Pets
My dog is trained not to bark (although she will bark at intruders -- good!). My thinking: Your reading/sleep/your life should not be disturbed because I have a pet. Unfortunately, it seems, with that thinking, I'm in the minority.
Talk to me about pet owners, good and bad, and really damn ugly.
Comments
My neighbor down the block has signs all over their fenced in yard, No puppy pit-stops & stay off the grass type stuff.
Yet, when she "walks" her miniture dog, they come out the door, down the stairs, out the fence, & then it does it's business on the strip of land outside the sidewalk. Which, strictly speaking, belongs to the town.
And she's always scowling, never gives a wave or anything. If I'm walking back from the store, she'll hurry inside quick as possible to avoid "Hey" & a head nod.
~~~
The people across the street are similar. Never a hello wave, when I pull out of the driveway the same time they leave for walkies, every morning. I've tried waving & they just skulk along.
A few times, I've been pulling out & the lady barely clears the driveway, before her little dog is going in the grass beside the driveway. And won't look over.
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Someone who seems to have moved away. She would let her dog go out & then call it back & it would just bark at her. But it was EVERY time. Sparky, yap yap, Sparky come here, yap yap yap, SPARKY! Come here Now!, YAP YAP YAP.... Instead of using a leash, or training your dog to listen.
Posted by: MeganNJ at September 1, 2010 8:23 PM
I have some friends who sadly moved away not too long ago. They have a border collie who is the most well behaved dog I have ever seen. They take him hiking and everything and he is the sweetest thing ever.
We used to take him snowshoeing and of course we'd get kind of spread out along the trail, and he'd wear himself out trying to herd us all back into one group. It was so cute.
My boyfriend has some coworkers with a golden retriever who can do all kinds of tricks and is also extremely well behaved. In addition to the whole "sit, roll over" thing she can back up, play dead, all kinds of stuff. It's clear they spend a LOT of time with her and she is a big sweetheart.
My boyfriend also got a new neighbor, though, who has the yappiest damn ankle-biter dog on the planet. Seriously, that thing never shuts up.
Posted by: Ann at September 1, 2010 9:43 PM
My dog barks at squirrels or cats in my yard and it's not an all day thing. It goes on for about a minute, but as I like to say - she barks for a reason. I've never had a complaint from anyone and I have two neighbors who are home all day. They say they rarely hear her bark and when they do, its usually the fedex guy with a package at my door. I don't feel this is a problem.
I have two neighbors (one right next door) one has 5 freaking dogs of all sizes, and the other one has a pitty. I never see either walking their dogs around the neighborhood (I think there is a serious correlation between unsocialized/exercised dogs and yapping incessantly.)
The neighbor with 5 dogs, their dogs (ALL OF THEM) bark all the time, for long periods for just about any reason whatsoever. The guy next door who never walks his dog and leaves his dog outside day and night will bark in the middle of the night or early morning - often...for a long time. (There are skunks and possums in our neighborhood, so I certainly understand why this dog is barking).
I've never seen these people try to quite their dogs down. I don't know how they can stand it themselves.
Posted by: Feebie at September 1, 2010 10:13 PM
its usually the fedex guy with a package at my door. I don't feel this is a problem.
Same with mine. Somebody knocks on the gate, she'll bark, and that's fine. They aren't knocking on the gate all day or even daily!
Posted by: Amy Alkon at September 1, 2010 10:56 PM
My dog barks about the same. I used to leave her outside and I talked to the neighbors on both sides of me.. they said the only time they'd hear her bark was if someone was going by, which they said was good. One day I come home to find a note from the woman across the street (who rarely will say "hi" or anything) claiming that my dog barks constantly and is a nuisance. Odd, considering she's not home as much as the neighbors who are home all day (retired). This would be the same house across the street with the husband that used to leave for work at 4:30am every day, and I know, because I heard him every day.
Ever since I got central heat and A/C installed though.. the dog just stays inside. :) Ironically I got it installed within a few days of the note being left (by coincidence). First day, the dog needed some coaxing to come back in. Day 2: she went out, peed, came right back. Day 3: She looked outside (it was a >90 degree day), looked up at me with a "I'm not going out there," look and that was it.. she's used to being inside.
