On January 13, 2011 my barking dog owner neighbors appeared in court for the citation they were finally issued on December 20, 2010, for violation of the City's noise ordinance as pertains to animals. Initially, they wished to plead "not guilty" and asked for a public defender to represent them. They were denied this request. Why? Because the public defender's office has more important things to defend than irresponsible dog owners and their barking dogs. Mrs. Barking Dog wanted to retain a private attorney, which would have been an absurd waste of money considering all the evidence against them...most importantly the statements of the Animal Control Officer...and I believe equally important were my statemets as to how many times I'd been awakened during this whole sordid affair...but in the end they pleading guilty. After the judge heard the statements from the Animal Control Officer and my statements, he asked my neighbor what had been done to remedy the situation, to which Mr. Barking Dog replied, "we got a bark collar." The judge asked him when, and he said 1 week ago... The judge looked at me, I referred to my logs and told the judge that I'd been awakened 5 times in the last week between the hours of midnight and 6:30 a.m.
In the end, my neighbors were fined $100, which the City of Monroe ordinances state is the fine for the 1st citation for the violation that my neighbors are guilty of, and they also had to pay court costs which made the total over $200. He also told my neighbors that the Animal Control Officer could have issued a misdemeanor warrant rather than a citation, which I guess would mean immediate arrest. The judge said he didn't believe in putting people in jail for barking dogs...but he had no problem with taking their money, and informed my neighbors that the fine for a 2nd citation, and every citation there after, would be $500 (plus court costs). The judge told them he just can't be having people disturbing other people's peace & quiet in their homes, waking them up at all hours and depriving them the use of the enjoyment of their property and home.
It's been very peaceful since that day in court...well, at least in terms of dog barking...
My neighbors, being the hostile, immature and vindictive type, have begun starting their motorcyle up early in the morning, revving it up and letting it idle with the throttle on (thus making it quite loud) for a good long time, then shutting it off and never going anywhere...
Let me remind you that I'm talking about a woman in her late 60s and a man in his early 70s... people who should have long ago gone past the stage of immaturity and disregard for their fellow human beings... at least they can't keep that motorcycle running as long as they let their dogs bark on and on. If they tried to match the dog barking with their motorcycle, the motorcycle would surely die fairly quickly.
I never had a problem with my neighbor and his motorcycle...until after they got that citation. I can't prove it, but maybe they figured since I complained about their barking dogs and they were going to have to keep them quiet or it would cost them too much money in fines...they'd show me...
Since I am chronically sleep derpived thanks to my neighbor's barking dog, I've decided to do some research on just how much harm my neighbors are inflicting on me by allowing their dogs to keep me up at night and/or wake me up at all hours. I could tell you the harm I'm experiencing without the research, but it always helps if you have data to back up your story, especially when talking to people who don't view the dog barking problem as being serious.
"At the very least, sleep deprivation is cruel, inhumane and degrading. If used for prolonged periods of time it is torture."
Nicole Bieske, Director and National President of Amnesty International Australia
As many of us know, the use of sleep deprivation has been used as a means of interrogation. Is this an effective means of getting someone to talk? Absolutely, but not if you want the truth. Hell, I'd say anything to get that dog to shut up so that I can sleep.
"Most commonly detainees are deprived of sleep. Although this leaves few physical signs, it can be very damaging psychologically. The European Court has declared it to be illegal."
Professor Richard J Aldrich, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
The use of sleep deprivation as a method of interrogation has resulted in court trials over whether or not the method is a form of torture. Of course, they'd save a lot of time and money if they just surveyed those of us who have lived next to barking dogs but, well, you know how governments are.
"A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours of lost sleep for parents in the first year."
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not comparing babies to barking dogs, but anyone who has had a newborn is familiar with sleep deprivation. While I've heard of some people who are tortued by barking dogs that caused near total sleep deprivation, like that during interrogation and torture where the detainee is usually kept awake for days at a time, the sleep deprivation I experience because of my neighbors and their loud dogs is partial sleep deprivation and somewhat like when you have a newborn baby that wakes mulitple times during the night to be fed...but for 2-3 years or longer. The differences are, it was my choice to have the kid, the feeding/waking times are usually predictable with babies, with my kids I usually went back to sleep right away after the feeding, and they were usually sleeping through the night within 6 months. Although I've heard that some parents are often kept awake for hours with their newborns, I did not have this problem...but with the barking dogs I do.
