I am not sure of the problem. Around here if some under aged kids get to big for their britches they get taken down a notch. Harassing someones pets would get immediate attention from me.

I admit I liked getting a few high strung rat dogs wound up as a kid but I never intentionally harmed any of them.
Given the situation if a kid of any age hit me on purpose after being verbally warned to stop doing something unacceptable I would have no problem with hitting them right back!
In an assault situation you are fully in you rights to stand your ground and incapacitate your attackers with just cause. Its a you or them situation. If you duck and run it will make them feel superior and thusly they will do it again and do it to more people simply because they can get away with it. A black eye is no big deal. It will heal.
I would have had no problem with knocking heads together and then dragging both of them back to their parents house or to the nearest phone and got the authorities involved immediately!
I have a number of family members that work in the school systems and if some kids known for being trouble makers got rough with another kid or adult and got beat down very little would be made out of it. Even if the parents try and take it to court a judge would look at the kids record and see the problems and then look the other persons and if that person has a clean record the case would immediately be tossed out!
Threatening to kill someone is a common threat that comes up under instances of high stress and frustration. Judges know that and dont take that as an actual honest intention, its just verbal posturing. Especially when its been directed a teenage delinquents.
I have threatened to kill my brother thousands of times and he is still alive! He has done the same to me as well!
If you really need to teach them a lesson a cloth bag over the head, and hands tied behind the back, followed by a ride in a trunk and a push and shove game out in the country with a few friends and no words spoken, tends to make a stupid trouble maker think about the consequences of there actions while they get themselves out of the bag and have a nice long walk home!
If you been bagged, roughed up and had no way to see or hear who did it, its pretty hard to accuse someone of doing it! A little honest fear can make a trouble maker think real hard about what they have done to deserve it!
I have never participated in such an event but I know a few who have been on the teaching side and one person who was on the learning side of it before. Scared him strait as I understand it!
Too bad you dont live closer, I would have no problem with teaching them a little manners and respect, old fashioned country style!