Posted by: Miguelito at September 2, 2010 1:19 AM
My dog barks about the same. I used to leave her outside and I talked to the neighbors on both sides of me.. they said the only time they'd hear her bark was if someone was going by, which they said was good. One day I come home to find a note from the woman across the street (who rarely will say "hi" or anything) claiming that my dog barks constantly and is a nuisance. Odd, considering she's not home as much as the neighbors who are home all day (retired). This would be the same house across the street with the husband that used to leave for work at 4:30am every day, and I know, because I heard him every day.
Ever since I got central heat and A/C installed though.. the dog just stays inside. :) Ironically I got it installed within a few days of the note being left (by coincidence). First day, the dog needed some coaxing to come back in. Day 2: she went out, peed, came right back. Day 3: She looked outside (it was a >90 degree day), looked up at me with a "I'm not going out there," look and that was it.. she's used to being inside.
Posted by: Miguelito at September 2, 2010 1:21 AM
I talked to the neighbors on both sides of me.. they said the only time they'd hear her bark was if someone was going by, which they said was good.
You talked to your neighbors...indicating that you CARE whether you are disturbing people. This counts for a whole lot.
Posted by: Amy Alkon at September 2, 2010 1:55 AM
Our neighbors in Hampton Roads were really good about their dogs too, during the year and a half we spent there in the late 90s. They were extremely apologetic about their dogs' barking. They had three large ones with deep voices, kind of scary if you didn't know them to be the big marshmellows they were. But we didn't know the neighborhood that well, and the house we were renting had no burglar alarm. I told the neighbors to let their dogs go ahead and bark. The noise, frankly, disturbed none of us, and as an early warning system, it was kind of comforting having them next door.
On a side note, when I was growing up, I'd hear all the dogs in the neighborhood barking back and forth as I was walking home from school. One dog was plainly visible on my route, and I could see him standing on top of his dog house as if it were a dais, apparently addressing all the other dogs in the neighborhood. Was he trying to start I canine insurrection? Preaching a sermon? Who knows?
Posted by: Old RPM Daddy at September 2, 2010 9:31 PM
My neighbor took in her son's dog, Carly, after he moved somewhere that didn't allow dogs. At first he visited several times a week to throw a ball to her. But after a few weeks the visits stopped. I felt bad because she would stand next to the fence and just stare over at us. She would only bark if I started playing with my 2 dogs. I began to pet her through the fence and give her a daily treat, but sadly I had to stop because Carly began barking incessantly for attention every time we went outside. Now the poor dog has absolutely no social interaction besides the few seconds her bowls get set outside.
Mine spend most of their time inside, but have a really loud and annoying habit of howling at sirens.
Posted by: laura.u at September 3, 2010 12:49 AM
I live in a street with a lot of dogs; four of them run wild. Two of them are so fat their stomachs hang down to the ground. It's so horrid. They are also too stupid to move when a car comes, so I just know that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Their owners would be more than happy to sue. the other two are very friendly; in a bad way. They jump on whoever gets near them, and I'm afraid of very big dogs. The owners almost never notice. Unsurpisingly, they run away every other day.
Posted by: Kali at September 3, 2010 11:22 AM
"Mine spend most of their time inside, but have a really loud and annoying habit of howling at sirens."
It may be "rude" or it might be that I am a dog person, but I always thought that was soooo cute.
My dog has to be right next to the siren to do that. One day we were on a walk with my other friends and their dogs. We were waiting at a busy intersection for the light to turn green and an ambulance passes with sirens and lights. My dog started howling and then the other dogs joined. She stopped when it got a block or so away. We were laughing hysterically - when we looked around... so were most of the motorists waiting at the intersection. There is just not much you can do about it - I think the siren was louder than the dogs.
Posted by: Feebie at September 3, 2010 5:34 PM
A friend of mine witnessed this incident but it so funny I have to post it.
