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If you, as a pet owner, receive feedback that your pet (assume dog, but right now we have a neighborhood exotic bird owner) is a noise nuisance, do you automatically disbelieve the person? Believe?
Do you accept the possibility that your dog may be a barking nightmare when you're not home? Or do you dismiss the idea entirely?
And if you are aware, do you just have...immunity or something from being bothered by the excessive barking, kind of like how parents have reduced sensitivity to crying noises?
not completely sure what you are asking. i once had a neighborhood rooster crowing at 5 am. i think someone complained and he quickly went away. i've thankfully never had to be subjected to a dog that barks constantly. that would annoy me. if someone told me my dog was doing that when I was gone i would do something about it. it's not fair to the neighbors at all.
You're asking such hypothetical questions, so I'll bite.
Depends on the neighbor. Is the neighbor a busybody? Would the average person be bothered? Is this neighbor the only one to complain? Is the neighbor miserable (i.e. Kids are too loud. Kids walk on my lawn. Dogs bark. yada yada)
If you were more upfront with the specifics of the situation, that would garner an "honest opinion". Anything else is purely a guess.
I can give you real world - we got a puppy. Puppy went out to go to the bathroom, would bark on occasion (by on occasion I mean maybe two barks once ever 2-3 days). Neighbor was a miserable old shrew. She called animal control, who paid a visit. I answered the door ACO said "neighbor complained about your dog barking. I walked up to your fence and the dog was barking. I said yeah the dog was barking because you walked up to the fence, that's what dogs do. At the end of the day it was a puppy who grew out of it and would bar *at stuff like dogs do* but nothing above and beyond and I never heard from animal control after that initial encounter.
It always helps when the person complaining is unhinged to begin with and their reputation is well known.
I'm just curious if pet owners are highly inclined to disbelieve that their dog barks too much, or if they know it does but is either used to it, or something.
I'm just curious if pet owners are highly inclined to disbelieve that their dog barks too much, or if they know it does but is either used to it, or something.
I think that dogs often behave differently when their owners aren't around. If the dog has bad separation anxiety, it could manifest itself in excessive barking when the owners aren't at home. I know that's why my dog did until we were able to get him over the separation anxiety. So I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that someone is numb to the dog's barking - the behavior may simply be different.
My default would be to believe the complaint unless I had reason to know otherwise (e.g., complaint coming from a neighbor who likes to pick fights). If you don't believe it try to find out how often it happens and then drive around the block and walk back and see if you can hear it yourself before the dog knows you're back. That only works if it's fairly constant, but this is what we had to do when we were trying to determine if our dog was still barking in our absence.
Some pet 'parents' can be as or offended or angry as human parents, taking criticism in a similar way. Some can act like it isn't so. Some work to be a good pet parent and community member. Some really are hard of hearing. Some really can tolerate more noise and enjoy it. Some don't know how an animal can react. Some are at their wits end about what to do about their pet. Some adopted a pet and are then surprised about how much work it is and need help in dealing wit the pet. Some neighbors are hypersensitive, some don't like pets, some never experienced pets.
Neighbor was a miserable old shrew. She called animal control, who paid a visit. I answered the door ACO said "neighbor complained about your dog barking. I walked up to your fence and the dog was barking. I said yeah the dog was barking because you walked up to the fence, that's what dogs do.
I had a landlord do that to me once. It was actually the dog across the hall that was getting complaints from neighbors. She came around and slip a pet policy guidline under the door, which startled the dog, so he barked once. She the started banging on our door, which caused the dog to start barking more. When I answered the door, she asked if I knew my dog was barking excessively. Uh, yeah... Cause you're banging on our door excessively.
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