My Soapbox for the day...

Ok, let me preface post with: 1) I love animals, particularly dogs. We don't personally have a dog because I'm not prepared to deal with the maintenance of a dog with the ages of my kids. 2)I like to think of myself as a good neighbor (you see where this is going, don't you?). Feel free to ask around (well, except for the family to the right of us...)

Here's the story:
Our neighbors moved in about 1 year ago. They had 2 small, barking dogs. We tried to ignore it for about 6 months. This wasn't just any ole barking dogs-- it's was the hour upon hour barking dogs. Finally, I talked to the wife, and she apologized. She told us that one of the dogs (the main barker) was getting ready to be put down b/c he was old, blind, and could barely walk. I was assured that once this happened, the problem would stop. Ok, fine. We endured another month or so of barking until finally, said dog was indeed put down. Enter puppy beagle. Now, I know what you're thinking: that darned beagle is going to pick up the barking where the dead dog left off. That's where you'd be wrong.

The other dog (some sort of terrier...maybe a Westie?) picked up the barking slack. This went on for about 4 months before I ever said anything. Maybe it was just adjusting to the new addition (i.e. the Beagle). The dog barked for about 3-4 hours each day-- NONstop, from about 4-8pm. We even had several nights that the dog would bark ALL night long, waking us up every hour throughout the night. This wasn't the a-bark-bark here and a bark-bark there. This was constant barking, like you might have thought the dog was going to keel over from barking so much.

Finally, about 2 months ago (mind you, this has been going on for 10 months!), I went and knocked on the door to request AGAIN for them to please bring in their dog. I was "greeted" by the husband, who informed me that dogs bark. REALLY? I had no idea. I told him that I understand some barking, but I felt that more than 2 hours of barking was too much. He said, 'sorry, the dogs have to go out.' I responded with "well, do you think that once they start barking you could bring them in?" He pretty much said nope and to get over it. Ok, fine. You want to play that way? I would occasionally go over and knock on the door to ask them to bring the dogs in. Even when they were home, they wouldn't answer the door. I could see the TV on, hear them talking, but they refused to answer the door.

Another month goes by. About a month ago, I started researching the Fort Worth city noise ordinance. What did I find? I found a link to the animal control sector, which talks about barking dogs. Low and behold, it's NOT ok to let your dogs bark that much. So, I gave them a call and filed a complaint. In case you've never done this, here's how it works: within 72 of the filed complaint, they pay a visit to the barking dog's owners. After that visit, if/when I hear barking, I keep a log. After at least 10 logged days, I can take them to court. With enough evidence, the courts can elect to take the dogs away. Obviously, this is not desired, even by me. But, I felt that I had no choice. So, I started my log.

Surprisingly, the barking got MUCH better. There was still the occasional 2-3 barking session (which I did log), but it wasn't daily as it had been before. I had high hopes that the call to animal control solved the problem (despite the husbands protests).

This past Friday, after we got the kids down for naps (around 3pm), we heard them let out the dogs. (Every time I say that, I can't help but start singing "Who let the dogs out"). We were doing some gardening/flower planting. Dogs started barking. We were having a dinner party later that evening, and we were planning to do it all outside. We figured SURELY they will bring the dogs in by then. NOPE. They barked the entire time we were outside, except for the few times that we shouted at them to shut up. While we had a wonderful evening with friends, it put a major damper on the evening. Everyone left at 8:30...still barking. We go to bed at 10:30...still barking. We're going on over 7 hrs here.

Dave finally tells me to call the police. It's one thing when we're awake and it's annoying. It's quite another thing when we can't even sleep because of it. I felt a little silly calling 9-1-1, but what else were we to do? We weren't for sure if they were home-- TV was on, a million lights on, but no one was answering the door. The police said that they would send someone out when an officer was available. We figured it would be at least an hour or longer. I decided to make 1 last effort at knocking on their door. No answer. While I was walking back to our house, we heard sirens. Then, 2 cops pulled around the corner. I have no idea why they used their sirens. Maybe they were bored and just wanted to let loose a little. Anyhoo, to make this LONG part of the story a bit shorter: the cops concluded that no one was home (after LOTS of LOUD banging on the door, and shouting: "This is the Ft. Worth Police. Open up." Very official sounding... They gave us some suggestions: keep filing complaints, blah blah blah.

Just as they were getting ready to leave, guess who comes home? Yep, the barking dog's owner. I have no idea what the cops said to them, but as they were walking to their house the super nice husband looked over at us and shouted "JERKS" and stomped in the house. What I didn't say, but wanted to: "THE FEELING IS MUTUAL!"

Just when you think this story is over, you'd be wrong. Last night, I was out for a girls night out. Dave was in the driveway getting ready to take the boys to the park. Well, our super friendly husband neighbor approached Dave and started shouting at him. He claims he used to be a cop, and that he has cop friends. He told Dave that if we want to play hardball, he'll play. He said that he will be watching us and any time we so much as cross the line he will turn us in (we have no idea what line he's talking about). He did tell Dave that we better not ever have expired tags or inspection, etc. Dave says he was pretty irrational and almost crazy. Dave told him that we weren't trying to be bad neighbors, but that we felt like we had no other choice because they weren't doing anything about the situation. Dave left, took the kids to the park, and returned about an hour later. This time, the wife comes over to talk to Dave. She is much more sane-- apologizing, in fact, for her husband. She said that they will do everything in their power to limit the barking dog. She would like to visit with me about some possible options (since, let's face it, the dog is going to HAVE to be outside sometimes. I understand this!!! I really do.). I haven't had a chance to go over and talk to her yet, but I am hopeful that things are going to be much better...