Ethical dilemma

I’m not the kind of person who cares to have a dog. They bark, require too much care, dig up and pollute your yard (or the street -- and then you have to pick the pollution up) and have bad breath. But I like them all right. Some of them are very cute, and they’re friendly, and receptive to affection, which is pleasant. But whether or not I would want one, I certainly object to their abuse.

There is a house I pass when I take the back way to work (longer, but aggravation-free, as there is virtually no traffic, so I’m not going to get stuck behind someone who insists on driving the ridiculously low speed limit). This house has a large, unfenced yard. It also has a tiny fenced-in area, up against the garage, for the dog. Actually, it used to be two dogs, and large ones at that, stuck in this little space for most of their waking hours, and in all kinds of weather (there is a dog house in the space, that looks indecently small). I would cringe every time I saw them. Why don’t those people fence in the whole yard, or even just a larger section of it, and give their animals a modicum of freedom, I’d fume.

But this is as nothing compared to my next-door-neighbors. These are a young couple whose lives are an endless mystery to me. They both drive (very noisy) pickups sometimes. From time to time one or the other truck disappears, to be replaced by some other vehicle. But the trucks always come back.

Since I moved in, a year ago, the husband has usually left for work sometime between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. Not always at the same time. What could he do for a living that didn’t require that he leave at the same time every day, but did require that he leave before most people are even up? For most of the winter the wife, who has a commercial license (as I learned in a brief conversation with her one day) had a job delivering fuel to gas stations in the dead of night. She left for work at midnight, after letting her incredibly noisy diesel truck idle in their driveway for 10-15 minutes. Said driveway is, quite literally, right outside my bedroom window.

Well, lately, the old departure times have disappeared. Now they both seem to be gone most of the day and night. But these young people have three dogs. Whom they were wont to let out into their small back yard three or four times a day for 5-10 minutes, (during which time one of the dogs would bark non-stop). They do not walk these dogs. And now the dogs are lucky to get maybe four minutes of toilet and exercise time a couple of times a day. The rest of the time they are apparently shut up in a room on the other side of the house from me. I say apparently because every half hour or so you can hear what sounds like some very unhappy bark-bark-barking, emanating from that location. I can only thank my lucky stars that I don’t live in the house on the far side of the Dog House. That place is currently vacant, or surely the residents would complain.

Which takes me to my dilemma. Should I complain? Or, to be more accurate, should I report the situation to the police? I already know it wouldn’t do any good to say anything to the couple, although speaking directly to the person who is responsible for a situation is generally the best approach. I have had a couple of run-ins with the wife, once when I complained about the little Dog That Can’t Stop Barking, when they were outside; and once when that damn truck was allowed to idle for half an hour. In each case she was very defensive. I am sure her response now would be, we have to be at our work (I’m assuming that’s where they are), what else can we do with them? And I’ll admit I don’t relish the idea of the animals being left out in the yard for all the hours and hours the couple are gone. Not given that one very undisciplined little thing, that apparently will only not bark when the husband or wife is there watching them (as they do, whenever they let them out).

I also do not relish the idea of being at odds with my neighbors. Strained relations between neighbors is very unpleasant indeed.

Good grief.