F.I.D.O

Wrong Answer

Mar 21, 2002

Disturbed by barking, a victim often seeks relief by contacting the dog's owner. About one owner in four will apologize and correct the problem. Unfortunately, the other three owners will usually ask, "How do you know it's my dog?"


This is an indication that the victim may be dealing with an irresponsible owner. These are the dog owners who rely on the fact that the city is full of barking dogs and a victim might confuse the source of the noise. When the victim explains that she knows the black lab in the back yard of 1035 Woof Street was barking because she saw it through the fence, the irresponsible dog owner makes the inevitable accusation: "So you're sneaking around the alley! You're making Sparky bark! I want Sparky to bark at strangers!"


Confronted with such overwhelming selfishness and ignorance, let's take a deep breath and examine that statement. Although the complaining victim is a nurse who works a 12 hour night shift, the dog owner has just accused her of being the problem. The fact is that the victim had been awakened four days in a row about 1:15 PM and finally decided to seek relief from the barking. Incredibly, the dog owner believes that it's okay for his dog to disturb the peace and actually encourages that behavior! Poor Sparky is abandoned in the back yard for ten hours a day, five days a week. Bored and lonely, he barks at every bird, cat, squirrel and noise that his keen senses detect. This includes the creaking lid of the mailbox when the letter carrier arrives each day about quarter after one.


Excessive barking is such a unique and terrible noise that most cities have created specific codes (laws) to deal with it. Denver's code may be found in Sec. 8-46. Although a victim may find the language of the Denver Code encouraging, enforcement and prosecution are difficult to achieve. We'll develop that subject in our next issue of the Politics of Noise.