That's not possible...seriously?

I'm about to rant about a dog owner in my neighborhood, but I'd like to preface first by saying that I know lots of people who own dogs and who have very nice, polite, quiet pets, and by no means am I making a generalization that all dog owners are irresponsible and inconsiderate.  I should also point out that I've never owned a dog, nor do I want to.  I like dogs just fine at a distance.  As long as they aren't jumping on me, shoving their noses in my crotch, barking, peeing on my shoes, drooling on my clothes, or licking me, they are ok in my book.  We didn't grow up with dogs; where I grew up dogs aren't treated as a child of the family.  Often, dogs are outdoor pets only, and are allowed in the house only when the temperatures get really chilly, but even then they may be allowed only in a garage or barn, or maybe a mud room.

So, we've lived in our house for 3 years now.  One of the things I love about our neighborhood is how quiet is is.  Often the only sounds are meadowlarks, a few planes shooting landings at the airport, and some kids playing over at the playground.  It's been very peaceful and is a place where you want to open your windows and let all the sounds and smells in on a nice day.

This all came to a screeching halt about 6 months ago.  Lots of new houses have been built along the lots that border our back fence.  We were happy to see the houses finished, cause that means no more construction, and we hope less dust when everyone gets their yards in.  Yay!  This spring one of the houses was sold to a couple and their dog, and whenever they go somewhere they kick it outside and let the neighborhood listen to it bark until they get home.  The dog is smart though, it seems to quiet down right when its owners pull into the driveway.  They apparently have no idea that the dog barks while they are away.

We've had many occasions over the past 6 months listening to this dog bark, one time the barking started at 8 pm and extended until midnight, which was causing tension in our household, since Matt needed to get up at 3:30 am for a 6 am flight out the next morning.  We didn't do or say anything to the neighbors, beings that we were sure one of their direct neighbors would talk to them about it.

Which brings me up to yesterday.  I was working at home and starting around 2:30 their dog starts to bark.  Now the barking isn't a constant minute after minute thing, however it does carry on for a good 15-20-30 minutes then takes a break, and then starts up again.  I'm not sure what is provoking the dog to bark, possibly the other neighbors cat is sitting on the fence make the dog go nuts.  Cat's are devilish that way.  Mind you, it's winter; I don't have any windows open, and I'm inside our house.  When it barks I can hear it in every single room in our house; it's that loud.  I finish up work around 4:00, occasionally going out to the kitchen to see if it looks like anyone is home in the house where the dog lives...they don't appear to be.  I can tell because their security bar is down on their sliding glass window that they let the dog in and out of.

I go pick up my little one, come home, and the dog continues to bark until 7:30 that night.  My 2.5 year old daughter even says at some point "dog barking!", and I say, "Yep, it must be lonely or scared."

At 8:00 I decide to grow some courage walk over there and talk to the owners about it, since they're finally home.  I feel that I owe them one "discussion" about it before I can call the police, so they have an opportunity to correct the situation.  When the owner opens the door, and I say, "I'm one of your neighbors, and I just thought you should know your dog has been barking all afternoon", to which the guy says to me "That's not possible."  What?!  Not possible?  I think my mouth fell open!  I couldn't believe what I was hearing!  So I said "Look, I realize that this is uncomfortable, and I wouldn't be over here knocking on your door unless I was very sure that it is your dog that's making the noise...I'm not going to come over and make up stories about your pet."  After a little more discussion he told me that noone has ever mentioned this to them and this is the first that they've heard of it - which is a total lie.  Discussing the dog one afternoon this fall with one of my neighbors, she told me that someone had actually called in a noise complaint to the police, although the dog owners didn't know who.  So clearly they know that someone else in the neighborhood, besides me, has issue with the dog being out barking all day/evening.

So now they know.  He went to far as to give me his cell number so when it happens again, I can call (mostly likely I will text), and let them know what's happening.  I'm hoping that we can return to the nice quiet neighborhood that we fell in love with when bought our house.  We shall see!

BTW - I'm finished with my neighborhood ranting now - back to the regular schedule programming of cute kid stories.