(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Kitchen Table Kibitzing ~ 9.4.23 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-09-04

Well, well, someone filed a complaint with Metro Nashville Animal Control that my dogs have been “disturbing the peace with constant and excessive barking”. Excessive barking is against the law as is keeping animals that disturb the peace.

Oh, this is going to be fun.

I only have 4 neighbors and I talked to 3 of them who said my dogs don’t bother them. The one who works from home says they only bark when a strange car comes down our cul de sac. They don’t even bark at the mailman.

Someone has a problem with my boy Cooper?

I will admit that these are the barkiest dogs I’ve ever had! Cooper especially. OMG! He barks, he growls, he even mutters under his breath. I finally have a dog who talks as much as I do! He also has this nervous very annoying bark — “arf, arf...arf arf...arf arf...”.

Now that one I’m trying to fix. Both of my boys are nervous guys. When I rescued them, they had been living in a cage pretty much 24/7, so my job has been to get them used to the world. I haven’t done such a great job of that, having had at least 2 surgeries in the last year since I got them.

They have met and played with tons of dogs, kids and people though, and after a year with the continued nervousness, they are now on anti-anxiety meds. Hopefully this will help.

I’m also trying to make a dream back yard for them like this guy did. I’ve been trying to collect old playground equipment from garage sales and off Craigs list. I do have a pool (like a baby pool) but they don’t get in it, so I bought them a pool that is a bit like a fountain; water comes splashing up from many places when the hose is attached. They love to bite at the water.

A lot of dogs like going down slides, we’ll see if mine do.

I also finally got around to ordering some toys to keep their minds busy. My boys are red heelers and heelers are probably the closest thing we have to dingo’s here in the US. They usually have a job and while I have given them the job of keeping me company while I watch TV, that may not be enough for them.

I’ve ordered one of these for each of them, a snuffle mat, for them to seek out and find new life, um, or treats.

Also ordered a few of these. Supposedly heelers are really smart, but I swear, when a dog barks on TV in the den, they run to the front door.

Websters says excessive is “exceeding what is usual, proper, necessary, or normal”. I think it’s pretty normal for dogs to bark. There is a lot of wildlife in my neighborhood, rabbits, skunks, possums and deer who run down the middle of the street. All bark worthy event imo.

I don't know, it seems to me that dogs are gonna bark, kids are gonna scream and shout and drummers are gonna drum. I used to play drums and the police came after a complaint had been made. This is Nashville so the police officer was a drummer and told me I could only play till 10pm. I can do that.

What makes a bad neighbor. This link gives a list of 15 things that make you a bad neighbor. Barking dogs is number 2 on the list. Most of the things on the list don’t bother me at all. Got a lot of extra cars at your house? I don’t care. A yard full of gnomes, I don’t care. Political signs or flags? I don’t care. (Except for that one a neighbor hung across from the elementary school that said, “Fuck Biden”. I did think that was inappropriate.)

Mostly I think folks should just get a life, and mind their own business. That’s what I do.

Maybe I’m wrong though, maybe Cooper just thinks he’s the King of the dogs.

How are your neighbors? What kind of neighbor are you?

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/4/2191221/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-9-4-23

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/