I don’t usually make pittings. In fact, this might actually be my first because I can’t ever recall making one, so forgive me if it’s just lame recreational outrage but it’s the one thing that truly grates on my nerves at the end of the day.
I’m sitting here trying to enjoy some “quiet comfort” (a term in the real estate industry used to describe courteous preservation of one’s peace and privacy amongst neighbors) between the hours of 7:00 and 9:00, which I’d imagine are pretty reasonable hours for most people to enjoy private time during the week. However, I get to listen to an ensemble of dogs bark their friggin’ heads off at whatever it is dogs bark their friggin’ heads off at. Now, I’ve lived in the Chicago Loop, so I know what it’s like to live with noise at every hour of the day. The thing is, living in the city where car horns blare and ambulance sirens wail outside your window at any given hour of the night is one thing because that’s just the sound of the city. In the suburbs, you’d think one would have enough decency and respect for their neighbors to know better than to let their dog sit outside when it won’t shut the bloody fuck up. I don’t even like it when my cat is meowing at the door and I usually silence the beast by finding out what it wants. Fortunately for my neighbors, this isn’t a nuisance to them, only to me.
I’m certainly no dog hater, but is it just laziness or is there some other motivation for letting a dog sit outside barking barking barking barking barking barking barking barking barking barking it’s head off for half an hour? I guess it’s all fine and dandy that you have a mutual understanding with other dog owners in the neighborhood who let their dogs out so they can join in the chorus line, but I do know that people who aren’t dog owners probably don’t care for it. I already know the standard dog owner response: the dog needs to go out and have a long squawk so he can come in all knackered, have a biscuit and go to sleep. Yeah, lovely … let the dog infringe on the neighbors with its restlessness so long as it doesn’t infringe on you. Dog owners seem to be under the impression that just because they’re accustomed to the obnoxious noise that everyone else must be, too.
Go buy a goldfish and make the world a little quieter for the people who have the misfortune of living anywhere near your backyard, you fucking assholes.
Oh, I have. I’m very nice. I’ve been nice every time. I guess it’s not as bad as it used to be, but it still goes on. Some are worse than others, and it’s more than just one neighbor on either side. I can’t expect to silence every dog in the neighborhood. This is merely a commentary on the lack of courtesy being extended to others by the dog owners who habitually allow it to happen.
Preach it brother. I told my neighbor, “Hey your dogs are barking all day long.” He said, “I had no idea”. Well shit for brains, assume that your dog is barking all day long when you’re not here, because that’s what it’s doing. Any idiot could figure that out. He has managed to control them so that they only bark for a half an hour when he leaves, at lunch, and when he comes home. It still makes my blood boil, but it’s better than it used to be, and fairly predictable. Of course, anytime I’m in the backyard trying to garden or something, the dogs are barking non-stop.
I like dogs quite a bit, but the fact that I could not guarantee that the dogs were not bothering the neighbors for any amount of time makes me never consider it. Plus the fact that I’m irresponsible and the poor thing would probably starve to death. One thing I noticed is that there is a complete lack of training going on. I think my neighbor’s wife has transferred her neuroses to the dog.
She says things like, “Oh the dog is emotionally damaged”. Every time I randomly encounter the dog while she is around, she says to it, “Oh no, oh no, stay here”, as though I’m some dangerous person. Hey, I’m pretty good with dogs. Most of them like me, especially when smelling my ass. I’m just wondering if she had let the dog approach a person, it wouldn’t have been such a neurotic mess.
I’ve got to get my neighbor to guarantee that he will not get another dog while their two dogs are still alive, because they are just going to instill this neurotic behavior onto the new dog.
I dunno … cuz it’s my rant and I’m allowed to generalize, I guess. Since when did The Pit ever suffer from a lack of broad strokes? If it makes you feel any better, all cat owners are socially inept bliss ninnies.
