Jack, the culprit. The bichon frise shih-tzu cross has been leaving little gifts for the neighbours, and his embarrassed owner fears he may have some issues dating back to his puppy days. Photo / Supplied
Jack, the culprit. The bichon frise shih-tzu cross has been leaving little gifts for the neighbours, and his embarrassed owner fears he may have some issues dating back to his puppy days. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland dog owner says he is paying back the pillows his dog has pooped on during his secret visits to neighbouring houses.
Jack has apparently been defecating on neighbours' pillows for about two years but his owner, Rick Didham, has only just had the courage to out his own dog as the serial pooper.
"I just feel so embarrassed and ashamed," he said.
Didham was convinced his property was fully fenced off and didn't understand how Jack could escape from the backyard until he found a small hole in the fence. It turns out, Jack had been using it as an escape route for a while.
"Apparently he has been caught by more than one of our neighbors sneaking in their cat door and doing number twos on people's bedroom pillows," he wrote on the Beach Haven and Birkdale local Facebook group.
"We don't know why he is doing this, but if you see him, please be nice to him as if you're mean he comes back and does it again," he warned neighbours. "So if there has been an incident in your bedroom please pm me and we'll look into getting your pillow case replaced if we can."
The post, from Monday, has received dozens of comments from neighbours who found Jack's antics mostly hilarious.
"And I blamed my wife a few months ago ... thanks Jack," someone joked.
"He's just leaving little gifts for the neighbours. He is getting in early for Xmas," someone else said.
Didham says he is convinced Jack has some kind of mental health issue, possibly PTSD from the conditions he lived in when he was rescued from a puppy mill.
"I'm not a dog expert but I think he has psychotic tendencies, he looks sorry but I think hes just waiting to do it again," the dog owner said.
Jack puts on his innocent face. Photo / Supplied
"I felt so embarrassed, like I had been neglecting him," he said, adding that his local Facebook group has been incredibly helpful, suggesting theories for what the problem might be and even recommending behavioural specialists to help train Jack.
"After putting up the announcement people have been coming out of the woodwork saying he did this to them as early as two years ago, right up until several months ago," Didham told the Herald.
"Apparently he is a serial offender repeatedly going back to the houses that shoo him away. You need to give him a treat and he will leave you alone.
"He does this with us too, starring us out while he finishes it and then brazenly running off. It's disgusting. He is very stubborn which is a bichon/shitzu trait. Its been upsetting to hear people have been telling off their own animals," he added.
On his quest to find every home Jack had entered and defecated in, Didham asked neighbours to send him photos of the stools. He claims to have received some photos that are clearly not Jack's work.
The pooch allegedly fits through cat flaps. Photo / Supplied
"I have been sent two photos of stool on pillows which are clearly not Jack's. One was on the wrong side of town and the other I could tell because Jack is only small so he couldn't physically do that.
"I don't know why people would do that to their own pillows, I have a weak stomach as it is."
"I think people who abuse or neglect animals should be fined tens of thousands of dollars so to hear people have smacked their own pets for Jack's filthy habit has left me in tears. One elderly lady said when she lays down at night she can still smell it even though everything is replaced."
Didham says the whole ordeal has cost him $60 so far and he will continue to settle all pillow-related claim.
"The only bright side is that Jack's filthy habit seems to be the only thing that has brought the Birkdale/Beach Haven community together on a Facebook page that is normally used by people to complain and fight.
"I don't know what that says about humanity when it takes a bichon/shih-tzu's stool to bring us together. Maybe I should send him to the Middle East."
Didham says once he's done paying for pillowcases, he's going to spend some money on a dog trainer.