"Even minor changes in sleep ... can impair a school kid's learning, memory, attention, concentration"
Professor Avi Sadeh, DSc, director of the Laboratory for Children's Sleep and Arousal Disorders at Tel Aviv University, at WebMD.
With my neighbors barking dogs one never knows when they will start barking or how long they will be barking...so the barking dogs are actually more like living in an abusive relationship (been there, done that...) where the abuser is unpredictable and one is always on guard, night and day, lest the abuser suddenly has a fit of hostility. It's no wonder children from abusive homes have behavioral and learning problems: not only does the abuse undermine their sense of security, it also causes them sleep deprivation...
"Sleep is needed to regenerate certain parts of the body, especially the brain, so that it may continue to function optimally. After periods of extended wakefulness or reduced sleep neurons may begin to malfunction, visibly effecting a person's behavior."
One, among many, of the things that freaks me out about my inconsiderate neighbors allowing their dogs to keep me awake is that I'm afraid to drive the next day because my brain is foggy, my attention on the road tends to waver and after a stressful night of prolonged barking I've even felt like I've fallen asleep at the wheel with my eyes open; apparently this is known as a microsleep. This is common among the sleep deprived, and microsleeps have apparently been the cause of some major disasters around the world. So, really, my barking dog neighbors are not only harming me but also putting others in harms way...
" ...researchers in Australia and New Zealand reported that sleep deprivation can have some of the same hazardous effects as being drunk."
2002 study published in the British Medical Journal
So the obvious effects of sleep deprivation that I've noticed in myself are difficulty concentrating, inability to form clear thoughts, decreased problem solving ability, slurred speech, forgetfullness (including mid sentence), mood swings, depression, behavioral changes, irritability, paranoia...there are probably more but I can't remember... And apparently this lack of sleep is also contributing to the amount of physical pain I now have...
Oh, of course, some might say that these symptoms are just a normal part of the aging process (hey, I'm only 54...I suppose I could be losing my mind already and it just coincides with the arrival of the barking dog next door...)...so does that mean I get younger when I get away from the barking for a few days and the symptoms subside?
Some of these symptoms I'm experiencing are similar to some of those that were observed (by Lt. Cmdr. John J. Ross of the U.S. Navy Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit in San Diego) in Randy Gardiner, a student...a foolish idiot...who purposely remained awake for 11 days to gain entrance in the Guiness Book of World Records...I guess I was an odd youth because I really valued my sleep, in fact it was the best part of the day, and I always got 8 hours at night and a 1 hour nap in the afternoon, like clockwork I was and never needed an alarm clock. I was so fond of my sleep that I even experimented with dreaming and could often make myself dream what I wanted to. Ahhh...fond memories of sleep...days long gone.
"...even healthy people's brains mimic certain pathological psychiatric patterns when deprived of sleep,"
OK, I realize I'm suffering from cognitive deficits and a certain degree of what appears to be something similar to mental illness, thanks to my horrible neighbors and their awful barking dogs, but, even though I've felt rather "psycho" at times, I don't think I'm actually psychotic yet...would I even know that I was psychotic if I was psychotic? Which brings us to the really, really scary part: what effect is sleep deprivation having on me that I am not even aware of? Sleep deprivation apparently has the potential to cause a myriad of serious health problems including cardiovascualr (increases C-reactive protein which increases chance of heart attack), metabolic & endocrine (diabetes, thyroid, weight problems), weakens the immune system, increases inflammation...
"If sleep deprivation continues, hallucinations and mood swings may develop."
Sleep Deprivation, Psychosis & Mental Efficiancy by Dr. Stanley Coren, Ph.D., professor emeritus & former head of the Human Neuropsychology and Perception Laboratory (until 2007) of the psychology department of the University of British Columbia. Interestingly, Dr. Coren is also a dog enthusiast and has published a wide array of articles and books on dogs. His personal website is What Do Dogs Know?
This was Christmas Day, less than 5 full days after my neighbors received a citation (FINALLY) for allowing their dog to be a barking nuisance. It began around 4 a.m...
But that wasn't the end of it...
The barking continued on throughout the day, until late afternoon when it became very cold and started snowing...thank god for lousy weather...
This is the 3rd year that I haven't been able to enjoy what used to be the quietest day of the year, because on Christmas Day there is very little traffic on our usually well traveled road. It is also the 3rd year that I haven't put up a tree or any decorations.
