This Week's Barking News Roundup - 10/03/12

Letter: Bark tax would provide stimulus

Excerpt: The Internal Revenue Service should set up sensors in neighborhoods that record the incidence of dog barking. The dogs' owners should then be taxed one penny per bark. The revenue gained would probably enable the national debt to be paid off within a year. The rechargeable bark-control dog collar business would probably boom, and within five years, America's neighborhoods would be quiet. Real estate values would also surge, work productivity would rise and the cost of animal control would plunge.

Tip: This letter to the editor is open for comments via Facebook. So far, there's a commenter asking the letter writer this question: "If you dislike barking dogs so much then why live in an area that has dogs?" Answer: Because it's hard to live anywhere on this planet without having to deal with barking dogs. 

More training, collar ordered for barking dog

Excerpt: Selectmen have received more complaints about a barking dog on Worcester Road, more than 18 months after its owner was ordered to take steps to ease the noise concerns.

"The longer it [the barking] goes on, the more crazy it makes me," said [a neighbor]. The barking interferes with conversations in her own home, she said. Discussions with the [dog owners] have not produced results, she said.

My comment: Just goes to show you that there are some people who have no business owning a dog. Because they can't handle the responsibility. And I think that in cases like the one described above, the dog should have been confiscated. Neighbors shouldn't have to put up with this sonic garbage.

The Department of Shameless Self-Promotion. Got clueless neighbors with chronically barking dogs? Don't yell -- you'll just lose your voice. Instead, start a neighborhood fashion trend via the tee shirts and bumper stickers in the QuietBarkingDogs store.