Nasty Neighbors

It has come to my attention that my sweet sister has a nasty neighbor.

How can this be?

My sister is terrific! She's the best!


Let me fill you in:
Auntie and Uncle Bug got married in September and moved from California to Colorado immediately after their honeymoon. They found a lovely new home in a subdivision - complete with yard for their two dogs. Terrance is a sweet dog, but doesn't do change well. (Heck - I don't do change well!) He gets nervous when his routine is disturbed and the move was very hard for him.


Auntie Bug goes off to work in the morning and Uncle Bug - a self-employed man - is home unpacking, working, and off to a meeting now and then. Uncle is not gone all that long and really most of his day is spent at home working in his office with Terrance at his feet.


One day, Auntie arrives home to find that the dog officer has been to her house and they now have a $50 fine to pay because Terrance was barking. Excuse me? Ummm he's a dog! He's supposed to bark.

Anyway, I digress... Auntie and Uncle go to the HOA meeting and discover, to their dismay, that their neighbors to the rear of them (how appropriate!) are obnoxious twits who hate dogs. Auntie and Uncle make nice and ask around to the other neighbors to try find out if Terrance is disturbing anyone else. No - he isn't. They ask their next door neighbors if there is a problem with Terrance barking - Nope. Their next door neighbor takes their contact info and tells them he'll call if he hears Terrance barking at all.

Auntie and Uncle receive a court summons. Not only do they have a fine, they have to go to court because their dog is barking. The judge says they have to put an elecrical collar on their dog that will shock him if he barks. Auntie is "upset" - ok she's rip roaring mad. That's cruel! That's nasty!! The judge also tells her that if she can't control her dog he might be put down. He's barking (maybe) - not biting!!


Auntie and Uncle go over to the neighbors with a plate of cookies and a list of contact information. The neighbors refused to answer - they were home!! Auntie and Uncle wrote letters to the Nasty Neighbor that had all of their contact information so that if the dog barked they could be contacted immediately. Needless to say, the certified letter was never picked up at the post office, the ones left in the mailbox were obviously ignored. I'd say that Auntie and Uncle have tried to be nice.

Auntie and Uncle hire a dog shrink. The shrink says that the dog is still worked up from the move - no foolin'! He needs time to settle in. (Really? No kiddin'!!) Uncle works from home and tries to limit his time away from the house so that Terrance won't be alone. Everytime he arrives home, he finds the dog is konked out in the office and not barking.

Anyway - fast forward to yesterday. I received an email from my sweet sister. It seems this Nasty Neighbor taped a note to her garage while she and Uncle were out to dinner. It said:

"Neighbor,
I feel that I have been very patient in regards to your dog constant barking. I can always tell when no one is home because your dog barks the entire time. I don't have any suggestions, but you, as a pet owner should research options. I'm not the only resident complaining just the only one that has decided to speak up."

It was left unsigned. How NASTY can you get? There is nothing neighborly about these people at all! They refuse to answer the door. They don't accept mail. Talk about needing a shrink!!

It seems these people hate all dogs and all people who have them. The next door neighbor told them a story about when a dog walker missed a poo pile, those people put the poo on a newspaper and left it on the doorstep of the dog owner. Give me a break!!

I am worried about Terrance's future... as are Auntie and Uncle.

How can people be so cruel??

LadyBug