And they accused me of being a bad neighbor because I called the police.
Less than 1 week after my neighbors received a citation for allowing their dog to be a barking nuisance, they are letting their dog be a barking nuisance again. Oh, sure, not to the degree it was before...not yet. I've been through this before - the police or animal control comes out, there are a few days of relative and much needed peace, then the barking is slowly allowed to escalate back to the usual intolerable, interminable, incessant frequency and shrillness.
It's depressing how this barking can consume one's life. I mean, I've spent hours writing about the damn dog on this blog, reading and writing posts on the barking dog yahoo group, making videos with sound of him, putting them on YouTube, thinking about how to get the money to move, thinking about what I can do if I leave the house just to get away from the noise, dreading that he'll stop barking before the cops show up if I call the cops...when the barking invades every corner of your home, day & night, prevents you from going to sleep at a reasonable hour, wakes you up like an alarm right outside of your bedroom window, gives you indigestion, is so loud outside that you can't enjoy or work in your yard...day after day, year after year...how can you think about anything else?
I used to enjoy a lot of things, but now I enjoy very little.
I used to look forward to taking a road trip or just visiting a state park for the day, but now I'm not motivated to leave because I'll just have to come home to more barking. Doesn't make sense, I know, but it's true.
I used to read a lot and look forward to a good book, but now I can't concentrate on the read with the barking in the background, so I quit reading;
I used to look forward to listening to Echoes on Sunday nights but I'd have to turn the volumn up to an intolerable level to block out the barking.
I used to cook a lot and prepare great meals, but the barking sounds like it's right outside of the kitchen window and I often have indigestion now from being tense and not eating properly.
Spring was always an exciting time in my yard because the bulbs & shrubs would come alive with colorful, fragrant blooms, and every year I'd plant a few more interesting shrubs or trees but being in the yard now...forget it.
This is the 3rd year in a row that I haven't put up Christmas decorations or a tree, thanks to my neighbors. I used to always get a live Christmas tree and plant it in my yard later. I have lights to hang around the house, boxes full of decorations, CDs with my fav Christmas tunes...but who can enjoy any of this with the sound of shrill barking in the background?
I have a friend who has a really nice, beautiful, quiet home on 25 acres in the woods with creeks. She retired before she was 50 and has the financial means to do much more than most people, and yet she is often complaining about her life. She choses to get involved in things that are stressful & which consume all her time...and then complains about how she has no time and how stressful her involvement is in the project. I have no sympathy. I should invite her to stay at my place for a week...
Have a Happy & Peaceful Christmas
&
I hope we all have a prosperous New Year so we can move the hell away from these barking freekin' dogs.
Two days ago, on Tuesday, December 12, after having been awakened before 6 a.m. by Harley's barking againI decided to compose an email about my neighbors and this awful noise nuisance and send it to Mayor Kilgore, all of the City Council members, and the Chief of Police. I sent the email at 11:05 a.m. according to the email saved in my "sent" file. You can read the email here: Email to the Mayor
I really didn't expect much, but at this point I have to do something to make myself feel better rather than just sit around going mad and allowing my neighbors to cause my slow and agonizing death with their loud, shrill barking dog and irresponsibility, negligence and rudness. I've already had the Police and Animal Control out here on numerous occassions but it ultimately has not solved the problem.
At 11:41 a.m. (according to the call history on my phone) I got a call from the Mayor. He was very sympathetic and said he had lived with barking dogs and it's the worst thing you can have. He promised to help me get the problem resolved, and said he was going to send my email to the animal control and the police and follow it up with a phone call.
I've never talked to Mayor Kilgore before, never met him, and really don't know much about him, and needless to say I was pleasantly surprised by this very quick and positive response: I wasn't ignored, wasn't treated like some crackpot cranky or vindictive neighbor, my complaint was acknowledge and the severity of the issue was taken seriously...
Within a very short time after the Mayor called, AC Officer Tim was at my door, quickly followed by Police Captain Greene. They came in and we discussed the situation and she (Captain Greene) asked questions about my neighbors, the dog, some things I'd written in the email. Captain Greene told me that they'd talk to the neighbors, discuss how they could greatly reduce the barking, and give them one last verbal warning. She said she would tell the neighbors that if anyone at all ever called to complain about this barking again they would begin issuing citations. She also said she would put out a notice to the police force that if they answered a call from anyone about my neighbors' barking dogs the responding officer was to issue a citation.
