Not trying to quibble, James, but my dog at the time was about 50 lbs. or
so. And most people don't value their companion animals on a per pound
basis.

It's not a matter of valuing your companions as much as the likelihood of an
animal dieing from a rat bait. Did your dog actually die from the poison
he/she ingested? Do you know what kind of poison it was that he/she
ingested? For a dog that size it's unusual for him/her to actually die from
ingesting a small amount of poison or even a dead carcass. If he manage to
scrounge every bait on the property sure but...? Mine is only about 30
pounds and she didn't even show signs of distress (vomiting, etc.). She's
also our prime catcher -- blasted cats don't catch a single one, but that
little pup caught and killed several rats all by herself!

Never said you did!! Again, not trying to quibble with you personally,
just
trying to point out that choosing to use rat poison can have unexpected
consequences. I've seen recommendations for securing it inside a length
of
pvc pipe, so cats and dogs can't get to it, but that is not foolproof
either.

Can't argue that point. I think the real point here is that negligence
kills regardless.

And I'm with you on the scary/stupid neighbors. We have a set right now
that could be the poster children for white trash--continually cursing out
their kids, burning stuff in the backyard, parking various vehicles in
various states of repair all around the property....Luckily, most of the
neighbors are great people, so we try to focus on the positive.

Ah yes -- that would be the ones across the street diagonally from us. Last
year they had a domestic incident -- the male barricaded himself in the
upstairs and threw a chair out the window, held police at bay for hours.
They actually sent a small army down -- shotguns, submachine guns, the works
(blew our mind to see them carrying MP5s and the like). A couple of weeks
ago the house was boarded up and today I watched with joy as a crew
demolished it. It's the little things in life.

James