The hound of Littlehampton

[Crunchie]

This is a true story.
I received a letter recently via postal delivery, “To the resident” with my actual address on the envelope. It was a hand-written letter, but the author did not attach their name or address. It told me that my dog was barking incessantly and, if I didn’t do anything about it, they would report me to the council.

I have drafted my response that I hope gets back to the author, via the community grapevine, in time for Halloween.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for alerting me to the fact that my dog constantly barks, and I apologise for the stress that this is obviously causing you.
It is also a little distressing for me, too, as my dog died about 10 years ago and I buried it in the back yard of our house that we lived in at the time.
I know that the new owners of our previous house have been digging up the back yard. I only assume that they disturbed the bones of the dog, and his ghost must have found its way home to our new house.
Perhaps, instead of threatening to report me to council, may I suggest that you contact an organisation that deals with the afterlife.
Yours faithfully,
Etc.

[rrich]

Further events?

[Crunchie]

The response has been interesting.

The owner of the “offending” dog met me and apologised for its barking and the trouble it caused. He was disappointed because he said he knows most of the neighbours and thought they would have made a personal approach instead of an anonymous letter sent through the post. He asked me to let him know if it barked while they were out in future. I assured him that his dog wasn’t the trouble; just a “half- cocked” neighbour. The dog is a beautiful 9-month-old Border Collie.

I also received a few funny responses, including a link to the Peter Sellers “Does your dog bite?” skit which I’ve always thought to be funny. I also received a few references to The Hound of Baskerville.

[Carry Pine]

Try living on a block with dogs on 3 sides whose owners don't give a rats about barking.
Thank goodness for workplace induced hearing loss.

[rrich]

Try living on a block with dogs on 3 sides whose owners don't give a rats about barking.
Thank goodness for workplace induced hearing loss.

I believe that the term is "a rat's donkey". LOL

[damian]

There are a lot of dogs in my area and most bark.


When my neighbours finished their house and moved in the german shepherd barked all day long when they were out.


I told them, not because it bothered me but it was obvious the dog was going hoarse (horse?) as each day wore on. I was concerned for it's wellbeing.


Anyway they got one of those collars on it and it stopped.


It occasionally escapes and comes over for a visit. Which is nice, but I am concerned about it getting on the road.

[rrich]

The house next to us has been a rental for over 25 years. We know the landlord as they lived there for about 5 years, just know not really friends. The house has always been rented to good families that became good neighbors. I have no idea what the landlord's technique was when picking tenants but the tenants were almost always a superb fit for the neighborhood. Those that were not superb were still very good.

The house was rented to a couple that owned a video rental store. Young but no kids yet. Typically I would drag their trash bins in from the curb on trash day and leave them next to the gate to the back yard. Not a big deal. Once they forgot to bring the trash bins out to the curb on trash day. I went into the back yard and dragged their trash bins to the curb. Again not a big deal. The next week the wife made husband leave the store that they owned and drag my trash bins back to the back yard gate. I'm thinking that this is a "Can't have a one upmanship going on" kind of thing. Since me dragging the bins out they had gotten a dog. The dog would bark a little, nothing annoying. Then one day during our typical autumn heat wave, the dog's barking changed. The dog didn't know me and I didn't want to go into the back yard. I dropped a large stainless bowl over the fence and then with a hose draped over the fence filled the bowl with water. I did that twice.

The neighbors finally came home from work. I told them what I had done. She tears into me with, "I wouldn't want you to think that we are abusing. . . . " I assured her no. And then I had to ask for the stainless bowl back. Which she reluctantly gave back to me. All I could think that I was glad that I wasn't married to her.

[jonsey850]

Sadly the majority of people who own dogs shouldn’t.

If the dog next door is barking it’s most likely because it’s bored or has gone insane from neglect (imagine yourself being locked in a backyard with no one to talk to).

Even if the barking doesn’t bother you should do something about it for the welfare of the dog. Be it talking to the owner (most likely a tosser) or calling the council ect.

Anyway just my 2c, I’ll stop now.

[Tonyz]

Paddy and his dear beloved move into a new house, unfortunately there is a dog next door that barks at night....
after 2 weeks Paddy frustrated as heck....
"Iama going to put a stop to this" he says, leaping out of bed down the stairs and outside in the middle of winter.

10 minutes later leaps back into bed satisfied, "that will fix it" he says.
"What did you do Paddy?" asks dear beloved.
" I brought the dog into our backyard, now see how they like the bloody dog barking all night".

[Chief Tiff]

Back when I lived in Victoria a young couple moved into the house next door and bought a dog which they declined to do much with except throw it in the back yard. Every evening it would go frantic with barking, howling and whining to be let in; as it was happening right outside my 4 YO daughter’s bedroom I had to keep going over and get them to let the poor animal inside. Rather than commit to training the dog, or play with the dog, or exercise with the dog; their solution was to buy a 2nd one on the understanding that the two would become company for each other. They were somewhat distressed to discover that not only did their animals fail miserably to just quietly play with each other but in fact they then had two dogs barking and howling and whining to be let in every evening. I was so happy when they all moved on!

[clear out]

We had a Jack Russel who was a bit of a nutter on escaping or trying to attack Alsatians whilst being walked on a lead.
As we were both working away from home and the kids were at school we thought another dog would be company for Jack.
So we got a small foxy cross.
She ended up being the boss and also learned all the escape tricks of Jack.
She also learned to jump up grab and grab the leg of the jeans or towel on the washing line and swing in the breeze. Jack did it once or twice but we had to hang stuff out of her reach.
Jack also once or twice tried the old hump your leg trick, he soon was persuaded this wasn’t a good idea.
Jessy however made this her party trick whenever we had visitors, they’d be shaking their leg and she’d hang on for dear life.
Their both carked it now but I sure miss em bloody ratbags and all.
H.

[rustynail]

It must be a JR thing. Working in the bush as a young fella, the boss was losing chooks to foxes at an alarming rate. His pet JR was of little help as the fox raids were nocternal and JR wasn't. He prefered to sleep the night through tucked up in front of the fire in the living room, building up energy for another morning of washing swinging to while the time away. The boss asked if I had any good ideas to get square with the foxes?
It was the dead of winter. I wasn't interested in sitting up with a shotty across my knees waiting for Reynard. My solution was a few rabbit heads, hung on no1 suicide fishing hooks passing through the eye sockets and suspended on fishing line from the eaves of the chook shed, about three feet off the ground. JR watched with great interest from the kitchen window as I set everything up. The boss and his missus were advised and it was agreed would be best if JR was kept in doors for the night.
Come the morning, there was JR swinging, less than happily, from one of the fish hooks!
He never jumped for the washing again and growled at my every passing.