and to quirkyquercus....You are right since I live in the most dangerous city I guess I'll get out my sawed off sh** g** with the serial #'s scratched o**..the one I bought illeg**** from the dr** de***** and threa*t*e*n the girl. That sounds reasonable ???????????
Man some of you people are soooooooooo helpful. thanks for the wonderful advice.

Unless you don't let your dogs outside after 5PM at night, they shouldn't have to pee at 5AM. Leave them inside until later and then take them for a walk, and work on some training while you're out. If the dogs get out of the fence and attack her, is that this woman's fault too?

Thank you for the advice and thanks for being understanding with my situation. I think your advice is probably the best recieved yet. Thanks again.

No, no, no, quirky didn't say to actually shoot the woman, just talk to her through an open window using terminology that will make her rethink her morning pause. 'Cause who does she think she is?

Made me giggle.

I mean you post a purely innocent question and man you get bombarded with such ignorant people. Just wanted some advice and boy oh boy did I get some. That is my main goal in life to make people laugh. I am glad you were one of them. I have to giggle also. thanks.

Why are you so mad about the sprinkler system? I was serious, and I think it is a good suggestion. You know when to expect her, so get up and turn it on. If it happens to be sprinkling the sidewalk while you have it on your yard, that is ok. We often have to go around sprinklers.

You know I do think that is a good response also. I was talking about the "nice-jerks" before you. Thanks for the advice..

I love how people post a question, and then because they don't get the responses they wanted, they blow up and call others ignorant, jerks, etc.

If you can't handle hearing the answer, you shouldn't ask for advice. Some people have been blunt in their responses, yes, but so far the only person doing the name-calling and being rude is you.

rivkadr, I was thinking the very same thing.

"I mean you post a purely innocent question and man you get bombarded with such ignorant people."
Well,everyone gave you some sensible answers,some not so sensible but I think given in jest.It just seems that the obvious answer to your question wouldn't be what to do about the trainer from HE%@ but what can you do about your barking dogs.Obviously you want to place the blame totally on the girl and her dog and take no responsibility to train your dogs not to bark or to keep the dogs inside until she gets by your house.Say something to the girl.Tell her how you feel and if she continues to do what she is doing now,call the police
You say a lot of other people on the street are not happy with the situation either? Well,maybe they need to train their dogs not to bark either or try one of the tactics that have been suggested here! Maybe she IS being downright rude,then again maybe she is just trying to train her dog and really hasn't thought about the turmoil she is causing in the neighborhood.Some people are just dense,maybe she's one of those people!

Well, a little late in the thread here, I would like to say a sincere Welcome to this Forum. I see that you have posted a few hours after having joined the Garden Web. I do not participate in many forums, and this one isn't that bad. What you have to do is pick and choose who you are going to listen to. Many times the first people to respond say that it is your fault. You are told that you have responsibilities, and if your dog has a problem, you really caused it. This response has been a "downer" to me, and almost encouraged me to avoid the forum. I realize now that those who respond in this fashion feel a sense of power, and that is ok with me. I teach school, and I cannot imagine during a parent conference telling the parents the truth as I see it. Your child is not successful in school because you are not doing such and such. Often the parent is doing his/her best, and such a response would be totally unacceptable. It is that way in most professions. You just don't face people and say that their problem is their fault. But on this Forum people feel comfortable doing this, and it is very frustrating. Then if we don't want to do as they say, they say we are in denial. They may even say that if we don't want to do as they say to stop whining about it. We must calmly or not so calmly understand that these answers are not in violation of the TOS, so nobody can stop this lack of diplomacy.

If you have read the responses carefully, as I believe you have, there is good information here within the abrupt hurtful accusations. There may be people on this Forum who treat their neighbors and family members as they treat others here, but if you are patient, you will find others who are not so abrupt. Frankly the people who come across harsh and rude often have good advice, but it may not be noticed because the initial response is so insensitive.

When I walk my dogs, there is a home that has about 3 dogs that run out when we approach. (My dogs never bark on our walk.) These dogs see us on one side of the house, and since it is a corner home, they are following the fence (cedar, but they can see through the slats) and barking as we walk by. I always talk to the dogs as I go by, and they are not barking nearly as much as they used to. But once they start barking about 4 other dogs from surrounding houses chime in. I cannot imagine walking by this home so early in the morning. And I would never stop and train my dog by their fence. I really think that to do something so rude would be in violation of a neighborhood ordinance.

