Dichroic Reflections

damned dog. or rather, damned human.

We may have to call the cops on a neighbor tonight. Someone down the block has gotten a new dog that barks ALL NIGHT LONG, and has for the last several nights. It's not that close, but it's just loud enough to be annoying. Last night it even kept Rudder awake, and he's been known to sleep through ringing phones. I'd have called last night, except I'm not sure which house the dog lives in. Then again, I suppose a police officer could easily have figured it out by listening.

I suppose I could go over and ask them to bring the dog in, but by the time it bothers me, I've usually gone to sleep and woken up again and am not inclined to get out of bed and go bang on a stranger's door. Last night the barking stopped at about 3AM, but I'd much rather not have been awake to know that!

Tonight, right before bed I'm going to walk down the block or on the bike path behind us and try to figure out which house it is, then take the cops' phone number to bed with me in case it doesn't stop at a reasonable hour. (Why would it? It hasn't for the last few days.) What I don't understand is, why can' dogs bark all night? I mean, physically. I'd be hoarse if I yelled for half an hour. Even my cats go hoarse after too much yowling. Why don't dogs have some sort of physical limits?

P.S. I use the term "neighborhood" loosely. What this is, is a subdivision. We say hi to the people on either side of us and wave at a few others when driving by, but otherwise we don't know the people on our street at all, and we've lived here nearly eight years. What I grew up in was a neighborhood, where on summer nights you sat on the steps and talked to the neighbors. If I lived in an actual neighborhood, I'd know who had gotten a dog and I'd know the people and could go over and ask them nicely not to let it outside to bark all freakin' night. (Ahem. Nicely, I said. It might have taken a little practice beforehand.) On the other hand, if the people who had the dog knew their neighbors, maybe they'd be a little less inclined to keep them awake all night.