living in Northport on the Long Island Sound. A wild story by Corey Kilgannon in yesterday's Times quotes resident Mitchell Stein as saying, "This place is as un-American as you can get." And it's all about the dogs. Uh, or should we say, it's all about the electronic dog fences.

Living in the suburbs is tough. You can't build a fence, because it will obstruct the scenic views. So, if you've got a dog, the next logical step is an underground electronic fence that zaps your pooch the closer he comes to the border of your property. Only, for Stein and Aurora, his German shephard, the fence has bestowed a tragic fate.

Stein installed an electronic fence last year to keep Aurora from getting into trouble. Only, two when two neighborhood canines wandered onto the property, Aurora, apparently newly hyped up from the reoccuring shock treatment, attacked them! Not long after, the dog pound came to take away Aurora, but Stein wasn't having it. He locked the German shepherd in the car, so the authorities cuffed Stein. And then they took the hound.

Reportedly at the court hearing, an aggrieved neighbor shouted, "You dog's going down tonight!" It seems that Stein has had enough. Apparently he's considering a move to the city. From the Times, Stein said, "Who wants to live in suburbia? I'm going to find a place where my dog and I can be free, because there's no freedom in the village of Northport."

Genius.