Princeton Man Shoots & Kills Neighbor’s Dogs, Why?

Losing a pet can be pretty tough. Losing two family dogs, I would imagine, would be devastating. To top losing beloved pets, having to deal with the senseless way they were killed.

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This all happened in a wooded neighborhood near Princeton, according to cbsnews.com/minnesota. A great place for dogs to run and just be, well, dogs.  What started out as a normal day turned tragic for Othoudt family.

"Friday afternoon, Libby, our daughter, was home, and she let the dogs out like she does every single day after school," said Kim Othoudt.

Dinnertime arrived and there was no sign of 4 year old Australian Shephard mini, Jack or Winston, an 8 month old Golden Retriever. Dogs know exactly when it's time for dinner and when the pups failed to show up the family started a search of the neighborhood.

"We were passing the neighbor's driveway and I saw something brown and I'm like, back up, I think I see something,'" Kim said.

To the horror of the Othoudt family the then found their missing pups dead in their neighbors driveway. "My husband Eric got out and picked up the dogs, and the neighbor was standing in his picture window laughing, so we decided to call the police," Kim Othoudt said.

Investigators said the neighbor claimed the dogs would chase deer on his property and that he went outside with the gun to scare them away. He claimed that after he yelled at the dogs, they turned and came toward him. So he shot them?

I'm not a dog expert, but I do know that neither one of these breeds is known to be aggressive. "There's a million other ways he could have handled it," Kim Othoudt said. "He could have called us, he could have called the pound, he could have called the cops, he could have done a million things."

The Outoudt family plans to file a civil complaint against their neighbor and I hope they win. Kim is trying to set an example for her kids. "I want them to know to stand up for what you think's right. This is very uncomfortable for me, but I'm doing it because I think it's the right thing to do," she said.