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October 25, 2015 in Tom's Corner

Dog Gone Wrong

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Tom here today. So what annoys you the most? People? Dogs? Both? So you may know by now that both my parents and in-laws have cottages. And cottages typically mean close living quarters. So you do your best to get along with the neighbors. We do our best to be responsible dog owners. This means cleaning up poop so people don’t step in it and giving the dogs plenty of exercise so they don’t jump on people and bark. Prior to my wife, I never dealt with small dogs or dog rescues for that matter and didn’t realize how yappy they can be. This is my story. We left the dogs at my in-laws for a bit while we visited my parents at their place and when we returned found this anonymous note on our front door.
“Just so you know, when you are not home…your dogs bark NONSTOP.

Please take them with you or get MUZZLES!!! 

It is very disruptive and annoying.”

So the first thing we did was go apologize to everyone and anyone who might have heard the barking. But since we don’t know who wrote the note, we can’t approach that individual and make amends. 

Now look, I get it. Barking is annoying even when it’s your dog, let alone when it’s someone else’s dog. But anonymous notes are annoying too. And this note gets kind of nasty, especially the muzzle part. Really? Muzzle two 13-old-dogs? Since we do live in such tight quarters, it would have been nice for the person who wrote this note to have communicated with us in person. At the very least, we could have then apologized profusely and admit guilt. Maybe try to come up with a solution together. But this anonymous note just strikes me as cowardly. I mean, we must obviously know the person who wrote it because everyone knows each other on this campground. But they couldn’t approach us in person? 

But there’s more to it. 

For one, our dogs don’t typically bark all that much unless someone knocks at the door, and the barking will stop in a couple of minutes. Yes, this is annoying. Yes, we apologize every time. But what can we do? They are older dogs and one is a rescue. Should we put them to sleep just because a few people don’t like their barking? Because my experience is that all dogs bark to some extent. Can’t we all just be a little more flexible in life? Can’t we just show each other a little more grace as my 5-year-old is always saying? 

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Because let’s face it. Don’t we all do things that are annoying? Sometimes, we might realize it. But probably not. Honestly, I think most of us go through life thinking the things we do aren’t annoying, we just see how annoying other people are. 

Take the “note writer” for example. We’re pretty confident we know who wrote it. After all, we did go around and apologize and the people who hid in their cottage all day and wouldn’t answer the door. Bingo. Now I’m very confidant who we offended, (our dogs offended) I find myself noticing things that I didn’t notice before that would bother lots of people. I’m not going to list them because… it kind of goes against what I’m trying to accomplish in this post. However it made me realize even more that EVERYONE is annoying at times. How are we supposed to respond? Anonymous notes?

So reverting back to my original point as this is the take home message. Yes, barking is annoying but we are all annoying to some extent. Are you an anonymous person? Maybe not leaving a note but participating in rather malicious gossip? We all have imperfections and are far from perfect. My challenge for all of us today (including myself) let’s look for the best in others instead of their flaws. If you do have a problem that needs to be addressed go and have a NICE conversation which will increase the odds that the person in question will actually hear you. Happy Monday. 

Matthew 7:3-NIV
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

What do you find that annoys you the most? ~ Tom

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about laura sproull

about laura sproull

Hi! I'm Laura and hail from Western New York. I consider myself a lifelong learner who loves gardening with a 360 degree view. Thanks for stopping by!

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