One day at the park, a woman on her cell phone was out walking her dog. The dog did its business and the woman walked away and left her dog's deposit on the lawn. A man came over and told her to pick it up, she screamed abuse at the guy so he grabbed her cell phone and threw it into her dog's leavings.
I hate it when people leave their dog's droppings in the park so that park users have to deal with it. What the hell is wrong with people? It especially rankles when they bring their dog to the no dog children's area when their is an off-leash section of the park.
Posted by: Ingrid at September 3, 2010 6:09 PM
Siren howling or barking, totally understandable. Then again, unless you live next to a hospital or fire department, in which case they try to not turn on the sirens by houses (in my experience), sirens aren't such a regular occurrence that they're a big deal.
Posted by: Amy Alkon at September 3, 2010 6:54 PM
I walk every day. I do about 3.5 miles on a looping course. Once a week or so, one of houses along my route has a dog that runs out into the street to greet me. The house has no fence to keep the dog in. It is a rather large and enthusiastic Lab. This dog will jump up on me. Or attempt to jump up on me. I have dogs and I like dogs but this is bad behaviour. The dog probably weighs 80+ pounds and is running loose in the street unsupervised. The way I deal with this or any dog that jumps is to use my knee to bump it away and tell it "No!"
One day the owner of said dog was there. Owner had nothing to say about the dog running in the street or jumping on me (or trying to ) but she came totally unscrewed when I used my knee to deflect the dog's jump. She was shrieking at me "Don't kick my dog!!"
Oooookay.
Posted by: LauraGr at September 3, 2010 10:10 PM
re the siren howling, I live about 4 blocks from a highway access so the frequency is once or twice a week. I love to hear the akita's mournful wail, but the border collie cannot carry the key. :)
Posted by: laura.u at September 4, 2010 12:03 AM
I have four dogs. Three of the dogs are rescue/ adopted. The two larger rescue dogs are pretty good and have been mostly brought up to snuff as far as manners. The smallest dog, a 12 pound dachshund is still mostly psycho.
She is is incredibly loving and affectionate, but only to people she considers "hers". Strangers are bad juju. I have worked really hard at getting her out and desensitized and socialized.
My problem is less with her than with strangers. I keep her leashed and reel her in when appropriate. I always oversee interactions and remove her if she is getting overwhelmed.
Problem? She is so darn cute. This dog is seriously adorable. And she hates it when strangers get in her face or in her space right away.
I have finally taken to informing people "She bites." No matter what caution I say, people dash up and get in her face, try to pick her up or otherwise make her feel as though she is under attack. Fracking rude! And stupid.
The most frequent comment I hear is "But I love wiener dogs."
Love from a distance, please. Or ask for permission.
Posted by: LauraGr at September 4, 2010 12:41 AM
@LauraGr - I have had that experience with parents letting their kids run up to my dogs when we are walking them. The border collie thinks kids are sheep to be herded up. I too have to say, "He bites."
And this is more selfishness on my part than rudeness of others, but I get annoyed when there are lots of 10 and under kids running around at the dog park. Poor Oz has to stay on the leash for those occasions.
Posted by: laura.u at September 6, 2010 3:08 PM
I bike six days out of seven in a state park near my house. It's a great big park, thousands of acres, lots of trails, some really rugged and isolated, so I letting the dog off the leash. I'm cool with it long as you can control your dog, or at least make an effort. At least once a week I am chased or otherwise threatened by a dog with a clueless or careless owner. In these cases I just stop and stare at the owner if he or she is nearby and ask them to control their dog. This never works. I always get "just ride away" or am told it's my fault for scaring the dog.
Last week the same dog chased me for like the fifth time, barking and snapping. I screamed at it really loud and scared it so badly it turned and ran the other way fast. The owner nearly had a heart attack.
Posted by: Tom S at September 8, 2010 4:51 AM
"(I think there is a serious correlation between unsocialized/exercised dogs and yapping incessantly.)"
