i know i've posted before that the woman across the road from me has several
dogs. a smooth fox terrier, two borzoi, and four or five whippets. the
whippets used to live inside her home, but have recently moved to the
outdoor kennels. and let me tell you, those dogs are LOUD. i had never
heard whippets bark before. they can make some seriously annoying noise!
when we moved in, the fox terrier was recovering from being debarked.
apparently our next door neighbor had complained about the noise of the
dogs. so she cut out one of the dog's vocal cords so he couldn't bark. but
he still makes a lot of noise, as do the rest of her dogs.

i'm afraid to say anything to her. i'm against the idea of debarking a dog.
i don't want to encourage her to do that to her other dogs. but they're
driving me nuts with their incessant barking and howling. my first thought
is that whippets are just not outside dogs, and belong in her home. but i
can't just say that to her. i'm at a loss for what to do here.

does anyone have any suggestions for how to approach this woman about her
dogs? i'm not the most socially graceful person out there, so any tips will
help.

i got such great advice on handling Lola's messing up of the neighbor's
home... i'm hoping to get more in that vein.

thanks so much!

-kelly

Kelly, as the woman has already had one dog debarked, she obviously
knows that barking dogs are a nuisance. HER barking dogs. Report her
to the police for nuisance noise... all you'll get from her are excuses.

However... debarking by a good vet is a lifesaving procedure....

The Whippets are barking because they have suddenly been kicked out of
the house.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia

Kelly, as the woman has already had one dog debarked, she obviously
knows that barking dogs are a nuisance. HER barking dogs. Report her
to the police for nuisance noise... all you'll get from her are excuses.

However... debarking by a good vet is a lifesaving procedure....

The Whippets are barking because they have suddenly been kicked out of
the house.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia

Kelly, as the woman has already had one dog debarked, she obviously
knows that barking dogs are a nuisance. HER barking dogs. Report her
to the police for nuisance noise... all you'll get from her are excuses.

However... debarking by a good vet is a lifesaving procedure....

The Whippets are barking because they have suddenly been kicked out of
the house.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia

Kelly, as the woman has already had one dog debarked, she obviously
knows that barking dogs are a nuisance. HER barking dogs. Report her
to the police for nuisance noise... all you'll get from her are excuses.

However... debarking by a good vet is a lifesaving procedure....

The Whippets are barking because they have suddenly been kicked out of
the house.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia

What is the temp there? Whippets can't handle cold temps, so there is probably
reason for them to bark. Can you talk to her? If not, report the nuisance
barking.

What is the temp there? Whippets can't handle cold temps, so there is probably
reason for them to bark. Can you talk to her? If not, report the nuisance
barking.

What is the temp there? Whippets can't handle cold temps, so there is probably
reason for them to bark. Can you talk to her? If not, report the nuisance
barking.

What is the temp there? Whippets can't handle cold temps, so there is probably
reason for them to bark. Can you talk to her? If not, report the nuisance
barking.

"culprit" wrote:
does anyone have any suggestions for how to approach this woman about her
dogs?

Wish I did. :} I have a similar situation next door. Not the barking -
calling the police at 5:00 a.m. last year did the trick. Now they chain her
instead of giving her the run of the yard and it *does* help with the
barking... but that was NOT the response I had in mind.

Anyway, he's a nice guy (*he* being the dad of the group, and the only one of
the family who apparently is aware there are dogs in his back yard). He loves
his dogs. Yes, dogs - now there are also two puppies. The pups kept escaping
the yard, so he built what looks like a little rabbit pen for them. Sigh.

I've had many long, tactful (as I can be) talks with him. I've even offered
him classes for free. I've used the words "cruel" and "chained" in the same
sentence. If it was up to him, all the dogs would be in the house. But the
wife is apparently not a dog-lover.

Meanwhile, three pit bulls are in his back yard 24/7 with very little human
contact. Somehow, showing the true resilience of the breed, they're all
people-friendly. Whether the two little boys will retain that friendliness as
they get older remains to be seen.

Gale, the adult, is now seriously dog-aggressive. Not with my girls - she
knows them. But strange dogs.

Sigh.

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Last updated June 27 at 10:00 a.m.