[Lara]

I was so upset last night.

My neighbours went away to spend New Year somewhere else and they left their beautiful labrador in the yard alone and she howled all night. They won't be back till tonight I imagine.

She kept trying to bark but the other really bad news is that every time she barks he gets a small shock to her neck from his collar. I'd never heard of that before but apparently the dog had been reported to council a long time ago as a barker and the council here had "apparently" cautioned the owners and told them they had to use this shock device.

Gee, when I heard that I was shocked enough and thought there must be some other way to help the problem, but they left their dog alone in the yard and we live in an area that's a narrow headland and there were fireworks going off quite early in the night and then again much later and they were coming from all different directions.

This poor doggie. There is also a laneway between my neighbour's house and my own and it's used a lot with people heading down to the beach especially when there's something happening down the beach.

I ended up having to go to bed eventually because I was tired and hot and didn't have any real reason to stay up till midnight, but the dog howled for hours non-stop. Earlier in the night I kept going out and calling her name and then she'd be quite because she knows me. I haven't heard a peep out of her today. I imagine she's so exhausted.

[Kitty]

That's so sad. Some people don't deserve to have the privilege of having a pet.
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I do believe I'd have a talk with them when they got back and explain how cruel it is to leave a dog outside alone for so long like they did.

[Lara]

I'll most certainly talk to them.
I would have looked after their dog in my place even though it's very tiny.

[Doody]

Oh ((Lara)) how awful! GRRR! And just why can't these people leave their dog in their home? I saw something similar last evening when granddoody and I went down the street to spend the evening with my best friend and her g-daughter. There was a little white POM! in a cage out in the front yard and IT WAS VERY COLD!

She was barkin and barkin and this was about 5 pm. When we drove home at 10 pm, the poor thing was STILL out there! And did I say it was very cold!?

Oh, makes me so mad.

I'm very impressed that you are going to bring it up to them. How cruel.

[Lara]

I've not seen them yet. They came home late last night and now it's only early morning. They probably left her in the yard because it's so hot here and there's some breeze and shade. Nonetheless they could have left her with me or another neighbour esp. on NY. That's awful about putting the dog in a cage in the freezing cold like that, Doody. Could freeze to death.

At least this dog next door had heaps of water. I know she did. We've had such a hot week and inside a locked house would be worse than in the yard. At least she's got a little breeze and some shade and water. It's just that it was NY with all the fireworks and people coming and going... well, she's going to try to bark naturally and getting zapped everytime seems very awful to me. I think that's why she howls so much. Maybe she doesn't get zapped when she howls.

[Doody]

Oh that electric shock collar, booooo! Yes, it was extremely cold, and I don't care much for the people living there and I might say something but I'm afraid they'd do something to the little thing in spite.

[Lara]

Well, I caught up with both the parents out in the driveway earlier. It was a little weird, but anyway, I told them that she howled all night and she doesn't usually do that and next year if they go away I'd be happy to look after her and they responded that xxx the neighbour on the other side of them had already told them.

I picked up on the emphasis of the word "already". lol. I wasn't complaining about the noise, I was pointing out the distress to the dog. I'm thinking their earlier encounter with the other neighbour may have involved more of a complaint of sorts about the noise. Who knows. Maybe that's why their response was very short.

Not really any response from them but they did seem grateful for my offer for the future and said 'thankyou'. That was it. They're actually very nice people so I'm thinking they were feeling a bit sorry that they'd allowed the dog to be left like that on New Year with all the noise.

[Doody]

Well, you tried ((Lara)). I wonder how they'd like to wear that shock dog collar for awhile.
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[ewizabeth]

This is one of my major pet peeves.
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We had neighbors with a black lab named Barney. They'd leave him out for hours on end barking, even in extreme heat and cold.
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He used to break his chain and run away. One day he never returned.
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I can only hope he ended up in a better home.

He befriended everyone. He came into our yard once when I was working in my veggie garden. He was wagging his tail, saying hello, so excited lol.
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Our cat then was out with me. He kept arching his back and hissing, trying to scare Barney away. Barney just looked at him for the longest time, puzzled by the frantic puffing and hissing of the little fluffy thing. Finally, he got it, and went back to his yard.
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