Wednesday 24 February 2010

Going to the dogs

One of the things that I can never understand is how people who have pet dogs seem to think that everyone should put up with their constant barking, let alone shitting and pissing all over other people's lawns. How the their rights to have a dog and the dog basically making a nuisance of itself override the rights of other people to have a bit of peace and quiet. Or to walk down the street or through the park without worrying about being mauled by someones pet.

In our street there are several small
yappy dogs that will bark from time to time. One in particular gets right up my nose as it's owners tie it up in front of the house where it barks at anything that moves past.

I live in a fairly new subdivision, the houses are plonked on fairly small sections and are all pretty close to the road. Make a lot of noise, have a loud argument or have the stereo turned up full noise and everyone in the street can hear it.

Tie the dog up outside the front door and there are only a few metres to the footpath. Through the long summer evenings that people enjoy walking in it yaps at everybody that strolls past. Don't the owners hear the bloody thing barking. And how do they put up with it? That is what I can never work out.

This is one of the fundamental questions of the age and can be applied to the people who decide around midnight to turn the stereo up as far as it can go or start mowing the lawn at 7pm on a Sunday night. Don't they think about the noise they are making or don't they care?

I know I don't any more. I have DVD full of Sex Pistols songs to play when I get annoyed and I no longer worry about what time I crank my motorbike up when I want to service it or give it a test run.

If you can't beat them, join them and make their lives a misery.

If I had my way I would ban all dogs from residential areas. Not a popular idea I grant as all those people that practice anthropomorphism where their dog is concerned would immediately be up in arms. Maybe they should all just get a life and learn a little bit about respnosibility.

But if we are all going to live in relative harmony with our neighbour's we have all got to learn that we can't always do what we want to and need to think a little about how our actions impact on others. Having a small yappy dog that annoys people is one of those things. So while I might like to I don't respond the way I would like.