I think for some dogs that is true. I don't take my dog for walks because he is dog-aggressive. We adopted him at 7, so I have no idea what happened to make him this way. I can tell it's a fear aggression and he made progress in training class, but he was always stressed. So, we figured there's no point in stressing him out like that. He's good and would learn to deal with other dogs, but I don't think he'd ever enjoy their company, so what's the point? We fenced in the yard and he's happy there. He only barks when he hears something or someone comes to the door (and the occasional doorbell on TV). When he does, it's one or two barks and he's made his point.
Once, a huge dog came running up to us. The owner was a good 100 feet behind him. I screamed to the owner that our dog is dog-aggressive, but he just thought it was funny and did almost nothing to recall his dog. By the time he got close enough to us for me to snarl "Get your f*cking dog away from us!!" at him, my dog had slipped a leg out of his harness and was in full lunatic mode. We got him calmed down. Luckily, we weren't far from home. Our trainer told us that we should have just let him go. The other dog wasn't leashed and being on a leash probably made him feel more threatened. Yeah, right. My dog is a Pit mix with a big, doofy Pit face. You don't think I know what would happen if he had gotten into a fight?
The animal control officer in our town even told me to register him as a Lab Mix, not a Lab/Pit mix....after we had to call her because he was attacked by two other dogs off their leash. He was in our yard before it was fenced...on a leash...being supervised. The owner of the dogs had the nerve to blame US for calling animal control. Well, we did, but she was already on her way because of several calls about them. Dog owners like that give all of us a bad name. RUDE!
Posted by: Kimmy at September 8, 2010 8:11 PM
I have a good dog owner, story!
I was walking on a wooded trail with my Dad like we do every week. There's usually not a whole lot of people or wildlife, but we'll see the occasional bunny. I heard leave rustling behind me, so I glanced back to see a huge shepard mix coming at me. He was on leash, but his owner was still around the last bend, so at first it looked like he was running lose. It startled me a little and the owner noticed, so he stopped and recalled his dog right back to his side. He just sort of looked at me apologetically for a minute until I realized he probably thought I was scared of dogs. I told him I wasn't and even gave the pooch an ear scratch as they passed. He was so cute and such a good boy! I just thought it was really considerate of the owner to recall his dog thinking that I was scared. Most people probably wouldn't even have noticed the slight jump I made when I saw him.
Posted by: KImmy at September 8, 2010 8:30 PM
This morning at 4:30am I (and all of my neighbors) woke up to a screeching, barking dogfight on our street. Two separate joggers, with evidently grumpy unsocial dogs, stopped to socialize. And their dogs evidently weren't happy about the situation. Hey, my block empathized with that much, anyway.
Posted by: Jessica F. at September 13, 2010 10:06 PM
at the time i had 2 dogs, a shepherd-pitt mix (i dare you to be scared of her) and a shepherd-great dane mix, who happened to be a puppy at the time. well, i grant that he didn't LOOK like a puppy, he was bigger than my other full grown dog, but he in fact was 5 months old. so i'm at the dog park, and this guy's standard poodle - no lie - had started 3 dogfights in the 10 minutes since he'd gotten there. my puppy - did not get the brains in the litter - decided this dog was alpha male, and he needed to please him. kept running over to this damn poodle. twice he came back. the third time, poodle had him pinned on his back, and he couldn't get up. so i go up to the guy. i said, if you don't control your dog, i will. maybe not the best method. but i was pissed. guy says, what's wrong with him? i said your dog has started three fights since you got here, and he's got my puppy pinned. he says, well keep your dog away from him then. i point out the fact that it's against the clearly stated rules to bring vicious dogs to the dog park. he starts yelling that he's going to kill me, i'm a fucking - i stared him straight in the eye, i was hoping he'd say dyke, since i am one - but he said bitch. got an inch from my face, yelling that he was going to kill me. i now know why his dog is vicious. i back up, you know, to get back some space - i do not react particularly well to people yelling at me from an inch away, it tends to send me into panic mode - he comes towards me, and i pushed him. i shouldn't have, i realize, it wasn't actually intentional, more of a reflex. so now he's grabbing my coat with one hand, his fist back to punch me, and at this point i'm telling him to have at it, i need dental work on that side anyway, because i have learned from experience that cowering in these situations will not work. the guy's friend eventually pulls him off me. my shepherd-pitt mix? my "guard dog"? sits their calmly chewing a stick the whole time. the puppy had the excuse of being a puppy. the other people at the park? afterwards, they're like, omg, he was really gonna kill you. and i say, i know, i was there, and i know you all had cell phones...
