I guess I have a new neighbor who moved in directly below us. He's an older guy, maybe mid-30s and has complained about the dogs twice in less than a week. And he called the cops as well but that's a different story.
Here's the thing: Corey and I both work in downtown which is 45 minutes away by light rail. That means I get up at 5:50 in the morning to walk the dogs and get ready for work with enough time for Corey to shower and all that good stuff before catching the light rail. That means the dogs are up by the time I get up. We keep Pickle in his kennel at night because he makes too much noise and Cooper steals his food. Cooper get free rein of the house because he doesn't do much but sleep; occasionally walking around. We get the dogs ready for bed around 10:30 every weekday night and later on the weekends. The neighbor complained at 6:20 in the morning that the dogs were running around. Um...if you're already up, then aren't you getting ready for work too so why does it matter if they're running around?
He came over last Saturday night at 10 to say that the sound of the dogs running around was too loud. WTF? It's 10! On a Saturday! Granted I am assuming he has a normal 9-5 M-F job, but seriously, 10? Most of the people who live in my apartment complex are young professionals around Corey's and my age. We're used to the noise! People have parties, listen to loud music, have raucous get togethers in the common area by the pool and people just deal with it. After 12 though, then we start asking people to keep it down.
The thing that bothers me is that the guy knowingly moved into an apartment complex that allows animals. Not everyone is going to keep a cat or a 5 pound dog. My dogs are super quiet; they rarely bark and yeah, they kind of run around. But so do kids and kids are a thousand times louder than a dog and I don't fucking complain when someone's asshole kid is screaming for hours. I deal with it. The dogs only run around for 15 minutes at the most and calm down. I keep them quiet during the night, they don't bark, and they don't really do anything but sleep and eat. I can't justify keeping them in their kennels all day and night just because some asshole downstairs can't put up with a bit of noise. I don't know his work schedule, but I think it's fair to assume that during the day, anything really goes since the apartment complex is EMPTY. As my dogs aren't barking their heads off but rather chasing each other BECAUSE THEY ARE BORED for less than 20 minutes, I think he should be able to deal with that. I don't mind putting them in their kennels during the night because hell, they keep me up too. On the weekends, however, I think I can leave them out longer than normal since most people can sleep in on the weekends. I can't keep them in the kennels during the day because that is just not fair; they have every right (as I am paying rent in our apartment) to walk around and be able to lay on the couch and stretch their legs.
I'm going to go down this weekend to talk with the new neighbors and try to figure out a compromise. I hate passive-aggresiveness and they have shown that side by banging on their ceiling when the dogs are too loud. Fucking A, get your lazy ass out and TALK with us. I hate the people who complain about something and never do anything to try and work it out.
The dogs are not at fault. They have their own minds and semi-free will and yes, if they feel like running for whatever reason, they are. I can't always make them stop and unless they are being destructive or super loud, I'm going to let them do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment