Longmont police volunteers canvassed part of the Historic Eastside neighborhood Monday, asking residents to call police if they had any information about three poisoned meatballs found there over the weekend.

“I’m glad to know word is getting out,” said Glenda Rogers, a neighbor in the 400 block of Emery Street, after getting a visit and a flier from members of the Citizen Volunteer Patrol. “I figure the more people know, the less likely it is to happen again.”

Three meatballs laced with d-Con rat poison were found Saturday in the yard of Gail and Doedo Schipper’s home, a corner lot in the 400 block of Collyer Street. The same couple received a letter in June 2013 threatening “If you don’t shut your f***ing dog up, I’ll blow its f***ing head off.”

Sgt. Matt Cage of the Longmont Police Department police were “definitely” looking into whether the year-old letter and the meatballs were connected.

“There’s nothing to link the two cases so far other than the same address,” Cage said. “But when that happens one year apart, that is suspicious.”

The Schippers’ dogs were uninjured.

Eight poisoned meatballs were also found in a Gunbarrel park in April sickening three dogs. Cage said police had checked with county deputies and said there seemed to be differences between the two cases.

“It doesn’t mean it’s not the same person,” he said. “But the way it was packaged was quite a bit different.”

Members of the Citizen Volunteer Patrol knocked on doors and passed out fliers in the 400 block of Collyer and Emery streets around midday.

The situation was too familiar to Colette Lottor, who lives just a few houses from the Schippers. Her son’s 6-year-old corgi Cody died May 7th in a possible poisoning, just four weeks after it had arrived at the house.

“It’s sad,” she said. “If anyone had come to the house and said ‘Hey, your dog’s barking is getting annoying,’ I would have been glad to work with them to resolve the situation. There’s no need to resort to harm or violence.”

The family has not gotten another dog, though it does have two cats and two rabbits, all of which Lottor has been keeping an eye on.

“It makes you nervous,” she said. “You feel violated. This is your yard, your personal space and you don’t feel safe sending your pets out there.”

In a Monday story by the Times-Call, Gail Schipper said neighbors have documented poisoned meatballs showing up as early as two years ago.

Rogers said that since the incident, she’s started following her three dogs into the yard to make sure they don’t pick up anything harmful.

“It’s really frightening to me,” she said. “I mean, these are our kids. I don’t want to see something like that happen.”

Anyone with information on the case can contact police at 303-651-8501.

Contact Times-Call staff writer Scott Rochat at 303-684-5220 or srochat@times-call.com