Re: barking dogs
From: Dick Margulis (dickdmargulis.com)
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2017 10:12:24 -0700 (PDT)
On 10/20/2017 11:10 AM, Alan O'Hashi via Cohousing-L wrote:
noise is intrinsic. a community - cohousing or otherwise - can either allow 
dogs or have no noise, but not both. as a pet owner, i sympathize with those 
who get bugged by dog noise, but it's a give and take. i imagine dogs barking 
and pooping are reasons why they are disallowed in many communities or a high 
fee charged to have them.

I'd like to respond to this as someone who is not a dog lover. Our community-in-formation (i.e., we haven't moved in, but we've held meetings in one another's homes, had outings on our land, etc.) has several dogs belonging to responsible dog owners who take training and control seriously.

That said, dogs bark. It's in their nature to do so. Some dogs bark more than others. And some dogs, despite appropriate commands from their owners, are exuberant in their greetings.

That's life. Learning to accept that and to not overreact to it is part of living in the world. I think the burden falls mostly on the person doing the complaining to find a way to a more tolerant attitude. (I recommend increasing your daily intake of fish oil, but that's just a friendly suggestion, as I'm not a doctor. It works for me anyway.)

This is different from the situation of a dog who barks from the time its people leave for work in the morning until they return in the evening. That's not only a sign of an unhappy dog; it's also stressful for anyone who's aware of the problem. That's something that needs to be addressed, one way or another. Similarly, a dog that continues to growl, snap, and bark at neighbors after months of encountering them suggests that something needs to be addressed.

In other words, each case needs to be judged on its merits.

My two cents.

Dick Margulis
Rocky Corner cohousing
Bethany CT



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