I gotta tell you, I'm not really good at this sort of thing, standing up for myself and my rights, complaining to the authorities about the things people do that are way out of line, even if what they are doing is morally and/or legally wrong and causing me so much grief. Confrontations are very stressful for me and make me extremely upset; I try to carry myself through life without bothering people, I'm very aware of how my actions affect people, positive & negative, and I expect the same consideration...and I think this is what makes it so hard to complain about other people's offensive behaviors...I know I will be bothering them and then I'll face the consequenses of their wrath. And this is exactly what has happened with my neighbors and their barking dog, and I know this is why it took me so long to demand my right to a peaceful existence in my own home and on our property.
According the the ordinances, if there is non-compliance the dog could ultimately be taken away. I'd hate to see this happen since it could so easily all be resolved if my neighbors weren't so selfish and stubborn, but at this point I'm beyond caring about them and their dogs. I'm just trying to survive here.
So anyway, after the Captain and AC Officer left...the dog continued to bark throughout the day. Apparently they had talked to the husband and my guess is he probably had to wait for his wife to wake up (she works 3rd shift and came home at 6:20 a.m. that morning) before he did anything because in the past, when I've asked him about certain things that he could have given me an answer to, he said he'd have to check with his wife. I know them well...she's the boss of the family (and I won't go into details...).
Much to my surprise, about dusk there was no more barking, no barking through the night and no barking in the morning. I heard some muffled barking coming from their house when I took the trash out (when the lid of my trash can closed), but after that no barking. No barking when I went out to my car to leave to go to the chiropractor...and I had a really good adjustment, something that is often difficult because I'm always so tense from the barking and fear more barking as soon as I get home...but no barking when I came home...
The bad part is, when there is no barking I'm alway on edge because I know the next bark is not far off...this is what has happened to me after these years of being so distressed by this barking.
Later in the afternoon, around 2:30 p.m., the barking began while I was sitting in our office at the computer. I looked out of the window and Harley and Cherokee were standing at their gate which is a direct shot at out office/library windows, barking at the rooster that was in my front yard. I thought about going out to chase the rooster away, but NO, I'm not making any further moves to shut those dogs up other than calling the police. I'm finished with being nice over this whole thing. Finally around 4:30 p.m. I realized the barking had stopped. It was pretty much continual barking fits with short breaks in between for about 2 hours. Harley was doing most of the barking, but Cherokee was getting her say in there as well.
I gave Captain Greene a call and asked exactly how much barking they expected me to put up with before I should call to complain again. I explained to her that I didn't want to be unreasonable, but enough was enough and I'd been very patient for a long time already. I told her about the barking all afternoon after she left the other day, also about how I hadn't heard it all night and until that afternoon and I also told her I'd seen the rooster out there. I made it clear that I've already been very patient and reasonable and that I shouldn't be expected to compromise further, but she suggested having the AC officer come out to try to get the rooster to see if that would help and, although I do feel that my neighbors should just be made to remedy the barking and not be allowed to get away with ignoring it and blaming it on everything else, I agreed so Officers Tim & Ted came out and prepared a tranquilizer gun but they couldn't find the rooster. I'd already had them out here running around trying to catch the rooster one day, but that rooster is fast and wiley.
But it is a shame that my neighbors are allowed to continue to be irresponsible and blame the barking on everything and everyone other than themselves. The rooster has only been hanging around for about a month. The dog has been barking for years. It'll be something else after that rooster is gone.
The only funny thing about this is I've often heard that rooster on the other side of my neighbors' house, crowing early in the morning...right next to their bedroom window...
Today was a total waste of time and space; probably shouldn't have even been on the calendar.
Normally, I get a lot done on Sunday, after sleeping in for a little while because it's the quietest morning of the week, but not today and you want to know why? I'll tell you why. A damn stray rooster that's why. In addition, that is, to my neighbor's barking dog.
I know there are some folks around here who keep chickens...I almost ran over a chicken crossing the road right down the street one day...I kid you not...and I'm assuming it came from one of those places but no one can tell me where these chicken people live and no one has come around looking for a lost rooster. This rooster has been hanging around for about a week now and I've been trying to get someone out here to collect it - a rescue group, a chicken person...I even put a posting on Craigslist - but with no success.
