The Barkathon

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

04 Aug 2007 01:08 PM

Last night was a baaaaaaaad night. The dogs barked me awake at 12:10. Again at 12:30. At 1:00. At that point, I got up to let them out, thinking they really had to go. But alas, the barkathon began anew at 4:50. And 6:00. And 6:20. And so on.

Why all the barking? As far as I could tell, someone in the complex was having a party. Unusual noises, music, and louder voices that usual had Moose and Lally in a bit of a frenzy! At least for the first part of the night. What they heard in the very early morning, I have no idea. Early morning joggers? Folks on their way to work? Who knows? I was too sleepy to do more than grunt and pull the pillow over my head.

Next time we have a barkathon, I'm going to try more than just rolling over and going back to sleep.

1. White noise. Something like the radio or television, or even the whirr of a fan might help drown out some of the weird noises.
2. Close the windows. As much as I like sleeping with a breeze blowing, I like sleeping. And I sure wasn't sleeping much last night. Closing the window will hopefully help muffle more of the unusual sounds.
3. Close all the blinds. If they can't see people walking around, they can't bark at them... right? I know they can still hear, but maybe the visual roadblock will help keep things quiet.
4. Make sure the dogs are tired. A longer walk than usual before bed may help tire them out and keep them sleeping through the night, too.
5. Distraction. When Moose gets into a super barking frenzy, he's very hard to distract. But maybe a special treat will snap him out of it.
6. Do they make earplugs for dogs? I don't think they do, but I could always wear earplugs myself. But I'm not only concerned about my own lack of sleep -- I worry about Moose and Lally barking our neighbors awake, too. Luckily, the soundproofing is pretty good in this building. I hardly ever hear my neighbors, and I hope they hardly ever hear us.

Moose really is the problem barker. Lally will woof a few times and stop; Moose sometimes gets into a barking tizzy and just won't stop. It seems like he just gets so worked up he can't stop barking! Even the slightest sound sets him off again, once he does settle down.

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger