I’ve long felt our children got off to a great start thanks to their elementary education. In fact, the experience of our two who attended Minot Public Schools was superb — although my own experience with the entity could have been a smidge better based on what happened at Jim Hill in the 1990s.

Living in southwest Minot, we had an Irish Setter at the time which seldom left the backyard. Unless I was at home and outside, she generally occupied a fenced kennel in the back yard. An unfamiliar Brittany Spaniel that began roaming our neighborhood made a habit of leaving its droppings on our front lawn. The mutt also frequented our backyard to do the same and would pay a visit to the dog kennel, particularly when the Irish was in heat.

I asked neighbors if anyone knew who the spaniel belonged to, but no one had the answer. I decided one way to solve the problem was to close the gate to our backyard (which usually stood open) whenever I saw the Brittany out back. A call to the Minot police department brought animal control out to collect the dog four or five separate times.

When I spotted the Brittany doing its business out front again one morning, I went outside and followed the critter around the corner, down one block then north again a half block. It seemed the dog knew it was in trouble and kept its tail tucked between its legs. I watched as it went up on a front porch and scratched at the door to be let in. I stood contemplating what to do, then went to the door and rang the bell. A gentleman answered.

“Do you have a Brittany Spaniel?” I asked. When he nodded in the affirmative, I continued, “Do you know that your dog leaves its mess in my yard two blocks from here most every day? I’m tired of cleaning it up.” Chances are the tone of my voice wasn’t particularly friendly.

“Wait here,” the gentleman said, disappearing further inside the house. A woman then came to the door by herself.

“Do you have a Brittany Spaniel?” I ask again.

“Oh, so you’re the one!” she exclaimed. “Do you know how much it costs to get our dog back from the dog pound? $50!”

“Lady,” I replied, “if you would keep your dog on a leash, you wouldn’t need to pay the pound anything.” She slammed the door in my face. I went home. Asking folks in the neighborhood who lived there, the woman’s name was revealed to me. I didn’t recognize it.

A few years later, I went to parent-teacher conferences at Jim Hill. I picked up a schedule near the entry that provided a list of subjects, times, classroom numbers and teacher’s names with whom I would visit about our daughter’s schoolwork. One name jumped off the page as familiar.

I admit debating with myself about whether or not to visit the scheduled parent-teacher conference that included the Spaniel owner’s name that evening. But, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and face the consequences of your actions. When the moment arrived, I walked into the room, introduced myself and shook hands with the schoolteacher. She spoke highly of our daughter’s participation and accomplishments in class. I listened intently to every word. When the teacher asked if there were any further questions, I said, “No, thank you. I appreciate your work with my daughter very much.” We had both pretended never to have met the other before. We shook hands again and I headed home.

Like any dog might, I learned a lesson about what you should and shouldn’t do back then — in addition where not to do it. There are things that make you wish you had stayed home and kept things to yourself — to avoid any need to walk away with your tail between your legs.