I would echo the sentiment of being first a good neighbor. Barking dogs simply bother some of us more than others. I barely hear them; others, I am sure, grind their teeth at the sound. And accidents happen - once, after we had left for a wedding, my kids (who left for their mother's house shortly thereafter) left our dogs outside. They had been outside barking for hours when we returned (and much to our neighbor's chagrin...). I suppose I might have been aggravated if animal control had been called. Just yesterday, we had a couple of people visit us who had a small dog. We had to put our dogs out to prevent mayhem - and one of them barked and moaned to get back in. I finally had to let him in and put him in a bathroom - he bugged us more, but hopefully the neighbors less. It is not always easy to solve this problem - though usually one just lets the dog in the house and it is done. Finally, since it seems a lot of messages are about barking dogs and break-ins, I might point out that we have not had any casual break-ins, and I wonder how many others with dogs have had a break-in or robbery. Dogs may bark sometimes, but they also alert us to risks and dangers. -----Original Message----- From: Rick Watling [mailto:rwatling@sunseri.com] Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 2:49 PM To: neighborhood@highlandpark.pgh.pa.us Subject: RE: [Highland Park] barking dogs As a first-step, let's be good neighbors. Part of being a good neighbor is telling your neighbor when they have crossed the line. I have heard dogs barking incessantly for spells longer than a half hour and sometimes for hours. When I have gone to check, I have found dogs just simply barking and not in harm's way. If you hear your neighbor's dogs barking consistently for unreasonable periods of times and at unreasonable times of the day, please (politely) let them know either personally or via an anonymous note. Sometimes the owner of the dogs is simply unaware due to acoustic issues. If that contact gets you no where, then call 911 because there is a city noise ordinance for internal intrusion of sound. CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE. This e-mail and attachments (if any) are the sole property of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and may contain information that is confidential, proprietary, privileged or otherwise prohibited by law from disclosure or re-disclosure. This information is intended solely for the individual(s) or entity(ies) to whom this e-mail or attachments are addressed. If you have received this e-mail in error, you are prohibited from using, copying, saving or disclosing this information to anyone else. Please destroy the message and any attachments immediately and notify the sender by return e-mail. Thank you.