The sad part is that most dogs don’t bark without reason. I always imagine a barking dog is saying, “Hey! I am a pack animal. You leave me alone all day then you get home and stick me outside alone. I want to be with my person. I don’t understand about “hard day at work” or “sucky commute”. Pay attention to me!”
Luckily, none of the dogs my parents ever had were barkers. We didn’t think Max even knew how to bark for a long time. Then one day, he was at the window and said woof. We came running from all corners of the house to find out what cataclysmic event caused the bark. Unfortunately, we never did figure out what it was.
I do find a barking dog incredibly annoying but I also find it terribly sad.
shamrock’s right. The dog isn’t necessarily a born barker- it could be barking because it’s being left outside and/or noticing birds, bugs, hearing sounds, etc. My pup’s not quite a show dog, but she’ll only bark once or twice at other dogs or loud noises before I correct or distract her. But maybe I just got lucky.
Ignatius only barks if there is something terribly important outside the window, such as birds he wants to kill. I agree though, the sound is piercing and I wouldn’t let him go on and on for the sake of my neighbors.
I love the doggies and barking really doesn’t bother me (though I’m probably just used to it), but I can understand the OP’s frustration with his situation. I really don’t understand people who get dogs and then do nothing with them.
(Case in point: according to my mother, a cousin of mine keeps his dog 24/7 in a pen behind his barn - completely out of view of his house. Now what the fuck’s the point in that? Poor doggie!)
It’s not as bad here since the neighbors with the basset hound moved, but I was so glad when they left. Those idiots left that poor dog outside all the time and he was so lonely. That mournful howl just broke my heart.
I guess people think “happy family= mom, dad, 2.5 kids and a dog”…and don’t think about the emotional or time needs of the dog. It’s sad for the dog and annoying for the neighbors.
SCL, rolling in socially inept bliss with her quiet indoor cats.
Same here- I had 3, in fact, and my neighbors across the street had no idea. They would see me walk them, but it wasn’t until they realized that they were different black dogs that they realized there were 3. I never, ever let mine out to just sit there barking. If someone pulls up in the drive, my one certainly will bark and see who you are, but otherwise they’re quieted the minute they start and brought inside if for some reason they’re compelled to keep barking. I find people who let their dogs sit there barking their fucking skulls off to be rude bastards.
Then again, I feel the same about screaming kids. If you are making lots of noise be it dogs barking and barking or kids screaming and screaming while other people are trying to relax, I hate you.
I’m rolling too I love cats AND dogs, really but now have cats and in a lot of ways they are much easier.
Except the hurling :eek:
Thankfully I now live in a neighborhood with no barkers, but the last place I lived there was an asshat that left a dog outside 24/7. Poor doggie barked incessantly and it was rather close to my bedroom window. Again, I love dogs but it drove me fucking insane. I ended up reporting asshat to the SPCA. The dog was left out in rain, snow, etc. It didn’t stop and I ended up moving for other reasons.
My friend had a couple cats, one of which would snack on the whatever the others left in the litter box. Then it would want to groom you. Yuck. Coprophagic canines and feces eating felines.
Another friend has a dog that was a serial barker. Everything set him off: people walking on the sidewalk, a car driving by, a bird in the backyard, dust motes floating through a beam of light. He also barked and growled in his sleep. He also howled. Pretty impressive sounding howls coming from a Shih Tzu. They bought one of those training collars for him and it worked wonders. He stopped immediately. They take the color off at night and the loudest bark he’ll give is a muffled, low key woof. However, one night someone tried to break into their house and he overcame his training for that one moment to bark his fool head off and woke up the house.
As for your neighbors dog, I remember someone on this board talked about a similar situation. She said that her husband went outside and peed all along the fence line. The scent of the urine kept the neighbors dog occupied for hours and he stopped barking. If you don’t want to mark your territory with your natural musk, you can buy fox urine at a sporting goods store and pour that along the fence. The dog will be thrilled to go out and sniff the pee-mail. And he’ll do it quietly.
I love cats AND dogs, really but now have cats and in a lot of ways they are much easier.