Barking dog

[cyber-sibes]

OK, it's after 5 am and I can't go back to sleep. The neighbor put his dog out & it has been barking every 30 seconds for the past 1 1/2 hours. I kid you not. We had a thunderstorm, we woke up. Then this dog started barking. That was an hour and a half ago. I just walked out back to see which neighbor, and saw their dog standing at the back door of his house, the lights are on, & he's barking and barking and barking like he's got an ever-ready battery in him.

Should I:
1. Continue to ignore him & lose a night's sleep?
2. Go down the hill myself & ring the doorbell till someone comes down & lets him in? (hey, I could ring it every time he barks!)
3. Go get the address, call the cops, & let them handle it.

I'm inclined at this point to go throw a rock at the bedroom window.... probably not a good idea.

What would you do?

[Ginger's Mom]

Good question. If it was a neighbor whom I somewhat know (e.g. I wave at them as I walk the dog past their house), I would go to the house and speak with them myself. If it is someone I don't know at all (have never seen) I would probably call the police and ask them to check out the situation. But, hopefully by now you are back in bed catching up on your sleep.

[Pam]

Good question. If it was a neighbor whom I somewhat know (e.g. I wave at them as I walk the dog past their house), I would go to the house and speak with them myself. If it is someone I don't know at all (have never seen) I would probably call the police and ask them to check out the situation. But, hopefully by now you are back in bed catching up on your sleep.

Totally agree with Joyce. By asking the police to "check out the situation" is not like just a complaint call. Often dogs alert us that something is just not right.

[4 Dog Mother]

Wow, that's a tough one. We had a neighbor call us anomously one time because Oreo was barking DURING the day and they were trying to sleep - we rarely let our dogs bark more than a few minutes unless we cannot get to them for some reason. I guess because you don't know the neighbors, I might call the police. But if you want quicker relief, I guess I would go over and ring the bell. A lot of help I am, huh?

[cyber-sibes]

But if you want quicker relief, I guess I would go over and ring the bell.

This is what I ws thinking of doing, but at 4 am during a storm I was just too lazy to follow through. I came on Pet Talk and then browsed dog blogs till 5:30, & tried to go back to bed. The dog continued to bark until almost 7 am. You'd thnk he'd be hoarse after 3 1/2 hours of continuous barking, wouldn't you?

I've talked to the guy there once, but I'll go past on my daily dog walk & see if anyone is home. Maybe I'll leave a note asking them not to leave the dog out all night anymore. This was highly unusual, this dog barks alot, but it usually sleeps inside. If it becomes a habit, we'll have to call the cops.

Thanks for bearing with this cranky sleep deprived dog lover!

[Rachel]

I wonder if the owner left or something and forgot the dog was outside. On the other hand maybe the guy was inside and *fell and he couldn't get up*. It just seems odd as that type of barking should be enough to annoy the owner as well as everybody else.