Good luck in taking care of your dogs, and I hope you stick around.

Sammy

What Sammy said.

I make a crack about threatening to open fire (perfectly legal as long as it isn't a death threat) and get criticized for doing so but Weed30 makes a suggestion to blast Barry Manilow at 1:30am (in violation of noise ordinance in most places on earth) and gets away with it?

I think there is a double standard here and this is not fair.

Barry Manilow at high decibels won't kill anybody & won't get the police called on you for making what sure sounds to me like a death threat.

The "trainer" is not only being obnoxious, she's courting danger;
dogs who are taunted, tantalized, & frustrated are the ones who attack when they escape.

Kids teasing fenced or tied dogs are are the main offenders, & they're the ones you see on the evening news when the dog breaks free & mauls them, & the stunned owner always says the dog was perfectly well-behaved, & the dog always gets euthanized.

Whether anyone thinks OP is a good doggie momma or not (& I think it's her business what time she lets her dogs go outside), the "trainer" is definitely not a good neighbor;
her behavior is what's provoking the dogs & causing the problem.

I'd turn on the sprinklers.

sak, I can understand being new and not knowing all the 'rules'. Everyone was new once. I retract my sarcastic comment and apologise.

However, your situation is not the 'trainers' problem. I do the same thing when on a training walk---although I never do it at 0530 in the morning. I had a similar situation several months ago---I get home from work, the dogs need out, I need to change and visit the powder room---and a fellow walks his dog past my yard. My two very dog aggressive dogs go ballistic. I simply had to adjust the situation so I was out---training the dogs to ignore him and his dog. It was a bit of a pain, but now, I don't have to worry---he comes by and I can be 'reading the paper' and never know.

If you control/train your dog, the problem goes away.

One more thought:

If the subject came up, I'd tell her that my dogs were doing their job, alerting me to stranger danger, & that she was interfering with their training.

If she argued, I'd call the police on her for loitering & suspicious behavior & maybe harrassment or stalking.

The right to use the streets, sidewalks, & alleyways does not extend to interfering with a homeowner's right to peaceful enjoyment & protection of their property.

"Barry Manilow at high decibels won't kill anybody"

Depends on who you ask.

" & won't get the police called on you for making what sure sounds to me like a death threat."

It is illegal here to blast loud music from a car. It is also illegal to blast loud music past a certain time at night. I think it's 10 or 11pm. Having called the police to report a death threat before, that one they tell you to take the other person to court and do not send out the police.

If you're worried about the joke being misconstrued as a death threat then just tell the lady to get lost. Simple as that. People skip right over being civil and go straight to being nasty.

I was honsetly trying to help. I may have been a bit abrupt, fridays are looong days for me.

But I would worry about the fact that your dogs cannot be recalled, when they're focused on something. What happens when they get out, are chasing a squirell and run across the road and you can't get them to come back?? What if they got hit by a car. What if they get so excited over other dogs that they break through the fence and those dogs attack??

I have two very annoying neighbors. Both of whom I have posted about on this forum before. I have taken both situations as good chances to train my dogs in what I believe to be appropriate behaviour. One neighbor is just a nosy witch, who really aggitates my dogs by peering over her fence, into our yard, several times a day. The other lets his dog wander the neighborhood like he owns it. My pitbull LOATHES this dog with a passion. One or the other WOULD jump the fence, and I know which dog would most likely be critically injured and it would NOT be my pitbull.

It is HIS responsibility to not be such a jerkwad and not ignore the fact that his dog aggrivates everydog in the neighborhood. However it is also my responsibility to make sure MY dogs are able to respond to situations appropriately. If I don't, then I'm not helping the situation any either. As much as I would LOVE to let my dog loose on that agressive little mutt down the street, I can't. And I can't take the chance that he will do something to it either.

Since you're already getting up at 5 am to let them out, why not go introduce yourself and drop a few subtle hints, about her presence being unwelcome. While also using the situation as a positive for training your dogs.

If she doesn't get the hints and your dogs don't relax or you'd rather not train them, then you will have to be upfront about her. Because I really don't think she's doing anything that anyone else will take care of, she's just being super annoying.

I also like the tether idea. If you place your dogs out on a tether, you can drag em back in when they're barking. They will have no choice but to listen to you.

I think motion-activated sprinklers set up to only come on between 4:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., or whenever you get up, would be great. It would be like using an animal-training technique on somebody who fancies herself to be a great dog trainer.