Posted by: me at June 20, 2011 9:22 AM
This is more along the lines of ANTI-pet rudeness.
We live in a LIVESTOCK ZONED suburb, where you are explicitly allowed to keep horses, cattle, goats, chickens, sheep, llamas, ducks, whatever. People who live here, either want the animals, or, at least, don't mind them. I was fortunate enough to be born and raised here, but a lot of our newer residents spend a lot of money, at today's prices, to be able to buy a livestock property within reasonable commuting distance of a city that has decent jobs. It's one of the few places left around here where you can still effectively live in the country yet work in the city as most of us, sadly, must.
But from time to time you'll get newcomers who move in, without doing due diligence, and then shortly start complaining about the critters. The number one complaint is probably horses, which "distrupt" traffic and drop manure on the parkways and road shoulders, and the number 2 complaint is probably crowing roosters, but just about every critter has been complained about at some point.
The arrogant newcomers have the unmitigated gall to try to change the rules! I want to scream at these people:
HEEELLLLLLOOOOOO!!!!!! This has been a livestock zoned neighborhood since the 1950s! It's one of the last in this area! If you want a nonlivestock lifestyle, you have a lot of other nice places, not far away, where you can live! We don't have anywhere else to go!
ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!
Posted by: van Rooinek at July 12, 2011 1:58 AM
We have a bunch of parks here with off-leash dog areas. In our county, children under 8 or 9 (I forget which) are NOT allowed in these fenced areas. They all have signs to this effect.
One of the sponsor groups for one of the parks started putting in some agility-type equipment. One was a ramp up and down to a low & wide (by competition standards) plank. I went to the park one day and two kids, probably 6 & 7 were playing on and under it throwing dirt in the air. Mind, this is the dust-dirt of a dog park, so that's just nasty. I was sort of shocked until I saw a woman with a poorly behaved dog... walking around with an infant in a front-carrier!
I do not personally have a problem with kids in these parks, but that's just dangerous. Dogs jump when running and playing. She said it was her first dog and she'd had it a week. She clearly didn't read the (huge) sign, but major lack of common sense. This park is big and there are HUGE dogs that go there. They've knocked me over by accident, and her baby could have been seriously hurt even by the well behaved dogs, just by accident.
Posted by: Shannon M. Howell at June 5, 2012 9:40 PM
We're in an off leash dog park when a jogger from the adjoining non-dog park comes through. A small dogs starts running along with the jogger. Then the jogger stops and yells at the dog owner, "there are leash laws in this town". Whereupon the dog owner (female) responded, "what the hell are you doing out of the house then?"
Posted by: xiphos at June 17, 2012 7:39 PM
Stopping dog barking can be a real challenge and an embarrassment if you have visitors or neighbors watching and your dog is not trained. By working with your pet to make him good at it, you will not only spare yourself the grief but also impress people with how well your dog behaves.
Posted by: Lawrence at September 8, 2012 9:13 AM
my behind me neighbors mad me HATE little dogs. The stupid thing yaps aaaaaaallll night. I guess they don't have the dog anymore and I don't know what happened to it and I don't care. I was lying awake one night wondering how much freaking air those little lungs could hold. I know they could hear it from the back yard, did they not think about the rest of the neighborhood... RUDE!!!
Posted by: Sydnee at September 26, 2012 11:16 PM
I'm the owner of a small dog that I do try to train not to jump on people he greets. Virtually no one will help back me up on it, however, and this makes it very hard to do. He's a Havanese and by temperament loves people and most people he meets take to him, too much in fact. I tell him not to jump, and they say, "Oh, that's OK!" and encourage him to jump on them! No, no it isn't OK! I'm trying to train him not to do that!
