An Open Letter to Dog Owners

OK, we're changing gears for a quick second.  There's something that I'd like to say to some of the dog owners in my neighborhood, but I'm much too chicken.  I understand that your dog is your baby and that you love it like a member of the family.  However, your dog is loud.  I love my children very much, yet I don't leave them tied up to a post in the front yard for hours on end, as they scream (bark) incessantly to be released.

Here's a quick tip:  if your dog is barking and barking and barking, he probably wants to come inside or be untied.  I'm not a dog owner and I know that.  If you're not smart enough to realize that, perhaps you shouldn't have a pet.

As I sat on my couch early this morning, enjoying the cool morning breeze, I had to listen to a loud, barking dog for about 15 minutes constant.  The dog was not on my street, it was faint enough to know that it was at least a block away.  I cannot image how loud it would have been to a direct next-door neighbor.  I'm certain the owner knew it was barking.  From the sound, it was a very large dog. 

The day my 4-year-old niece died, I pulled my daughter out of school and we came home.  (I worked at her middle school that year).  We sat on the porch and reminisced about the happy moments we had with her during her short life.  The rottweiler across the street stood got loose and ran over to where we were sitting.  Thankfully, the owner noticed and came to get him.  We were crying, but she didn't seem to notice.  She tied him up, where he sat and barked at us over and over and over.  On that beautiful May afternoon, we had to move inside because of her dog.

On a September day, a day which I consider the worst day of my life, that same dog nearly caused me to do something rash.  Due to circumstances I will not share on this blog, I was a distraught human being who was collapsed on floor in my hallway, sobbing.  That dog barked and barked and barked.  It had to have lasted at least 45 minutes.  I was in such a fragile state, I nearly lost my mind.   

Same dog, another time- the barking had been going on for several hours.  The neighbor beside me couldn't take any more and he called the police.  I watched in a cowardly fashion through my upstairs blinds.  The officer walked up to the house, past the barking dog, and had a short conversation with the owner.  She moved him inside afterward.  Following that incident, there was a huge ordeal on Facebook.  She blew up with tons of profanity and great offense.  She was furious that she had been reported for a barking dog.  Her defense was that dogs bark....that's what they do.  She and her husband were both irate and got all their Facebook friends stirred up as well.  I didn't understand how, as a neighbor, we are expected to endure the constant barking, but she can't be expected to have the decency to keep her dog quiet.  The poor animal had a chain that was probably 6-10 feet long and had worn a dirt circle in the yard in his limited walking space. 

I'm not an animal lover, and I won't pretend to be, but my understanding of pet ownership is for companionship.  If you want to include your pet as part of the family, that is fine.  What I don't understand is why you would allow that loved family member to endure obvious misery as it is chained up outside (disturbing the entire neighborhood in the process) as you sit inside watching television, ignoring its needs. 

So here's my plea for today:  if you notice your dogs outside barking, please bring them in or find out what their needs are.  I understand that dogs bark; they're supposed to.  When the barking doesn't let up, something is wrong, and that need should be met.

Thank you for your time.  Rant over.