Surely with all these responses (it's better than being ignored, isn't it?) you can find something of use.

For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction.

Every time I get ready to do revenge on somebody I remember that.

Let me tell you a quick one.
I do this to some degree. (what the witch does) but yards where the dogs are truly unloved nuisances. Not the training part, but the slower strolling, stopping and let the dogs sniff thru the fence. Big surprise, huh?!
Anyway there's this one house we did this every day. The dogs were calm though. One day we get there and the dogs had dug under the fence (pitbull looking). I know, what a dumb*** I am. They were waiting outside the fence to play this time. That was the last time we stopped to sniff.

Moral of the story is this problem neighbor is having a momentary lack of judgment. I don't see how anyone can be sharp at that hour. A simple, verbal request is the first step to an amicable resolution. Then setup the sprinklers :-)

Uh, just keep your dogs inside. Who cares what goes on at 5 am. Your dogs will get over it in several days and realize that they do not get to go outside every time they want.
Take them out to potty late at night and at 5 they won't need to go. Your making a molehill into a mountain. Most rude people go away if ignored.

Re: open fire, I had a picture in my head of this girl standing there and all of a sudden you bombard the sidewalk with those little snapper things the kids play with on the 4th of July (the ones that are filled with sawdust and whatever it is that makes them snap)

As I said,some people are just dense and just "don't get it"! Maybe a nice cold shower at 5 AM for her and her dog would wake her up or at least "train" her to walk on the other side of the street!LOL I say first confront her and let her know exactly what your feelings are about her behavior.How is she going to know unless someone tells her? If that doesn't work,then SHOWER TIME!!
By the way Sak,I apologize if I offended you.I was just offering the advice you asked for.Believe me I have gotten a lot of reaming here but I still find this a pretty friendly place to visit with a lot of people who know what they are talking about.

OH boy some of these responses are really funny! I agree that the jogger is in the wrong here but... I walk my dogs at about 7:50 in the morning and 2:00 PM and there are a few houses with dogs that bark/growl when we go by. It is very annoying but no matter what block or street we go down there are dogs barking at us. Some of them scare the begeebees out of me. I have trained my dog not to respond to them. Just a quick check on the leash is all she needed to learn to keep going and not to be bothered by them. I cannot imagine stopping in front of one of these dogs to continue to train my dog. I under stand that dogs need to learn the down stay even with distractions but come on can't she do this somewhere else at a more reasonable time. My dog does not go outside with out me and I don't hang around outside without my dog. Since my DH is gone for work for sometimes months at a time, I want my dog to alert me to someone or something around my house but she does stop when I say enough!

to sum it up
If someone was training there dog/harassing my dog in front of my house everyday any time of day I would call the police on them.

but If the neighbors dogs were barking that much at 5:30 every mourning and it woke me up, I would be calling the police on them too.

This is a great forum! I have learned sooo much here. I have received responses that I did not like and sometimes have thought about not coming around any more. But I have received great very helpful responses here too. For everyone that is here it is there choice to be here and I hope that you don't take it to heart the responses that you don't like. Because when you need it most you can find help and support. I have noticed here sometimes what seems like the simplest question to you, can go WILD with the responses you get. Just take what you like and leave what you don't!

quirkyquercus I was kind of being a little facetious when I talked about the sawed-off. I think towards the end of the forum I started getting a little frustrated but I still giggled when I wrote it.It sounded a lot meaner when I wrote compared to what it would of sounded like if you would of heard it...(since I kid around alot). But I was just joking around because I know that there are some really bad places in stL. but fortunately I don't live in one of them. Thanks God. But me being a RN, I have travelled to some of these places and its not pretty. So thanks for the advice. I didn't take anything too personal!!! Hopefully nobody else did either. thanks again.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice even if I thought it was kind of harsh at times. I'm not totally in denial about my dogs not being trained very well. I know that. But I also know how to be considerate. Trust me working at a hospital (one of the top 10 in the world) in the "city" (I live in the "county")I run into alot of inconsiderate and rude people and I am ALMLOST always nice because that is not my demeanor to be rude. I was always taught to be considerate and now sometimes I wish I could have the guts to tell people where to go. So I hope that everyone realizes that I KNOW I am not perfect when it comes to training my dogs. I know I should take my dogs to obedience school but I also know when someone antagonizes someone. Trust me I have a 5 and 6 year old!!!!!!!!!

