I'd like to start this post by saying that I used to be a dog lover.
What caused me to change my mind about dogs? Well, I'll spell it out, slowly and carefully, so that there's no misunderstanding:
B-A-R-K-I-N-G
And, yes, I have tried to talk to the owners of these dogs. Fat lotta good that did.
To a man and woman, they were indignant that I would dare to bring up such a thing. After all, I was criticizing the sacred utterances of their fur baby!
Officialdom was no better. I've lost count of all the barking dog reports I've made to animal control. You know what they do? They send a Sternly Worded Letter to the dog owners.
Things go downhill from there.
Along the way, you can experience the joys of keeping a barking log (nothing like victimizing the victim even further), optional mediation with the dog owner (been there, done that, and it was a waste of time), and, if you're really lucky, there's a hearing with the dog owner that maybe-just-maybe will result in fines.
If there's any good news in all of this, here it is: I'm not the only one.
Unlike 10 years ago, when I first became concerned about this issue, there's quite a movement. Call it the Quiet Homes Movement if you want. We aren't coalescing around a single activist website like DogsBite.org (happy 8th birthday, DBO), but our numbers are growing.
