Not good at this sort of thing

I'm up late writing a difficult letter. Difficult for me because I don't like rocking the boat, upsetting people, or doing things that might be viewed as interfering. It has to have the right balance of firmness and compassion for all parties and a lack of drama or hysteria.

I know it's the right thing to do and that will make me go through with sending it.

It's about the enormous, black dog next door that I see every day, whose owner works all day and leaves him outside with food and water, but no basic shelter. Forget the fact that he is lonely and nearly pushes the fence over when he sees me outside. I can cope with that. What I can no longer cope with is that he's cold and that she is breaking state laws. So I'm asking her landlord, my former neighbor and friend nicely, to ask her nicely to build an appropriate shelter for the dog if she plans to park him outside all day. We'll see how long the nice lasts and in the meantime, I'll just make sure I have the right phone numbers in hand in case I need them.

When it comes to dogs and all animals for that matter, I really don't give a rats ass if people think I'm going overboard.

I realize my last sentence contradicts my second sentence or visa versa.