Hey sak - do you work at BJC? I used to awhile back.

In defense of St. Louis ~ the rankings were for cities only - "St. Louis" includes St. Louis County, where the majority of the population of lives. Linked below is a map....see the tiny little section carved out with "St. Louis" next to it? That's the city. The large section marked "St. Louis" is the county. St. Louis city has about 350,000 residents. St. Louis County has over 1 million. So "St. Louis" was graded on just over 25% of the population. Nobody differentiates between the city and the county when referring to St. Louis, and it p's me off that all of St. Louis is painted badly by the rankings.

(steps down from soapbox)

Here is a link that might be useful: clicky

But if your dogs bark at everyone and everything in your neighborhood, you are being inconsiderate.

I'd work on my dogs before worrying about the lady training outside my fence. I find neighborhood dogs that bark at everything totally obnoxious. Seems it bothers everyone but the dogs' owners. Just train them not to bark. It requires consistency and regular exercise. Dogs are more likely to bark at non-issues when they're bored.

We recently moved, and directly behind us live two GSDs that bark incessantly. Capone tried to pick up the habit, but after two days of correction every time he barked, he's figured out that it's just not tolerated. I'd give it a try.

And for the trainer - the only beef I'd have with her is the time of day she chooses to do her training. She's disturbing everyone to serve herself and her dogs, and a bit too early in the day. I really like the sprinkler idea. You could also put a sign out, DO NOT ANTAGONIZE DOGS.

Are the dogs being antagonized or is it everyone that passes by?

"And for the trainer - the only beef I'd have with her is the time of day she chooses to do her training."
What if this time of the day is the only time she has to train her dog? Look on the bright side,maybe it won't take too long for her dog to be trained.LOL I am still on the side of you training your dogs not to bark,then talking to the trainer and if all else fails,COLD SHOWER!

There is a lot to think about in this thread.

I realize that I want my dogs to bark if someone comes in or near our yard when it is dark. We leave on the lights in the front and back, and if there are people going by, I want to know it. They know the neighbors, and do not bark at them, but as for strangers, they bark, and I rather like it. In my world I am in the classroom working by 7:00 in the moring, so 5:00 isn't that early for me. I can see why she would walk her dogs at that hour, but do not understand why she deliberately is harrassing your dogs. She is plain selfish, and possibly it wouldn't be a bad idea to go out and chat with her about it.

You could ask her what she is lookiing for and why she is doing this. It may be especially a good idea if she doesn't want to be noticed.

Good luck.

Sammy

Yes BJC is the place. Actually just got off work a few hrs ago. I've been there almost 11 years so maybe we have run into one another???? So many people there.
Thanks for putting st. louis into perspective and posting that map.
We will find out tomorrow how things turn out with the "street walker"
Thanks again for the advice.
Where did you work at BJC??

Have to weigh in. First, I see constantly on this forum the advice to walk, walk, walk your dog to exercise it, stimulate, etc. in order to get it to behave in your house.

I am an early morning person. My dogs are out at 5 a.m. to do their business before they eat. I live in a country setting, however, and do not have any foot traffic. That said, if I lived in a neighborhood or urban situation, would I be wrong to walk my dog(s) before I start my day if that is the only time I can fit it in?

My dogs, like yours, bark when they see something out of the ordinary. I want them to do that so I don't reprimand them. I check out what is going on, and if nothing is going on I tell them "good boys" and I bring them into the house. My boys follow my instructions, but you have to work with them to get them to do so. Start with some kibble in your pocket, if they don't respond, start with leash and work toward kibble with the ultimate goal of your voice alone making them come no matter what. I always liken it to training them not to accept candy from stangers.

OP, you need to train your dogs. You say you don't dislike the walker, I think you may. It has put a crimp in your routine - letting the dogs out, you have made different provisions by the fence where the dogs are running back and forth. Why are the dogs running back and forth, barking? If you are in a neighborhood, you can obviously hear and see what your dogs are doing. Bring them into the house the second you hear the barking start. If they don't listen to you, go out and leash them and bring them in. You need to put your house in order before you start cleaning another's.

I wish you peace!

sak, I was there before then. I was the manager of Queeny Tower restaurant and also did the catering for Barnes, Jewish & Wash U. I've actually applied there again as the coordinator for CME, but haven't heard anything yet. (do you know anyone in HR?...)