Initially, this rooster wasn't bothering me and I was more afraid he'd get run over in the street or my barking dog neighbor would shoot him (he shoots at stray cats and probably other small mammels as well). It never even occurred to me that the thing would begin disturbing the peace. But in the last couple of days Harley has been barking more than usual (if you can believe that) and I realized he, and Cherokee, the normally quiet one, have been barking at this rooster. Great. So now the dog who barks at falling leaves has yet another reason to be barking...
Then this morning, at some ungodly hour before sunrise, I woke up and heard a rooster crowing. I'm not sure if this crowing is exactly what woke me up, because since being awakened several times a night throughout 2009 and early 2010 by Harley's big mouth I have not been able to sleep all night without waking up at least once, or if it was just coincidence. I think I went back to sleep...I'm almost certain I did because next I knew it was a couple hours later (but it didn't feel like it) and Harley & Cherokee were raising hell. Sigh.
So I finally got up, went downstairs, and noticed the rooster right outside of the dining room window, which by the way is under my bedroom, pecking around under the bird feeder...so I ran outside in my pajamas and robe, looked around and didn't see anything to be barking at on Harley's side of my yard and so in a voice I'm sure they heard for a few blocks around I told the dogs to SHUT UP...and I'm pleased to report that they did. Then I went around to the other side and chased the rooster off making sure he made his exit toward the back and not around toward the front where he inevitably would have instigated more barking.
A little while later Harley was barking again but as I got ready to go out to shut him up again he suddenly stopped barking and I noticed both dogs running to their back door, so apparently one of their rude, irresponsible owners heard me the first time (it's about time) and decided to get off their lazy ass and do the right thing for once. Don't get me wrong, I know the rude people didn't let the dogs go inside; I know they just gave them a treat or breakfast in an attempt to distract them from whatever was motivating them to bark but of course we all know they were just enforcing the barking behavior by doing so. No wonder the rude people's human children have so many emotional and behavioral problems.
So that was the beginning of my lovely Sunday, the day that is usually the quietest day of the week since there is little traffic in the morning, and now I'm in a foul mood over fowls and foul dog barking...and rude neighbors who can't or won't control their dogs or chickens.
If one keeps chickens for the sake of having ones own organic, humane eggs, does one need to have a rooster about as well? So much for that future idea.
I recently told my husband that at this point in time I'd gladly live in a single wide trailer - although it would be quite the culture shock after living in a 3600 sq. ft. house - if it was parked in the middle of a large acreage with no neighbors, no roads, and no dogs within sight or hearing distance.
And I mean it. Can we just make it an Air Stream, please???
It's been a long time since I've written here but I've been really busy catching up on all the things I couldn't do when Harley was barking night & day, like getting sleep & doing yard work. So why today am I taking time out to write? Because on this particularly lovely day my yard is enveloped in a dog crap miasma and it was just not appealing to me so I came inside early.
To digress for a moment and quickly summarize the situation, I live in Monroe, NC next door to a barking dog named Harley. Harley's barking is shrill, abrupt and echoes, made my years ring and conversation outside of my house was impossible without raising your voice when he's having a psycho barking fit, which used to often last for several hours. Harley was barking from the first day they brought him home as a puppy in the summer of 2007 and if he was outside he was barking. Period. Then in the Spring of 2009 he became a full time yard dog because my neighbors were too stupid to house train him. I'd say he barked a good 16 hours out of 24, more depending on how often I attempted to go outside, and I'm not even sure if he really slept or just rested up and caught his breath for the next 3-5 hour round of barking.
Jump ahead to early 2010: after calling the cops & animal control a number of times earlier this year because Harley's barking was ruining my life, my neighbors, or actually their son who had to move back home due to his own misfortune, finally put some effort into making Harley stop barking so much. That's not to say that Harley was always quiet, but he was quiet enough for me to finally be able to relax in my house, get some decent sleep, eat without having an upset stomach, and catch up on my yard work (that's right, I couldn't go into my yard without being barked at the whole time). They even cleaned up the dog crap so I could spend time in my yard without holding my breath, and I could open my windows on a nice day without my whole house eventually smelling like dog shit.
However, as the year has progressed to the present, my neighbors, and Harley, have begun to slack off. Harley is being allowed to bark more and more and, well, like I said, the dog crap is piling up again.
