I just wanted to share the humor of my situation with someone. I thought about putting it in the OT section at Pennock's...but I think there are too many extremists over there that would take it the wrong way. Here, most of you know me well enough to know I will pursue this in a calm and rational manner.
First, my situation. The guy across the street has an adult female boxer. She wanders the yard, kept in place by an invisible fence. She barks. Constantly. She will bark at me when I am coming or going....or if I decide to sit on my porch and smoke a cigar. She will bark at anyone that goes past the yard...either walking or in a car. She will bark at the guy three yards down when he is in his driveway. Sometimes I can't figure out what she is barking at. The real issue isn't the fact that she barks at things...but once she starts, she won't stop. She will continue to bark for 30 minutes...an hour...sometimes 2 hours or more.
I've had enough, and decided that it is time to do something about it. Yes, all the evil solutions have crossed my mind (simply shoot the dog...sponge soaked in bacon grease tossed into the yard...antifreeze...etc)...but I am simply not a violent person, and wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did something to hurt an animal.
In the vast majority of situations where you have a problem with a neighbor...simply talking to the neighbor about it will solve the problem. But...I can't walk up to the house to knock on the door because of the dog. It stands its ground very well, and I do believe it would attack if I were to enter its territory. So...what do I do?
My first step was going to be to show the neighbor why it was so annoying. A couple weeks ago, at 2:30am, after the dog had been barking for 15 minutes already, I stepped out on the front porch and started filming it. Now...it was dark out, and you cannot see the dog or the neighbor's house in the video...but you can hear it. It is clear by the changing volume that the dog is wandering around the house barking...not barking at anything specific. In my 15 minute video, you don't hear any other dog bark in the background, and there is a maximum of about 5 consecutive seconds without hearing the boxer bark. At the end of the 15 minutes, I said (on video) "I have lived across from you for 5 years. I have put up with this for 5 years. It is time to do something about it." I then burned it to a DVD and put it in case with a printed cover that said "Standard DVD, should play in any DVD player. Please watch, and consider this official notification of the problem." The dog was still barking 45 minutes later (now 3:30am) when I deposited the DVD in their mailbox.
I know that putting something in their mailbox is technically a no-no. In hind-sight, I should have mailed it to them in a certified letter. But regardless...that issue hasn't come up yet. It turns out, Jason (the guy across the street) was on vacation when I filmed this. He came home on Sunday, June 3rd. On June 4th, I was packing my bags (I was flying home to Michigan that evening) when my next-door neighbor (Brent...easier to type a name rather than where he lives) knocked on my door. Brent has also complained about the dog numerous times. He also happens to work with Jason's mother. Brent was there to inform me that Jason was pissed about the DVD, and intended to press charges against me when he got home that evening. Brent said he heard Jason was going to try to get me for threatening him and for spying on him. I laughed about this, and questioned if Jason was really foolish enough to pursue it.
I am still in Michigan until Monday...but I have heard there has been a sheriff knocking on my door multiple times. So, apparently he is foolish enough.
This is where things sit now. All that is left for me to do is get back home, talk to the sheriff, and then call the sheriff for a noise ordinance violation the next time the dog barks. Then, we get to see how deep of a hole Jason digs himself into.
I hope when this is done, you will get as good of a laugh from it as I intend to.