As for your situation - I still think you should talk to this girl. Maybe she thinks you're always up at 5, not realizing that she is the one who is causing it. Don't beat around the bush -- simply tell her that she is waking you and your family up 2 hours early. You stated in your first post that you don't have a problem with her jogging by, just that she stops at your house and your dogs go crazy. So tell her that. Things don't have to be ugly, and she has to be some kind of an OK person if she likes dogs, right? :)

What if instead of being this lady, it was some kids on their way to school and suppose they took a bag of M&M's out of their lunchbox and started feeding them to your dog thinking he was hungry. If there are people walking by your yard then time spent outdoors should be closely monitored.

Hi,I don't have any advice to offer you but I do like the water sprinkler idea.I wanted to say I feel your frustration as I have two basset hounds that are not trained.They are very stubborn dogs and I can relate to the barking at whatever moves,etc.Good luck.Debbie

Lillie - I think this lady training her dogs is fantastic. Too many people don't. I'm of the opinion that the betterment of her dogs' behavior shouldn't come at a cost to the rest of the neighborhood.... I guess if it were me, I'd opt for a more HOA-friendly method at that hour in the morning.

You know, I always speak from my perspective, and try to understand what lifestyles others have.

As I walked my dogs yesterday, I realized that fences in our neighborhood do not come closer to the sidewalk than the front door or garage door. Our front yards are not allowed to be fenced.

Since our leash laws are quite strict, dogs are quite a ways from the sidewalk. They are almost always about the length of 3 large cars from the sidewalk, since that is the length of most driveways.

The corner houses do not have the restrictions on the side, it is on the front. That means that when we walk our dogs, the home owner dog is quite a distance from the house unless the walker is at the side of a corner house.

When you say your dogs get so excited about their presence, does that mean that the trainer is near your dogs, or a distance away? I am just curious because I think that makes a difference in how I would handle a situation. Our dogs don't get upset unless a person comes onto our property.

Sammy

I think healthy dogs should easily be able to sleep through the night without needing a bathroom break. But really, they don't need to pee, just bark at the dog walking by, you know that. Don't let them out at that time, and supervise when you do let them out till you get this under control.

When one of my dogs asks to go out at an unusual time (such as late at night or early in the morning) I always accompany them and often take them out on leash in the front yard. It can be caused by an upset tummy or another issue, so it's always good to see what "comes out" in these situations, in case treatment is required.

It's tough and I understand that no dog is perfect. For your dogs those passing your yard are the trigger - for one of my dogs it's squirrels. We have now successfully trained her to ignore the neighbour's dogs that are yapping and growling on the other side of the fence, yet our work around squirrels is ongoing because of her high prey drive. What I can tell you is that acting in a reactive way like this doesn't get better if you ignore it, it gets worse. I think that's why folks are trying to convince you to do something about it, before you become the neighbourhood menace.

You don't need to take your dogs to training classes, you can do a lot at home as a part of your everyday routine. Ask for a "sit" before you put down their food and let them eat, a "down" before you throw their toy, and a "come" in the yard (start when there aren't any distractions and work your way up). The goal is to get an immediate response on the first time you give the command. These seem like such small things, and take seconds each time you do them instead of long training sessions, but they really are effective.

Building some structure into your dogs' lives will help with your relationship. You don't need to be mean about it - in fact you shouldn't be. Just give them direction and tell them what they need to do in order to earn some of the things that they value (like time outside, food, ball throw, pat on the head). If your dogs enjoy retrieving or carrying things in their mouths, you can teach them to get a toy on command and use this when you need to distract them. We used this with the yappy dogs behind us - we'd tell our dog to get her toy and start throwing it, which helped to distract her and slowly learn to ignore the noise.

I have to say that I strongly disagree with threatening the neighbour with a gun or hosing her with water. She is only walking down the street and (I'm assuming) is not on your property. Doing this would not be fair and it certainly wouldn't be good for neighbourhood relations - it's likely to escalate from there till you have an all-out war. If you ask her, she may even be willing to walk by your house at an agreed-upon time when you are ready with treats and able to train your dogs. Best of luck!

Thanks for the advice. I look forward to trying it. If all else fails I'll just talk with the girl. When I made the comment about the sawed off...I actually was being facetious to the previous comment about st Louis being the most dangerous city and I started to get a little cranky toward the end of the day.
Sammy, from the side of our fence to about the middle of the street is about 25-30 feet. It really is not very far at all. Thanks again for all the help and support.

