Dogs in the News

I remember hearing Mt. Pleasant's infamous "Barking Dog" story involving a McGuirk and his new neighbor. Something about the constant barking dog, a tape recorder and a loud speaker.

Last week there was a story on our local news about a puppy that was shot through the fence with a pellet gun. Likely because of barking. The dog had some surgery and is fine now, but the owner is REALLY mad and I don't blame him one bit.

With both of those stories, I have always thought, "jeeze, it's just a dog. It can't help it that its parents neglect it."

That was until last night. I don't know where on the culdasac the dog lived, but it was close. Probably within 2 houses close. Even closing the window didn't help with the constant bark. The dog started barking at 10:00pm and at 2:00am we were so (insert really bad word followed by another really bad word) that we got up, put shoes and socks on and decided to figure out where it was coming from so that we could call somebody to make the dog stop barking. As soon as Chris stepped one foot out the door...silence. No barking, no crickets, no cars, no breeze. NOTHING. Ahhhh...relief!

By the time we were back in bed, it was 2:30 am. Needless to say with a 6:30 alarm this morning, we are both a little cranky with puffy eyes today. And I have heard the dog barking on and off today while I work. I would never harm somebody's helpless pet. But I think I understand the motivation behind the tape recorder and the pellet gun.

Tonight I will be armed with my own weapon... a telephone with Animal Control on speed dial. I don't do well with 4 hours of sleep. Chris is dealing a little better than I am, but he's listening to Christmas music so that he's not grumpy when our friends come over for dinner tonight. It's way too early for that and hearing TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra--a Rowland family favorite that I happen to loathe) this morning almost pushed me over the edge of insanity.

The good news: The day is half over and our good friends that took a year-long sabbatical to do mission work all over the world are back home and coming over for dinner tonight. The last time we saw them was when they we lived next door to them in our old house! Good friends, good wine, experimental dinner (grilled marinated skirt steak with salsa verde and grilled endive) and cherry pie for desert. Nothing to complain about!!