There’s more to the doggone tale of the dog on the roof

When Grafton Police posted a photo of a dog on a roof Friday, the impression it made was that the dog — leashed — was left on the roof by its owners.

Nothing could be further from the truth, the owners say. The dog, Lily Mae, is a treeing walker coonhound mix, and she takes great joy in climbing onto the roof herself.

“When we first brought her home she quickly demonstrated that our 6 foot fence that encloses our backyard would not be a problem for her,” owner Lisa Murphy explained on Facebook. “Even with us being in the backyard and actively engaging with her, if she senses something on the other side of the fence she will go for it, and has several times. She loves people and loves to play with other dogs, but can pose a threat to smaller ones as she is a big dog who doesn’t quite know her own strength. Also, living on a busy street, we are terrified that she will get hit by a car.

“This has led us to keep her on a leash in our fenced in backyard. If we have her on too short of a leash she will not be able to run around. If we anchor it in a different part of the yard she could get over a fence still and hang herself that way. One thing she still loves to do is perch herself up on the roof to look around. What you can’t see from the front of our house, and the picture that was posted on Facebook, is that there are a few layers of roof to our house in the back that pose no problem for a smart dog who likes to jump and climb. We do not just let her out of the window next to the garage. Like everyone else, we were concerned about the dangers at first. But, over time, she has proven that she will not jump off the roof (if she wants something out front she will let us know she wants to come in and look out the front window) or slip and fall off (the leash isn’t that long). We got her 5 years ago and this has probably been going on for 4 ½. This is the first time we have received a complaint. She is never outside if we are not home.

“The post by the GPD said they spoke with the owners. What it does not say is that the “owners” that they spoke with are our 19 and 23 year old children. Yes, they are adults, but they were still pretty nervous when two police cars pulled up in front of the house. They said something to the effect of we should take the dog down or there would be consequences and that is what the kids did. They took Lily Mae in the house. This was at approximately 3:40 on Friday afternoon. At about 5:30 the animal control officer came by the house. I didn’t get her name, but she was an extremely kind and understanding person. She, too, thought we were putting her on the roof through the window. I explained to her, and brought her around to the back of the house to show her, how Lily Mae gets up there. Her suggestion was that we put something up so she no longer has access to the roof and to avoid any further complaints or possible fines.

“Then, at 10:15pm, the GPD made their post. Both my husband and I called last night to ask the police to please take the post down. We spoke with two different officers and the responses we received were not pleasant. I don’t want to get into all that as I have great respect for the police, but it seems there was a lapse in judgement here. The picture they posted shows our house number. Our house is in a highly visible location. Many people who have seen this post, which has also been shared several times, know exactly where we live.

“Steps are being taken to keep Lily Mae off the roof for good. Hopefully it works!”

Grafton Police have since removed their social media posting.