Here is what I don't understand about dog owners

[Honeycombe8]

57. Dogs bark, birds sing, roosters crow. I'm surrounded by dogs...

It's a fact of life that dogs bark. There are 2 labs I can hear in my house from a neighbor out back (they are kept in the yard a lot, but are also taken inside, and I think they sleep in their garage). Those dogs bark a lot. There's a dog next door to me, but he doesn't bark, being old and sick (house dog let out sometimes for long periods). There are also 2 small quite loud yappy small dogs out back (they're house dogs that are let out at times). And I have 2 house dogs that I let out (they bark on occasional, but if I hear them bark to much, I tell them "QUIET" - they're trained to be quiet. If they're not quiet, I take them inside...no more play time! I try to prevent them from bothering the neighbors or ME.)

It may sound incessant at times to someone who is bothered by it, but in reality, dogs rarely stand there and bark constantly for hours. One or two dogs will bark a little while, then another dog nearby will bark a bit, then another one. Sometimes they hear something and they ALL bark simultaneously! That kind of barking usually doesn't last long.

I'm pretty understanding of it. Dogs bark. That's a fact of life. In fact, it's a good thing that dogs bark to let us know when there's a stranger in the alley. But sometimes it bothers me, esp if it's late (after 10pm is late to me).

What I do is:
I take it. It's not that big a deal to me. I have the attitude that I can't keep the world out of my yard or my ears or whatever. I also don't get upset when a possum lives under my storage shed, squirrels dig in my plants, or a stray cat passes through. Critters are part of the world, and my yard is part of the world...is my attitude.

But if it really bothers me, and once it did, I simply sleep on the sofa or end of house where I can't hear the dogs as much and/or put in earplugs.

But if it were really bad, I would simply call or leave a note on the owner's door politely telling him/her the dogs are barking at 9:00p.m. or whatever, that it was a problem or bothering me, and would they please do something about it.

I don't mean to say that barking bothering you is silly. It just may bother you more than some others - the owners for instance. When my dogs bark, not only can my neighbors hear them, but I hear them, too! Right now one of the labs is barking. .....Now he's stopped. Now he or the other lab is barking.......still barking.....now the barking has stopped. I know the owner of those dogs, and he sometimes tells them to be quiet, so he does shut them up sometimes. I worry most that neighbor dogs are being treated well, actually. I listen for sounds of loneliness or pain. That would disturb me to no end. More than barking.