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Introduction to the Violence in the News

The Violence in the News section of this website contains accounts of savagery and approximations of the same, and there are certainly some shocking stories to be found there. However, their inclusion on this site should by no means be construed as an endorsement of the lamentable behavior emitted by the extremely stressed-out people who were caught-up in the emotionally-charged incidents described.

Indeed, if you read How to Persuade Your Neighbors to Quiet Their Chronically Barking Dogs, you will see that this site urges that no dog ever be harmed. Furthermore, for practical reasons, as well as for the sake of decorum, we admonish those on both sides of the fence to remain calm and polite in their every interaction.

Nonetheless, we at barkingdogs.net feel it is our obligation to pass these stories on to the public to highlight the danger inherent in a legal system that forces distraught, long-abused, sleep-deprived people to personally confront those responsible for their torment, and somehow bring them into compliance before the victimized parties will again be allowed to to work, rest, relax, or sleep inside their own homes.

What we need are laws that prevent barking problems, and allow them to be brought to an immediate end in those instances in which they do occur, because when the authorities refuse to protect people from abuse, belligerence will often follow, as is attested to in the Violence in the News section of this site.

We certainly need to move away from our current selection of unworkable ordinances that force stressed-out victims, who have no authority, to try to rein in the perpetrators on their own, after the powers that be have allowed the problem to develop.

However, there is one other point that I hope to drive home by making these violent news stories available, and that is this: For many people, the endless torment of being forced to listen to someone else's dog screaming inside their home day and night, year after year, is simply more than they can bear. Some people's lives and, indeed their health and the very fabric of their existence are so shredded by the constant disruption that they reach the point that they are ready to do anything to make it stop. And since the barking laws are unenforceable, that leaves killing or maiming your dog as one of their few options.

Remember, when you put your untrained dog out to bark in a residential neighborhood, you place the animal in harm's way. If he is then struck down, then certainly, you are at least as much to blame for his demise as your nerve-shattered neighbor who finally lost it after one too many sleepless nights.

Yes, the man who poisoned your dog was a monster, or, perhaps he was just monstrously upset at the time. But what would you call the person who placed the dog in danger, and left the poor thing vulnerable because he couldn't be bothered to teach the animal the good manners that would have allowed him to avoid injuy?

If you won't quiet your dog for your neighbor's sake, then do it to ensure the safety of the animal. After all, you can't really claim to love your dog and then put him out untrained to be targeted by frantic people who have grown desperate enough to do whatever it takes to bring their suffering an end.

Return to the Violence in the News

This page is the introduction to the Violence in the News,
which is a component of the Barking Dog News and barkingdogs.net