Too much hassle for small claims. You'll have to pay the money up front to file the case, then take a day off work to show up. And then that's no guarantee that the judge will rule in your favor. We had a roofer skip town with $4000 and went the small claims process. The guy never showed up and the judge ruled in our favor, but since the guy skipped town and no one knows where he's at that ruling is worth nothing more than the paper it's printed on. The judge said to go to the prosecutor but then the prosecutor in our county says it's not a crime it's a civil case (even though he knowingly had no intentions of finishing the roof). What I'm trying to say here is all the run-a-round will frustrate the "h" out of you which makes the situation even worse.

I say get a big dog or borrow a friend's big dog and then wait for the old man to walk his. Then approach and ask to let them be friends and then allow the big dog to eat the little dog. Lesson taught.