For some excellent advice on how to handle noisy neighbors with or without a barking dog, including the anonymous letter approach, click here:
How to Handle Noisy Neighbors and Their Barking Dogs
If you are a victim of irresponsible dog owners with barking dogs, visit BarkingDogs.net
If you live in Monroe/Union County, NC also see Ordinances and Local Contacts
If you are in a position (e.g., judge, magistrate, law enforcement, city council, county commissioner, etc.) to put an end to nuisance dog barking or to enforce noise nuisance laws but don't view the problem as serious, click here: Why Exposure to Chronic Dog Barking is So Profoundly Debilitating and here: The Deleterious Effect of Exposing People to Noise

Monday, December 21, 2009

The Decline of my Yard

Usually, during the spring and summer I work in the yard quite a lot. I plant annual flowers and herbs in the ground, tend the bulbs, trim the shrubs, get rid of weeds, mulch, this, that,... it's a big yard and takes a lot of attention to keep it looking nice.

However, the last few years have seen the decline of my garden -  few annuals and a lot of weeds - thanks to my neighbors. I say "my neighbors" because they are the ones who were so neglectful in the training of their dog, and thus turned him into a barking nuisance. Not the dog's fault. It would be one thing if he barked when strangers showed up, or just barked a little here and there, but his constant yakking at me, his neighbor, from the time I step out to the time I step back in made it impossible for me to stay in the yard for more than a few minutes, especially this last year when he was exiled from the house in the early spring.

An then in the fall when my husband was home we enlisted the help of a couple of guys looking for work to spread a few loads of mulch around - something I usually do - and the dog barked constantly the whole time they were out there. Even though I was in the house, refusing to go out and be barked at, it still drove me over the edge.

But after I realized I was losing my physical & mental health because of this barking, and thus became hysterical, I also realized that I was the one who was going to have to jump into action if I did not want this fellow to send me completely off the deep end.

He's actually a smart little fellow. Since I enlisted the help of the hose and the handheld ultrasonic device he's learned pretty quickly not to bark at me when I go into the yard. He still gets excited and forgets himself so I just remind him with the ultrasonic, and he's still having trouble when the cat appears, but we're working on that. I only used the hose 3-4 times, now it's just the ultrasonic, and I've also made sure to reward him with scratches on the head when he watches me quietly.

I have hopes for having a nice yard again next year, but I'm afraid the damage has been done as far as my relationship with my neighbors, who I used to consider good neighbors until they proved otherwise by allowing their dog to carry on until I flipped out and I'm loathe to say that it will take a long time for me to forgive them for that. In fact, they'll have to beg or give me a million dollars. Maybe both.