Jul 21, 2014

Take 'Em Inside

Last night our neighbor's dogs barked for over an hour.  Over an hour?  Yes, a very long, loud hour. I'm sure these neighbors weren't home or they would have brought their beloved Rex and Fifi inside after fifteen minutes or so.  I would say 'after a minute or so' but my recent experience with local dog owners is they can easily sit out fifteen minutes without deciding to take the long walk over to the screen door and let the little canines inside.  No, they can wait out a whole lot of noise.  And, of course, that means the rest of us are waiting out the noise, too.

Last night's offenders clearly weren't home.  They were on an outing that kept them away from the house for a long time; and they'd decided to leave the four-legged guys outside so they wouldn't poop in the house or chew the arms off the sofa.  Concerned about their belongings, these dog/homeowners thought they'd throw the pooches in the back yard and head out on their trip. I picture these folks at a friend's house, sitting on the deck, enjoying margaritas and fajitas, laughing and happily forgetting all their worldly woes.  Good for them. 

But I have a plea to make.  PLEASE don't do that.  Please don't blithely drive away, forgetting what you've left behind. Please don't make your dogs my problem. Because even if you just drive to Trader Joe's to buy some guacamole and Two Buck Chuck; even if you just hop in the car to pick up your children from school; even if you just drop off the dry cleaning; it's going to take at least fifteen minutes.  And fifteen minutes of your dogs barking is a really long time when I'm trying to read, write, watch TV, enjoy my patio, work, talk on the phone, chat with my husband, host book club, throw a party, take a bath, sleep, or maybe think.

I work from home.  I love my home.  My husband loves our home.  But our home with a barking, whining, howling, baying soundtrack is a whole lot less enjoyable. 

4 comments:

  1. HAHAHA! You think that's bad? You think your dog-owning neighbors care? My neighbor's poor dog once barked and yelped for four hours straight. And here's the best part: They were home the whole time! The dog was barking and yelping because it wanted to be with the family! The family were down working in the garage, out front playing on the street, and in the livingroom, visible to the dog through the sliding door. This was typical behavior, although it usually only went on for an hour or so at a time. The dog was perfectly quiet and well-behaved - as long as the family was NOT home. ...And don't even ask me how it went when I tried, on different occasions, several different polite ways of asking them to deal with the problem.

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  2. Let the horror stories begin...we all have them...and yours sounds particularly awful and unbearable.

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  3. I loved reading your article on dogs. I wish if I could be a better writer like you then I would have written lots of pet grooming tips on my blog too. Keep writing.

    Best Regards,
    Perrie
    Pet Grooming Tips

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  4. Ah! Co-depenancy is what we gotta
    live with on this fleeting earth. But...
    yay! Not for long!!! Follow us Home:
    1-outta-1 bites-the-dust, babe:

    God isn't a religion.
    God's a relationship.
    -Jesus
    +♥︎+
    AbstractVocabulary.blogspot.com
    JMJ + SOS
    ---------->
    She's more
    Mother than
    queen.
    -St. Thérèsa of Lisieux

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