I hate canines.

[maevebran]

I really do. (puppies are cute from a distance and in pictures and I appriciate search and rescue dogs, police dogs, and dogs for the disabled but other wise no canines around me.) I will also admit that I'm affraid of them. Let one come barking within 4 feet of me and I get the heart pounding adenline pumping fight or flight fear. I start looking for someone or something to hide behind while yelping. Not very cool in a 29 year old but it happens.

So what brought this on? You ask as I am inside my house safe from the savage canine beasties. Well this one dog (and maybe a buddy) has been barking for somewhere around an hour. He will occaisionally shut up for a bout a minute but keeps starting up again. Did I mention it is 12:15 AM as I type this.

ETA: It is now 1:15AM and the dog is still barking with some small breaks. What is going on that the owners don't go out to see why their dog is barking so much?

Comments

[earcmacfithil.livejournal.com]

I concur! What is it with people and their yappy dogs? I realize that certain breeds are more predispoed to being vocal than are others, but even that can at least be molified by some training. I can appreciate watch dogs, but a watch dog should be a watch dog, not a bark-at-everything-that-moves-including-the-neigbor-who's-minding-his-own-business-and-not-doing-anything-that's-going-to-be-bugging-your-owners dog. If the owners aren't home enough to adequately train said pooch, then they have no business owning one. At the very least, they could put those bridle-looking muzzles on them--you know, the ones that still let them drink and pant, but don't let them open their jaws enough to let out a dignified bark.
Besides it just being downright annoying, it could also be indirectly dangerous. I figure there must be at least one person in the neigborhood who works the night shift somewhere who's trying to sleep during the day (when most barky dogs are barking). When said barky dog is keeping said nightshift worker awake, he's going to be a safey hazard at work, making him dangerous not only to himself, but everyone around him (or her). That sort of thing is downright unacceptable!

[jessm78.livejournal.com]

Oh man, do I feel for you. And this is coming from a dog lover and owner. Last year we had the same problem. An elderly neighbor's son was staying at her house while she was visiting other family in SC, and he had a big dog (think it was a black lab). That dog was out practically every single night barking his head off. And he was visiting for two weeks.

I'm all for dogs as long as their owners are responsible. A couple of times we had bigger, menacing dogs approach mine (she's a small beagle) while I was walking her and nearly attacked her. I really wish people would keep their dogs leashed. It's a shame there are so many negligent owners out there.

I'm surprised those people don't realize their dog barks so much - or perhaps they're desensitized to it? Mine hardly barks... she howls, but only when another dog is approaching... and only during the day. Have you tried talking to them?

[maevebran.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

The problem is sound bounces around funny in our neighborhood so trying to figure out which dog it is is difficult. Also the problem goes in spurts and we haven't had the barking dog problem in months.(Believe me I'd notice as I'm inclined to be up 3/4s the night anyway.)

[earcmacfithil.livejournal.com]

That's definitely an issue. The dog-barking problems in our neigborhood are erratic. When we first moved here, there'd be one dog that would start barking and set off a chain reaction with all the others within probably a 2-3 block radius. This happened with annoying regularity for, oh, maybe a few months until I guess someone moved and then it stopped. There's some beagle or other (can't see too clearly through the back fence boards) behind us that will bark at me for something like 5-10 minutes straight off and on whenever I'm out in the yard working. It's the same with the western neigbor's pit bull. But it only happens when I'm out there concurrently with said dogs. I can't say there's a single barky dog that's a problem EVERY night or EVERY day. It happens enough to be annoying, but not often enough for me to justify the effort to go knocking on doors.

[arvanna.livejournal.com]

We have one in a yard diagonally from our back yard that will bark when left outside -- it annoys OtherHalf more than me, because it's a deep watchdog kind of bark which I don't mind. What drives me absolutely nuts is small yippy or crying (lonely) sounding dogs. Odd quirk, that.