The Barking Continues...sounds like a dog kennel out there...oh, and a booming car at 7 a.m.!

Well, knowing my neighbors as well as I do, I should have expected it but I was so relishing the peace and quiet after 3+ years of horrendous barking day & night. Then...

Less than 1 week after my neighbors were fined in court ($100 + court costs = over $200) for violating the animal noise ordinance (Title IX: General Regulations, Chapter 92: Noise Control, § 92.07), one of their dogs woke me up at 2:14 a.m. It wasn't the original shrill yapper, it was one of their other dogs who used to be a quiet dog but had begun barking a lot during the last few months of 2010. I could hear her barking as I was gradually awakened, which I don't think took very long because she was very near their fence, which is about 50 feet from my bedroom...and she is loud. So after 10 minutes I called the police, via the non-emergency 911 number.

The dog continued barking and after a few minutes I looked out of the window and saw a police car slowly cruising by the front of their house, then pulled into the driveway. The officer got out and the dog was barking the whole time. Later the responding officer called me, as I had requested, and he reported that he informed my neighbors that if they didn't stop the barking he'd have to issue a citation. The officer did not know they'd just been in court for the same violation until I informed him of this, and so he left a memo for the Animal Control officers to follow up the next day. AC came out the next day and was ready to issue another citation on the spot, but ...stupid me...what was I thinking...I said I thought a verbal warning would suffice. I think the AC officer thought I was out of my mind, knowing how long I'd been tolerating the awful noise, but he went over and had another talk with my neighbors about their barking dogs.

As soon as the AC left I kicked myself in the ass. Why was I giving them another chance after all the years of torment, the sleepless nights leading to severe sleep deprivation, being unable to even step into my yard  or drive into my driveway without being barked at, and being unable to do anything in my yard becaue the barking was so horrendously loud...all met with "that's too bad, you're just gonna have to get used to it" and threats to trap my cat who was usually inside...when I told my neighbor that her dog was keeping me up and I could not sleep? Well, being a peace loving, law abiding citizen who also doesn't understand the concept of continuing to violate laws when there is money at stake, I tend to forget that my neighbors have a few screws loose. So finally after 5-6 weeks of more sleep interruptions I called AC and asked him to come out again...and my neighbors were issued another citation. And since my neighbors still don't understand "I just want to be able to SLEEP because I haven't had a decent night of sleep in almost 3 years because of your barking dogs" I'm still being awakened ever couple of nights, sometimes twice in one night. Granted, the overall barking has decreased considerably...and you can't believe our sense of relief...but I REALLY need to be able to go to bed without feeling anxious about when...not if, but when...I'm going to be shocked awake in the middle of the night by their loud dogs.

To make matters worse, the folks behind me, who have even less of a clue about being responsible dog owners (another story), have a chained dog that has been barking for several hours the last few nights between midnight and 3:00 a.m. They have also recently acquired another dog, a cute puppy, that they also have chained out there...sheesh, what is wrong with people?...and it has been barking as well. Great! A barking puppy!


At this time the puppy is not very loud...but it is only a few months old... That makes 5 dogs in the last 15 months for them, but they only now have the one adult and the new puppy left...

Did I say I've called the police on them for neglecting their dogs, including not feeding/watering them regularly and not providing shelter for them, and that in Dec. 2009 I actually had to acquire dog houses because the sight and knowledge of those dogs being exposed to the snow and freezing rain drove me insane??? I'm not even a "dog person" but, come on folks, that's mean. These dogs are chained out approximately 275 feet from my house, but the adult dog is LOUD and I can hear her inside my bedroom with all the windows closed. I mean LOUD. However, in contrast to my other neighbors's dogs, at least when I call to her and she recognizes my voice she stops barking. My long time barking neighbors right next door can't recognize an intruder from a neighbor from a rabbit from a leaf dropping...

So 2 nights ago, the "formerly Quiet One "next door was barking, the chained dog and puppy behind me were barking...and when I opened my window to record some evidence of this racket this is what I heard..

...an entire bark fest!...must have been about a 1/2 dozen barking dogs, in addition to the "formerly Quiet One" next door and the poor chained dog behind me. COME ON, FOLKS. This is rediculous and surely I can't be the only person losing sleep over this horrendous racket. Why does it seem like I'm the only one calling the cops??? Wake up people. This is noise pollution...a health hazard...AND dog neglect...