Posted by: PA at October 15, 2012 1:34 AM
I live in a neighborhood in which there are several people who never keep an eye on their dogs and or keep the gates and fences closed to keep them from going out....
There is this one house which the owners never keep the gate closed and there have been times in which their dogs have gone out and started chasing me and I have to run until I reach my house.
In addition, the worst one is when parents allow their children out in front with their dogs and fail to supervise the dog and the child. Once, their dog started chasing me and this girl about 5 or 6 years old told me to stop running away. Well, I don't know if her dog has any diseases and number 2, both the girl and her mother are supposed to be watching their dog in the first place and none of this would happen.
I do like dogs, but I wish owners would pay more attention to their dogs and not let them run loose.
Posted by: Anonymous at December 29, 2013 2:48 PM
My biggest gripe is the inconsiderate owners who allow their small children watch the dogs without any parental supervision. Once, this lady allowed her THREE year old daughter to watch the dog-bad idea. The dog went towards me and my sibling and my sibling basically told this rude inconsiderate woman to watch her dog. The next time that happened, we would call the animal control. Well, apparently she got the message after that.
Posted by: anonymous at February 19, 2014 5:04 AM
What irks me are owners who do not properly maintain their fences and gates. The reason it drives me nuts is that weak fences can encourage dogs to escape, run away, or bite an innocent person. There is this one house by a bus stop in which the fences are very poor condition and the dog uses that as an advantage to peek through and threaten innocent pedestrians who are simply trying to mind their own business. Just recently, the dog was exhibiting bizarre behavior and was attempting to climb over the broken fence and one of the pedestrians had to gently tap on the fence to discourage the dog from escaping. A few minutes later, the owner came out to check up on her dog and never apologized for her dog's behavior, worse, she never supervises her dog ever.
People who cannot keep their gates and fences up to code and keep a better eye on their pets should not own any pets.
Posted by: Upset Commuter at March 31, 2014 8:16 PM
Our next-door neighbor got two new, small dogs with some high-falutin' pedigree. Their manners are awful. They are both male, and they BARK AT US IN OUR YARD! It's not an isolated thing. Unfortunately, we have a long yard, and to get to our carport, we have to walk parallel to the fence line. The dogs follow us the length of the fence line and bark at us deafeningly the whole time. They even sometimes bark at us when we're inside our house if we leave the window open and they see us. I've told our neighbor how nerve-wracking this situation is for us, and her response? 1) People have dogs, and we should get used to this; 2) Her dogs' barking bothers her, too, so we shouldn't feel alone, and 3) She could buy some dark mesh for the fence to block out the dogs' view if we pay her for half of it. Incidentally, we don't have a dog. We have a poor old cat who also suffers with all the barking. We actually find ourselves avoiding the north side of the house because of those dogs.
Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2014 1:41 AM
A company just sent me one of those ultrasonic machines that is supposed to stop dog barking but there isn't enough of a problem here (from my neighbor) for it to make a difference. But you might try one.
Posted by: Amy Alkon at August 8, 2014 2:14 AM
The house to the south of mine is a rental. They have an in ground pool in their back yard. They'd leave their corgi mix in the back yard when they'd go out. One day, I got home and kept hearing a dog howling. Looked over the fence and realized that the dog had got into the pool and couldn't get out. Fortunately, they never locked their gate so got into the back yard and rescued the poor thing. He was shivering and water logged.. Dried him off and took him in the house until the neighbors came home - we took him back and told them that if they couldn't take better care of their dog then we'd take him. The dog was very close to drowning. Thank goodness they never left him unattended in the back yard again..
Posted by: Kat at September 3, 2015 10:30 PM
I live in So Cal suburbia and don't get people who move out and abandon their pets - leaving them to fend for themselves.
Been here for several years and have ended up taking in 8 cats that have been abandoned and left to fend for themselves. That doesn't include all the starving cats I've fed over the years.. Think there's a feline twitter or bulletin board somewhere that lets them know that they'll always get a handout..
Posted by: Kat at September 3, 2015 10:35 PM