Have you heard the saying, “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb?”  I remember my grandmother saying that to me when I was a child.  I figure it means, crappy weather in the beginning of March and beautiful, nice, spring like weather towards the end.

By all accounts if you look at the calendar, we are closer to the end of March than the beginning.  And since March started with snow and extreme colds, a rational person would think now that we are on the far side of the beginning of March, nicer weather is on the horizon.

Someone please tell the weather people this.

Because holy crap!  It’s damn cold outside.  We had almost a whole week with daytime temps in the upper 40’s lower 50’s, snow was melting like soft butter on warm pancakes and then BAM!  I walk outside yesterday morning and almost froze my ass off.

Which explains me, trudging along behind Sampson and Delilah at 6:15 yesterday morning, trying to keep my brains and limbs from getting frostbite.

I don’t know about your neighborhood, but where I live, it’s quiet at 6:15 in the morning.

Extremely quiet.

The stillness of the morning is broken by the sound of a dog barking.  I can hear the dog barking, except the dog is in her house and her house it two houses away.

Two houses!

We’re talking large lots here folks, the lots are over-sized and best guess is we are at least 300 feet away.

Naturally Sampson and Delilah decide the best spot to stop, and sniff is directly in front of the barking dog’s house.

I have a full-on confession here.  I don’t know the names of most of the people in my neighborhood, but I do know the names of a good many of the dogs.  This dog’s name happens to be Zara.

Of course, us stopping in front of her house drives Zara nuts.  She stands at the dark front window, barking.  All I can see are two glowing eyes staring out at us.  

The barking follows us down the street for another few hundred feet.

Zara isn’t the only dog that barks this way in our neighborhood, there are at least two more that come quickly to mind when I think about it.

And think about it I did.

There is Chloe, who stands at the fence and barks. Five minutes before you get to her house and five minutes after you pass her house.  I often comment as I stroll by, “I’m glad I don’t live next to you.”

There is a little dog across the street from Zara, and sometimes this guy starts barking well before we pass his house.

What really boggles my mind is why their owners don’t work with their dogs on the barking.

My dogs have two distinct barks.  One lets you know when someone they recognize pulls into the driveway.  Sampson roos and Delilah, well she is trying to roo, but she’s not quite there yet.

The other bark can be for the garbage truck, an oil truck, another dog, a cat, squirrel, person walking, deer, leaf.  Okay it’s mostly Delilah who barks at these things, but Sampson will bark if another dog walks by.

When it’s daylight and the dogs bark and run to the window, I walk over there, look out and depending on what I see I will either let them out, or assure them it’s nothing to worry about.

When my dogs are outside by themselves (not likely these days with Delilah’s continuing addiction) and they bark continuously I go outside to see what they’re barking at.  Then I call them inside and it’s over.

My dogs are not allowed to bark incessantly.  In fact, one of my neighbors actually said to me, “What good dogs, we never hear them barking.”

GOOD! Barking dogs would make you a cranky bitch, and I don’t want to deal with that. Besides, once we let our dogs bark like fiends, what’s next?  Piles of shit for you to look at?  

A couple of times Delilah has barked in the middle of the night. 

After I pick my heart up off the floor and stick it back in my chest, I’ll get up, (preferably with my phone and a weapon of some kind in my hand) and go check it out. If my dog runs to the window or door I will either turn on the outside light, or if there is no light, I will make sure that door or window is locked, then shine a flashlight out there to check for scary things.  After I determine nothing is out there (and I’ve cleaned the crap out of my pants from being woken from a sound sleep) I will let the dogs outside, or we go back to bed.

I just don’t understand how people can listen to their dogs bark constantly and not do something about it. Especially if they’re barking continuously.

What do you do when your dog barks more than a couple of times?

A special Happy 21st Birthday to my precious niece Taylor, I love you T, have a great one.  Love Hauntie.