Yeah, yeah...I know...dogs bark...the favorite patronizing line of dog lovers and irresponsible dog owners...so is that supposed to make me feel better about being robbed of my sleep and about knowing that most of those barking dogs are neglected in one way or another? Well, I hope you can sleep better at night knowing that "dogs bark" but it doesn't make me feel better about any of it, and what is worse is that the law actually allow people, irresponsible dog owners, to get away with both neglecting their dogs and trespassing into people's homes with this dangerous weapon...noise.

Anyway, to continue on, last night I finally got to sleep around 2:30 a.m. and was sleeping really well this morning...I mean I have a big sleep debt to make up...when I was awakened by the deep vibrating noise of a booming car...it was about 7:00 a.m. when I finally looked at the clock...

Thanks City of Monroe!

The Misery of the Barking Dog...

One thing I find extremely annoying, almost as annoying as a barking dog, is a dog owner who thinks everyone should like dogs just because they do. This is an absurd school of thought, and even "responsible" dog owners are guilty of this unfair assumption. I like cats but I know not everyone likes cats and, well, it is what it is. So what. Some people love sky diving but I'll be damned if I'm going to jump out of a perfectly good plane in flight and plunge toward the earth with only a piece of cloth and some strings between me and my demise, and no one is going to convince me that I should.

Even if you like dogs and understand how their neglect can contribute to their chronic barking, at some point during the barking nightmare the dog's own misery becomes irrelevant. What is important is your own survival and anyone who, after knowing that a person is in the midst of suffering from barking dogs and has been for several years, implies that the misery of the barking dog should be at all important is tactless and insensitive and especially so if the person making such a statement has also been the victim of heartless dog owners who allow their barking dogs to ruin other people's lives. One would think that they'd remember how utterly hopeless one feels, how fragile one become both physically and emotionally, and the unmentionable thoughts that go through one's mind when one is forced out of their yard, becomes conditioned by the barking to hate their own home, has panic attacks when nearing their home after being away, suffers from severe sleep deprivation and has anxiety at the mere thought of going to bed, suffers extreme stress, tension, depression...fears for their family's well being...because it seems like there will never be any relief from the awful noise of the barking dog...

I recently had this happen to me on a new barking dog forum that I thought was supposed to be, among other things, a support group for people who are suffering, or have suffered, through the nightmare of having their health and lives ruined from being forced to listen to the interminable, infernal barking of dogs. I was extremely offended by the statement, and what made it even worse was the reaction of the administrator of this new forum, who was also the founder of another online barking dog support group which had actually been a great help to me. Unfortunately that group is now defunct, and has been replaced by this new forum on which the administrator, it seems, does not want anyone to express their true feelings of despair and their fear of meeting their demise due to barking dog, unless they hide their feelings of despise toward the dog for fear of offending dog owners. All I can say is shame on you. I promptly deleted all my posts, deleted myself from the forum and also from the other support group as well as another social network page began by the same person.

Even some of us who like dogs and don't like to see them suffer can't help but feel a certain amount of animosity toward the creature that is causing us so much misery with the awful, unending noise it produces, even knowing that ultimately it is the dog's negligent owner that is responsible for allowing the behavioral problem to develop and continue on to become such a nuisance to everyone within hearing distance...especially those of us right next door.

I've had dogs in the past whose company I really enjoyed, and I know a number of really great dogs that belong to friends, but after having lived so long surrounded by neighbors whose dogs' barking has driven me out of my yard and home and out of my mind, and by the smell of dog feces left to accumulate in their yards that has made it impossible to enjoy my yard or even open doors and windows on a nice day, and having felt great despair at the suffering of some of my neighbors' neglected and abused dogs, I no longer wish to be around dogs, and at this point I feel that I will never want to share my home with another dog. I would never harm a dog, unless of course it was about to attack, and I'll still enjoy visiting my friend's good dogs, but I can no longer enjoy living around dogs. I know that it's not the dog's fault that it has been allowed to become such a negative force, but it is what it is...

"I have often lamented that we cannot close our ears
with as much ease as we can our eyes." 
~Richard Steele

One thing that is unfortunate about all this is I know that if I want to see changes made in the legislation that protects people from the products of irresponsible dog owners I'll have to mingle with people who only want the changes made for the welfare of the dogs and don't really give a crap about people. And this is where, I believe, they will loose support because the numbers would be much larger if dog people would acknowledge that not everyone likes dogs yet everyone can be negatively affected by irresponsible dog owners, weak and non existent laws, and slack law enforcement. But as it is, the dog welfare folks just mostly repell folks for whom dogs are not top priority, but who would also like to see changes made.