Stand back everyone I’m going on a rant. Run, don’t look back, save yourself, I have passed irritated and have reached flat out cranky. I am working on three days of sleep deprivation and am pretty sure there will be a fourth and a fifth and so on. The reason for this new state, the weather has finally cooled off enough to allow us to open the windows and turn off the air conditioning. Refreshing you would think, but no, our neighbor has a Chocolate Lab puppy that is about nine or ten months old, a sweet loving and totally out of control monstrously large puppy. The neighbor’s will put the puppy out on a run I think just to get some away time from him. And what do puppies do when they are bored and have no one exercising, training and loving on them, puppies find ways to entertain themselves. They chew on inappropriate things like the deck, and furniture, dig up the yard and most of all, bark. Lucky us, the puppy is tied up outside our bedroom window.
The first night the puppy barked for an hour. He would bark nonstop for about five minutes, then stop for about five minutes lulling me into the false sense of relaxation, thinking that the neighbor had enough of him yapping and took him in. No such luck, he was just resting his vocal cords. This on and off barking continued on and on so that when the neighbor finally did take him in for the night, we were both so keyed up, neither one of us had any restful sleep. Getting up at two thirty in the morning for our work schedule makes for a short night anyway, but add only maybe a couple of hours of sleep and we have the start of short tempers. The second night we went to bed earlier because of the prior night’s lack of sleep and hoped for the best. The puppy started off again and barked his on and off routine for about forty-five minutes making another night of misery for us. Last night, he barked for an hour and a half. Mitch finally broke down and called the neighbor and left a message.
That was the whine, here comes the rant. I love dogs, but a barking dog grates on my soul. I cannot stand listening to a dog barking nonstop. If the dog starts barking go and check on the dog and find out why he’s barking. If it’s an intruder, shoot him and let the dog eat the intruder, the dog won’t be barking while he is eating. If nothing is wrong and the dog is just bored, get up off of your duff and go play with him. Run him around the yard throwing a ball, put him through some training drills or walk him. Anything to exercise his body and brain, but don’t leave the dog outside on a run to make the rest of the neighbors miserable.
I would be mortified if a neighbor called me to complain that my dogs were causing any inconvenience for them. I just don’t understand people anymore. What has happened to manners and thoughtfulness? The saddest part about the whole mess is that the puppy will probably be the one to suffer the most from our sleep deprivation. He will probably be kenneled more and for longer periods causing more out of control behavior or worse turned over to a shelter because the owners don’t want to deal with the problem.
Okay so much for my rant, I’m still tired and cranky, but I feel a little better getting that off my chest. Mitch and the dogs thank you too for letting me vent. Cross your fingers for us that maybe just maybe we might get a decent night’s sleep soon. That or pray for cold weather so we have to close the windows and turn on the furnace.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 
I wonder what the neighbour’s response was to Mitch’s complaint – I hope it wasn’t one of those “deal with it, bud” responses.
Some people should not be allowed to keep pets, I reckon.
The neighbor took the dog inside after about 5 minutes. Since Mitch is the codes enforcement officer telling him to deal with it would be a bad thing.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that it takes lots of work and attention to get a well behaved dog. They aren’t just born that way.
Like your last comment about dogs needing training. I think people often think they will just turn out all right – I spent the whole of Ruby’s first year at dog training. Killed me but paying dividends (mostly) now. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture:(
Thank you. I agree with you totally. We work with our dogs constantly and I think our neighbor has only seen the result of the ongoing training and believes that they just come that way.
Dogs require as much time and attention as children. Thanks again for making me feel better.
You’re welcome!
Dog owners should really be more responsible
I agree with you totally, sadly though a lot of people treat their pets like stuffed dolls that they take off the shelf occasionally to play with then ignore them and still expect perfection. It doesn’t work that way.
Oh poor puppy stuck outside and barking. Noting more irritating for neighbors.
When we introduce our dogs to being outside unattended in the run, we do it very gradually. First we put them out when we are out doing yard work. Then we put them out when we are home. This is so that if they bark, we can correct it and teach them not to bark. Then we put them out when windows are closed for longer and longer periods so they get used to it. Freighter has not been out for any length of time yet and he will be two in November. Thunder never barks but Storm will bark an alert. We make sure the neighbors know that they are to please let us know if she is barking too much. We also ask them when we see them. So far they say she is good.
I hope you get some rest soon.
I know, he is such a sweetie just out of control because he’s not getting the time and attention he needs. Mitch and I have talked about offering to work with him, but we’re afraid that it then becomes our responsibility and liability if something goes wrong.
Your way of getting the dogs used to being outside is the best that I’ve heard of yet. Hopefully he will get older and calmer and quieter. I have my fingers crossed.