The Baying Hound Two Doors Down

Two doors away from us, that neighbor's teenaged son bought himself a hound dog.  The stupid thing is not trained, escapes from their fenced yard frequently, and runs to houses where there are people outside because it's lonely and wants to play. It's left outdoors most of the time where no one pays any attention to it. He's been in our garage, tried scratching his way in through our front door because he could hear us through the open front windows, and even been up on our back deck trying to get into the kitchen. He bays and howls incessantly...it's like always living in a redneck police drama with fugitives wading through the swamps with law enforcement on their heels with baying bloodhounds. This dog howls and bays from seven in the morning until midnight. To make matters worse, the abusive father who's longstanding belief in fixing his errant sons has been screaming at them like a fish wife to make them behave (right, like that really worked) screams at the dog to shut up his colorful, all shades of blue, language that I'm sure the parents of the two-year old next door appreciate having their little boy hear.

The man is a vindictive bully. His son once broke into the neighbor across the street's house. I'm sick of listening to this dog, but there's nothing illegal about owning a barking dog (no matter how LOUD the poor, stupid thing is). There's no talking to the father or the son (who has grown up to be just like his dear ol' Dad)...so we're all a bunch of bullied adults forced to listen to this poor animal howl, bay and get yelled at on a daily basis. (They were out there at midnight on Sunday-baying dog and screaming man...until he finally got the bright idea to put the dog in the house at three minutes past midnight.)

It's sad when people who don't want the responsibility of owning and training a dog can adopt one and then neglect it and let it become a neighborhood nuisance. I have nothing against the dog- he is what he is, and he's basically lonely because he's a young dog who wants to play and have fun and no one pays ay attention to him. However, the whole sad state of affairs is even worse when they're a family of jerks who might slash your tires, break into your house or burn it down while you sleep if you complain...so,what do you do?

There's probably a book in this situation somewhere, but I'm too tired to think about writing it since that damn dog keeps me awake every night! (And, no, ear plugs wouldn't work for me.)