Family: Man who killed 4 in Ariz. had own demons
Excerpt: Authorities and neighbors speculate that the incessant noise of barking dogs possibly drove him to kill.
Demons notwithstanding, the man was subjected to uncontrolled barking. No one should have to suffer through that. He tried to get the noise stopped. Including "advising people of pet ordinances and fines." This is what authorities keep telling us to do: Talk to the neighbors. Fat lotta good that did.
Tent city proposed to ease dog overcrowding
Excerpt: A tent city, built with taxpayer money, will go to the dogs next year.
I pity the nearby neighbors. Because tents won't stop barking noise from pouring into their living spaces. BTW, the county board of supervisors unanimously approved this project.
Morris: Are barking dogs causing trouble or unfairly being blamed?
Excerpt: One of my neighbors mentioned the barking was so bad that it's had a negative effect upon his blood pressure and health.
The article writer's advice is full of platitudes like "Dogs bark. That's what they do." Call it the Dog Owner Entitlement Mentality.
But the online commentariat isn't buying it. Here's a comment excerpt:
This may be some of the worst advice ever given. NO, people do not
have a right to put their dogs outside to bark all day (let alone all
night) long. It disturbs the quiet of the neighborhood. Dogs may bark.
But it's the responsibility of the dog owner to keep a constantly
barking dog indoors by whatever means necessary, or the dog goes. Too
many dog owners allow their dogs to bark all day or night, or run
unleashed. It creates enormous tension, enormous ill will. If your dog
belongs to you, then take responsibility. We don't want to hear it.
And, no. Your dog is not your child. If your child stood on the front
porch and barked for 8-10 straight hours at the top of his lungs, you'd
be arrested.
The Department of Shameless Self-Promotion. If the Dog Owner Entitlement Mentality is getting on your nerves, head over to the QuietBarkingDogs store. Plenty of clothing and bumper stickers that quietly make our viewpoint known.
My neighbor had a barking dog that literally made me nearly insane. He was a wolf-hybrid with a shrieking, yelp kind of bark that penetrated everything, even my basement walls where I sulked desperately with arms over ears. It was torture, and she refused all my offers to find a solution. I soon had fantasies of going across that 40 ft of space to that chained animal and bashing it silent with a shovel. And I'm normally a kind-hearted, accommodating person. Besides keeping me in inescapable misery, that dog revealed a horrid side to me I was unaware of.
ReplyDeletePunish irresponsible dog owners. Put them in a soundproof cell, and subject them to their own dog's horrendous noise, recorded at the proper decibel, for as long as the sentence is determined. At least they'd have the knowledge that at some point, it would end.