Oh, of course, I can't blame them. After all, I'm the one who embarrassed them because the police and animal control showed up at their house so many times and because of this I really deserve to be awakened at 6:15 a.m. This is when my neighbor goes out and makes all 3 of her dogs bark just long enough to wake me up, and yes, I caught her doing it one morning when I was awakened into a foul mood and ran out to see what the hell the dogs were barking at, and I believe she (the passive aggressive sociopath) does this regularly both in the morning and in the evening...just to remind me of what a bad neighbor I am. Forget Sundays...which used to be the quietest day of the week around here, and on which day I knew I could look forward to sleeping in without traffic noise. Forget it now.
And I'm the despicable ass who put up the cat fence around my yard (after they blamed my cat for all the barking, even when he was in the house, and threatened to trap him and send him to the shelter) and so now they can't pull their Coachman RV around my driveway which enabled them to then easily back it into their parking area.
My fault!!! Why should they keep their dogs quiet now and why should they continue to clean up the dog crap after I've been such a bad neighbor for not wanting to hear their dog bark 24/7 and for wanting to keep my cat safe on my own property?
Yes, once again Harley has begun to bark at this & that and at me as soon as he hears me in the yard and they just let him go on and on. It's not nearly as bad as it was last year, but still very loud and it's extremely annoying and stressful when he is carrying on. To top it off, the folks behind me, who had 3 dogs, then only 1 dog, but now have 2 dogs, all chained up and ignored (one dog is chained & penned...), are allowing their dogs to bark for hours, day & night, and if they aren't already barking they begin barking when they hear or see me in my yard (and both dogs are practically swimming in their own feces). And, since I'm such a crappy fucking neighbor, the folks on the other side of me now have a dog which doesn't bark, thankfully, but which they allow to crap all over their yard, front & back, and there the crap sits to fester on a nice warm day. I even stepped in a pile of it in their front yard the other day when I walked over to talk to my neighbor, who was sitting on the picnic bench in her front yard. The pile was right next to the picnic bench.
My fault!!! Silly me; why would I dare think there would NOT be any dog shit next to the picnic bench where my neighbors and their friends are always hanging out?
You know, I'd gladly buy dog poop bags for my all my neighbors if they would just use them. Unfortunately, I don't think those bags would get used for poop. Not dog poop anyway.
Don't they realize that even Barbie picks up her dog's poop?
So add the 1 dog's crap to the left of me + the 2 dogs' crap behind me + the 3 dogs' crap on the right of me and what do you get?
And add the 3 dogs barking on the right + the 2 dogs barking behind + maybe 5 other dogs barking in a 2 block radius of my place and what do you get?
What you get is a pretty shitty piece of property that nobody is going to want to buy so I can't even move. But why should my neighbors care? It's not my dogs who are barking and stinking them out of house and home. Hell, I don't even have a dog.
Why should any of these charming folks clean up their dogs' poop, or teach their dogs to be good? Well, I don't know. Maybe out of respect for yourselves & your dogs, if not for your neighbors? When I had dogs I did it because I didn't want disgusting stinky dog crap all over my yard, because it's disgusting to go to the park and have to watch out for dog turds in the grass while you are walking around (or wonder if you are laying on a piece of decomposed dog shit in the grass), because I didn't want unruly dogs who didn't know how to behave, and because I like to be a good neighbor (even if I don't like my neighbors).
And another reason I didn't leave dog shit laying around and let my dogs run around barking like a pack of wild animals (which, by the way, is an incorrect cliche because wild dogs don't runaround barking like that) is because I'm respectful and I feel bound to the integrity of my ethics and morality to not only NOT add to the pollution of the earth but to also be the type of neighbor that I would like to live next to. And even if my neighbors have much lower standards I refuse to let them dictate who I am or to allow them to drive me to compromising my integrity. But being kind and considerate is becoming more and more difficult living among all these passive aggressive, unhygienic, rude, irresponsible...uh...people.
So I want to know, what is wrong with people? Why don't people respect at least themselves, if no one else, enough to clean up the dog crap in their yards, and why don't they care enough about their own dogs to teach them to be good, quiet neighbors?
I realize there are a lot of conscientious and responsible dog owners, and I know some of them, but the irresponsible dog owners give you all a bad name. I know there's a lot of good dogs out there, but these days when I first meet a dog I'm suspicious of it's barking habits until I get to know the dog, and when someone says they have a dog I view them with suspicion even though they might be the best dog owner on the planet. You can all thank my lovely neighbors for that.
Oh, and another thing. I want to know why the law enforcement does not enforce the codes? It plainly states that seriously annoying barking is a violation, as is allowing any type of smelly waste to accumulate on your property.
