I LOVE dogs. I always have and probably always will. My family has owned several, being two corgis and a beloved mixed breed “SPCA special”.
All our dogs have barked from time to time — when someone knocked at the front door or when a mischievous cat was spotted on a fence or up a tree.
One of the corgis even barked while its dinner was being prepared. If we weren’t going so fast as to risk cutting off a finger — she wasn’t happy.
Such barking is natural and acceptable to most people. However, there exists in society a special breed of dog.
I call it the Dog-that-is-ignored-so-much-it-barks-to-entertain-itself breed.
These animals can be found in many parts of the country; most frequently in homes where people watch too much television or spend too much time on the internet.
All of which brings me to my current situation. I recently moved into a new home, in what I thought was a prime example of blissful suburbia.
However, I soon discovered that all was not well in my little world.
My bathroom window opens out onto the side of another property and on my first night in the new abode I discovered a little dog lives next door.
It is in the habit of barking for up to an hour in sustained bursts in the evenings and over the past few weeks it starts up as early as 5.30am. How its owners don’t hear it, or hear it but tolerate it, I do not know.
I have never heard them ask their dog to be quiet or let it inside the house to stop it from annoying the whole street. I have found myself lying in bed asleep, and suddenly there is a barking dog in my dreams. I slowly wake up and realise that it is not a dream, but my vibrant living hell.
I have never seen this animal but it must exist — unless of course it actually died some time ago and its ghost haunts the people who ignored it for so long.
The barking dog is one of those problems that will always be with us, like congestion on Auckland’s roads.
The goal is to find a solution to the problem. And that is something I am still working on, although ear muffs are at the top of the list.
