Last night at 10:30 I was upset to hear the dog barking, waited a while, walked to their home and rang the bell at 11PM, no one was home. I took the gracious note I had written earlier and wrote on the envelope that I was dropping it after 11PM as the dog was barking and keeping people up.
I got a call from the DH this morning, he is out of town and wife was home, he said. Coincidentally the dog was barking, had been for a couple hours. He asked if I could see the dog and I told him I was inside my home!
Long story short, he fibbed a bit, but I think it was face saving: “Oh, we have not had a complaint in over a year” (um, you moved here last July and I called it in last fall!) and “can you take a picture so I know which dog?” (right)
Anyway he said his wife was home, but I saw no sign of her. Two hours later I texted him a recording of the dog still barking, he reported the wife will buy a new battery for the bark collar.
Another neighbor told me it is better to deal with the husband so I am glad he called, not her.
The ‘only a Mom would go there’ good news is that I asked him a question about where he was which led to a discussion of sports played and he and DD have both played an unusual sport; we talked about positions and experiences and I then found out he used to live in DD’s home town, near us, 1300 miles from here. I asked those nosy Mom questions that make teens cringe and maybe, just maybe, we bonded a wee bit. I am hopeful this allows him to see us as real people who deserve quiet enjoyment of their home and that they (She) will not stop putting on the bark collar!
I have also witnessed the problem of neighbors leaving dogs outside in bad weather: one time a thunderstorm with very heavy rain, another time in bitter cold. This makes me angry.
As far as dogs being outside in the cold, that varies based on type of dog. Our great pyrenees is perfectly happy out in the cold, most of the time he won’t even get in his dog house. It would be miserable and possibly dangerous for him to be inside the house during cold weather, if the thermostat is comfortable for us then he is going to be hot. He will get in his house if it is stormy but only sometimes when it is raining, often he will lay out in the rain rather than getting in his house. I don’t understand it but that’s just the way he is, he doesn’t want to come in the house.
OK @HeartofDixie good point. I’ve only had dogs that cared more about being where we were than anything else. But my vet told me about his Berner that stayed outside in the snow, wouldn’t come in, wouldn’t move, until there was a mound of a couple inches snow on him!
I figured that the dog out in the bitter cold was not happy given that he was barking vigorously in a way that communicated to me that he wanted to be inside. I was inside when I heard him barking half a block away.
I have a Berner too. It’s 40 degrees today and she went for a swim. If it’s cold she prefers to be outside and is loving life when snow is on the ground. Once it hits the 70s she prefers to stay inside or in the river.
My dog loves to go for walks or for someone to come outside and play with him, he just doesn’t want to be in the house. He wants to be with us, but for us to be outside not him inside. When the weather is nice enough for us to spend more time outside he is happier, he loves the cold and I don’t think he understands why we don’t want to stay out in the cold. He never seems to bark like some dogs do because they are unhappy, he will bark when we go in or out to make sure he gets our attention and he barks when an animal or something comes near. It is never prolonged and I think he is just being protective or playful at times.
The reputable breeder we use said they keep their Australian shepherds outdoors 24/7 and they do fine, even when it was -28 degrees F. We leave our two Aussies out in any temperature, but if it’s below 5 degrees F, I bring them in after a couple of hours. They’ll stay inside for a little while and then they start pacing because they want to get back outdoors.
I think I need to install something to transmit a noise notification to me when we are not here. I am still texting the owner repeatedly, they always address it quickly, but I think the brother who lives in the garage (!?) and owns the dog is not buying in.
I see Noise Aware, but that takes the $200 indoor device plus the $100 outdoor piece, now I am searching for a camera that will notify me based on noise not just motion.
I’ve only had dogs that cared more about being where we were than anything else. But my vet told me about his Berner that stayed outside in the snow, wouldn’t come in, wouldn’t move, until there was a mound of a couple inches snow on him!