Chicago suburb cracks down on excessively barking dogs
Tips for getting your dog to be quiet during night hours
There’s an ongoing negotiation between me and my dog. I know there are moments when she is absolutely going to bark and howl. She knows there are moments when it’s out of the question. Somewhere during the middle of me adopting her, we agreed on a middle ground.
Controlling her noise volume definitely did NOT happen when I brought her home on Juneteenth. New puppies are about as dependent as newborn babies, including constantly waking up in the middle of the night (if they are receptive to crate training) and being vocal about all new sights and sounds.
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However, at 1 year old (and 51 weeks of her being my four-legged roommate), I can safely say the following:
There are two neighborhood dogs that she will damn near yank my arm off to play with, so I don’t even bother trying to walk in the other direction. (They also react the same way, one of which will flop down on the sidewalk like a statue and refuse to move. My dog also loves their human owners, and my wrist knows this well.) I expect plenty of barking “hello” and other gleeful noises.
She is going to howl at the very top of her lungs when an ambulance goes by—numerous times until the ambulance leaves.
If I moved tomorrow and she could no longer see the dogs (in the first point), I can guarantee you that number two would still be consistent. Dogs don’t suddenly become quiet when they are used to being loud, especially around objects that are triggering.
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This was my first thought while reading recent news that Aurora, Illinois is ticketing pet owners $100 for their dogs barking at night. For non-Chicagoans who have never been to Aurora, it’s not a dog-friendly, walking environment. I stumbled down many streets from Metra trains to the building I worked in — constantly forced to walk in the street because of the lack of sidewalks, marching through snow, and grumbling about how they take their sweet time shoveling and sweeping.
For Aurora residents to even bother having pets at all is brave. If I still worked in that Illinois suburb and (although I would never) lived there, I know I could avoid the $100 tickets for pets though. Here’s why.