An episode of my soap opera.
Hi,
Yea a water gun. Hmmm.
They don't really like me very much as i am "a maudit bloke who 'complains' about harmless, little, barking dogs" in their opinion.
See, i live in Montreal, Quebec. So, there are political languages barriers, too, which add to any pre-existant discomfort caused by barking dogs. They are all French who barely speak English and i am the other way around with French. So, clear communication is...lacking, sometimes.
So, me, pointing a water gun at her dog would be seen as a threat of some kind, afterall, javex could be in the water gun.
I would love to point a water gun at her, though, as you suggest, only thing is, we are not all that friendly due to how i had to handle the barking Maltese problem directly downstairs from me (which is her neighbor on the bottom flat who shares the fence that separates the two yards) a couple of summers ago. Everyone complained by rolling their eyes, or admitting that "that Maltese dog does bark too much", whenever the Maltese would bark - but no one wanted to say anything about it to the owners. When everyone finally expressed their dislike about the barking, to me, I WENT down with smiles and doggy suggestions about maybe covering the fence so the dog can't see outside the yard, i suggested the citronella coller, shaking a can of coins to creat noise, a water pistol, They kept refusing all suggestions, and maintained that their dog is unstoppable. Well, that continued until all hell broke loose when they refused to quiet their dog.
To top it off. When i confronted the maltese owner, i asked openly for support from the other silent complaining neighbors (who are all French, by the way) while trying to explain that no one wantes to listen to her dog. THEY Guess what?...ALL DENIED IT, and said, "The barking doesn't bother me.", making me look the ONLY ONE who disliked the barking. That's how they have more entertainment, the drunken drug users. Another neighbor told me later that she just didn't want to get involved (she's the yorkie owner who used to roll her eyes, too, each time the maltese barked). Some support!
It was a war, and i won, and they (the maltese owners) were/are poor losers, and me being English and them being French with these yappy dogs who are all mature dogs, it makes it more stressful. Their disliking me so much is caused mostly by the landlord's female, (French) secretary who also owns a barking toy breed. When i asked her to send a reminder of the house rules to the maltese owners about barking dogs not being allowed, she, instead, sent a highly threatening letter to the maltese owners on my behalf. She caused so much trouble and then turned it around, and ignored my complaint and then tried to evict me. She was so disapproving of me complaining about the Maltese barking, she actually tried to get me evicted. She took it upon herself to stand behind the Maltese owners and ignore the house rules, which were set out by the landlord, himself, and tried to make me look like I WAS the bad tenant by accusing me of doing laundry all night long, my smoke detector going off several times a night, moving furniture after midnight, dropping heavy things on the floor all day and night, even being excessively rude and impolite to all the other tenants. She even told the landlord that i was complaining about the silent-barking yorkie who had its vocal cords cut - she sent all this to the rental board, too, and lodged a complaint against me, suggesting to them they be allowed to evict me. It was all lies, of course, i am in bed most nights by 11 or 12.
All i did do was, one day, after the police were called and and the secretary was complained to and no one wanted to do anything) was to bang a 25lbs barebell on the floor nonstop really hard for about 2 whole minutes while SCREAMING in French at the floor "DO YOU UNDERSTAND, NOW?? SHUT UP YOUR DOG!!" after that the secratery tried to evict me.
When i later spoke to the landlord, himself, and showed him all her complaints and how false they were and told him that "I HAVE HIRED A LAWYER now because of your secretary." The dog suddenly stopped barking.
BUT it still barks on occasion...just not as much. They are another dimwit owner whose dog has tuned them out.
It has gotten better, though, even though i feel as though they are talking at the gate, telling each other, "He better not start complaining again because i'll....".
I am definately on the outside of the neighbor box, here. Typical stuff here in Montreal, Quebec between the French and English folks.
I was really nice at first, too, to the Maltese owners for the first year and a half. I was being really nice with them.
Now, they won't even look at me, and if they do, it's only to flash their raised eyebrows up to my balcony and grimace because I MADE THEM stop their little 10 year old yapper from yapping. What a suprise for them to learn that all their lame excuses that they have been using on their previous neighbors for years, about how they can't stop their dog from barking, didn't work on me. I told her that her dog suffers from separation anxiety and needs her in the yard with her dog, she refused to do that. She ended up having to take my advice anyway and now she disgruntledly sits with her dog in the yard when she puts it out to do its pissness. They used to just put their dog out in the back yard and just close their kitchen door so they wouldn't have to hear their own dog barking. Well, that's all stopped now.
At the time, which was the latest, last summer, the shih tzu was in the house all day when the owner worked, so i never really cared if it barked in her house, i figured that someone else would complain, and someone did. But now it's barking outside, and i can't keep the attitude that its barking does not bug me, mainly because now, the Maltese owner is thinking," Well, if the shih zu is allowed to bark all day, my maltese should be allowed to bark a little, also."
And the "little" will get bigger and bigger as time passes by until it's like a dog kennel down there with frantically barking dogs and owners all shouting over it to be heard.
See the situation? It's not an easy one.
However, the other neighbors all silently enjoy the new peace in the yards, since the maltese stopped barking. They're letting the shih tzu bark to see what i will do, i am sure. They don't want to complain because that would make the French people appear to be agreeing with the "maudit Anglais" (AKA, me).
Getting money together for HER to get her dog trained is why i am offering to do it for free. No one will want to dish out cash, c'mon they have beer and drugs to buy. Getting the dog trained means that will stop the ensuing arguments that might arise due to the shih tzu now barking as much as the Maltese used to do. Why would THEY pay for that?! They liked all of that Maltese drama, i am trying to avoid more of the same by nicely offering to train the shih tzu. With all that in mind, can you just imagine me using Koehler's methods in this touchy situation.
Robbie_d
P.S.
Yes, Montreal is a charming, European-like city to visit, and we have healtlh care and all the other social services, and sexy women (and men, too, i suppose), but if you don't speak French, i would not suggest living here.