**pounds gavel***

Court is adjourned.

Cute! Very Cute!!
I can't believe the disturbance that I caused on this forum. Whew, I'm glad court is over. Ha Ha
Can you tell I'm a smart-Alick?????????????????????
thanks again.

If all else fails I'll just talk with the girl.

Just talk to her first. She may not even realize that it is an issue.

Talk to her? Are you sure it wouldn't be more prudent just to throw rocks?

Throwing rocks sounds more reasonable.

Hey weed I sent you a direct email. I have some info about bjc. I'm not sure if you got it or not. Just letting you know. thanks.

You know, I think I saw that woman you were talking about, sak. It was later in the day and she was driving 10 miles an hour under the speed limit while she was talking on the phone, and putting on her eye make up. When she came up to the traffic signal, she was so busy taking care of her own make up, that she did not see the left turn signal until it had turned yellow, so she got through and I didn't.

Also at Dog Obedience class she used a clicker and didn't notice that nobody else did. (I don't think they are used in our school). Also when she took her dogs out of the car, she blocked the traffic until she got them inside, then she moved her car to a parking place.

I wonder if anyone else has seen her, or am I hijacking the thread? I think the thread is about finished and that is why I brought this up.

Sammy

I don't think the girl is from He**@#$! or is a witch. Something similar happens to me when I walk my dogs. Here's how it happens. I walk my dogs daily. DAILY. All dogs need formal e-x-e-r-c-i-s-e. I take different routes around my neighborhood. BUT one of my dogs is young (I rescued her), and although sweet and well-mannered most of the time, will become uncontrollable when dogs behind fences rush the fence and start barking at her. If I want to train her not to do that, I MUST train her at the precise time that that is happening....which means stopping at the fence with the barking dogs. (I don't always use stopping as a training method...I also try just pulling her along, ignoring her, but that doesn't seem to work well.)

My guess is that that is the cause of the training at that spot. It is that YOUR dogs are causing a problem to passersby. Now, it is understandable that dogs inside fences will rush the fence and bark (not all do, but a lot of them do). But it is ALSO understandable that in order to train the dog on the street not to react the same way, the dog owner has to deal with the problem right then, right there. There is no other way.

You mention the early time of morning and how all the noise is a disruption. But it is your dogs that seem to be causing the noise and the disruption. She is merely walking by. She probably quits running shortly before your house and starts walking because she has learned from prior incidents that her dog will pull her, and she needs to be more in control and not running.

There are things you can do to try to contain your dogs barking problems, though. Simple things. They will still bark, of course. That's what dogs do. But if no one tells them NOT to rush the fence and bark at passing dogs, they don't know that you don't want them to do that, right? I put a couple of pennies in a plastic 16-oz soda bottle with cap on, and when I hear mine bark too loudly or too long, I open the door and call out "quiet!" (always use the same word, and accompany it iwth a hand signal inside; I hold the index finger straight up while saying "quiet", then I move the finger to my mouth, as if I were saying "shush"). You can't use the hand signal when they're in the backyard, so I call out "Quiet!" and shake the plastic bottle with pennies. It is somewhat loud, and catches their attention. It breaks their barking pattern, and they are usu. quieter afterwards, even if they don't stop barking totally.

The girl's dog sounds like he has an aggression/wary of strangers issue. Hence the sign on her door about making eye contact with the dog. One of my dogs is the same way. She is sooooo sweet and loveable and obedient. She likes people and other dogs. BUT...she becomes almost uncontrollable when dogs rush fences and bark at her, AND she will growl at people if they make direct eye contact with her.

In the dog world, eye contact is a form of confrontation, I have read.

You say the girl passes by every day, and my neighbors with barking dogs in their yards would probably say that I do, too. But I don't. The reality is...most people rarely take the exact same path when they go on their daily walks. I would bet you see her often, but that she takes different routes. And like I say, she stops at your house because your dogs cause an issue that interferes with their outing, and she has to address it at the time it happens.

A thought on your dogs barking too much: Dogs bark less when they are tired. Do you provide regular, formal exercise for your dogs? When I skip a few days of walking my dogs, their barking in the yard increases, as does their activity level. They are more wired, less relaxed, more into finding entertainment. After we go on a long walk, they are more relaxed, bark less, play less, and they fall asleep early that night. Tired dogs are good dogs!

That's all. It's no big deal, really. If that's the worst you have in your life, you lead a charmed life.

God. Not this again...