So I bought a house, as most of you know, and I do love my house. I love having my house on my property, not sharing walls with anybody. I love that I can run and jump and yell and crank the TV up and it doesn't affect my neighbors and I am unaffected when they do the same. I love that I get to paint my walls, change fixtures, take care of the yards, and have the responsibilities that come with the 'money pit,' as Mr. Betz so wonderfully put it.
This house does have one major drawback, though, and that is neighbors' dogs. A little one, a medium sized one, and a couple large ones fill up the entire audio frequency range. Don't take this to mean that I would give it up and go back to an apartment, absolutely not. For the majority of the time I don't hear them. In fact, in those times that I do, I have had a little fun trying to train other people's dogs for them.
The neighbors to the left have been fantastic neighbors and I love them already. Their dog is the one that for the first two weeks didn't allow me to even hear my alarm. Now I get to hit the snooze button as much as I want. With their permission, I keep a bucket of water next to the fence where the dog loves to bark. When I hear him going (which is less and less) I quietly run out there and use the cup I leave there to dump some water on his stupid border collie head. He hates it and runs away, barking inside, which I couldn't care less about. Now the dog is completely terrified of me and runs away at any sound coming from this side of the fence and all I have to do is bang a window and he runs away if I hear him at all.
The neighbors to the right have two labs, one chocolate and one yellow. These are big dogs with big barks. When they are inside their house and I am inside my house and all windows and doors are shut I can still hear them. When they're in the backyard, however, they are incredibly loud, and the neighbors don't seem to care too much. I have a different perspective on the matter. The yellow lab is the greater offender. The good news is that in preliminary tests he seems to be responding well to a sonic annoyer of sorts. When he barks, I have tested this device that basically screams back. I've only tried it on him this morning, but he immediately shut up and sauntered around the corner. I'll go ahead and mount the unit near they're yard and see if it works in the longterm. Otherwise I'm going to have to talk with the owners.
Lastly, to the back is a little shaved norfolk terrier. I would not have a problem running this yapper over with my car, and I am a dog lover. This guy thinks he can bark like the labs and likes to show it off. Trouble is that he hasn't responded well to the water or sonic treatments. He really gets going and is difficult to stop. I may just kill him.
I have heard good things from several people about the quality of dispute resolution between neighbors concerning dog barking in Sacramento County. The trouble is that I'm afraid of ruining a relationship with a neighbor before I've had much of a chance to establish one. It scares me a bit. I'm less concerned about the neighbor to the back since I have yet to see them, let alone meet them. I may end up going that route with them. I don't want to do that with the neighbors to the sides though. Might any of you have any suggestions or experience in this matter?
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