So, for anyone who doesn't remember, my parents' neighbors
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77627
are jerks.
i am so upset right now i am crying. Angry, frustrated crying.
i went over today to celebrate my older brother's birthday, we had a little cook-out. Now, I had a herding clinic today with roo and merlin (info on that tomorrow when i'm not so ticked off) and poor popper was home with only the old girls from 6am until 5pm (my parents let them out to pee at noon). So I decided to take him with me. Not wanting to cause any more trouble with my parents' stupid neighbors, and against my better judgement, i took his old electronic collar with me to keep him away from the fence and their barking dogs. (agree with them or not, I did it, and if you read what follows, I don't need a reaming about it if you hate them.)
So, their dogs all come storming out as usual, and line up at the fence barking. Popper takes off like a rocket and runs over to the fence, running up and down and barking as well. I toned him, and that didn't work, so I unfortunately used the shock on a very light setting. He came back to us and their dogs kept barking for a while and eventually went inside.
An hour or more later, their dogs come out again, line up at the fence, and resume their incessant barking. Popper again ran out and again, sadly, got the shock. At this point I am really upset. I do not want to do this to my dog. Not for these inconsiderate jerks. Popper comes back, and again, their dogs continue barking. And barking. And barking. It's certainly not fair to my dog. Very, very angry now that I'm making some kind of effort to control MY dog, I step out into the yard, because I know it will keep her dogs barking, and eventually she'll waddle out of the house to make them come in if it starts annoying *her*.
She did waddle out, and immediately yelled to me, "Oh, you can't stare at Shepherds!" and then said something else I couldn't quite catch. Why, then, does she stand outside and stare at my dogs? I wasn't staring at her dogs anyway, I was waiting for her so I could get a few things off my chest. Unfortunately, that comment set me back and the words that I uttered were definitely lower class, completely vulgar, and something you can never take back. My parents were appalled such speech could come from their daughter, my brother was ashamed, and my SO was even a little taken aback that I could scream such obscenities at someone. I would do it again. In a heartbeat. Yes, it probably did lower me to her level. But it felt good to get it out. Years and years of them blaming us for crap and us never doing anything about it just built me up to it and I snapped. It definitely didn't help the situation. The woman's eyes got big as saucers and she immediately started attempting to round the dogs up, but as they have absolutely zero obedience, nothing much happened. I think that's the first time in 30 years we got the last word. (Well, I.) They kept barking. My mom then snapped. My mom is one of those people that doesn't do that kind of thing. The fact that I was shocking Popper (her favorite) to try to keep the neighbors from getting upset, going out of my way to keep my dog away from the fence barking, and again, years of taking their crap built up to the exploding point with her. She marched out, grabbed the garden hose, and began hosing down their dogs, just like they did to mine before. (and I found out last week that they were apparently really scaring popper when they sprayed him - my parents said they'd laugh about it when he ran away... he likes being sprayed when i do it - and yes my parents confronted them and were told we don't do anything to try to stop them from barking)
Her husband had wandered out by this time and he said, they LIKE being sprayed! Isn't it funny how my mom told them the same thing about my dogs? And how they sprayed their own dogs, too, effectively REWARDING them for behaving in a manner that should be corrected?
My dad was really angry at my mom and managed to turn the hose off, but it was after my mom was done with her mad hosing spree. I don't recall EVER seeing my mom that out of control. So when I tell you there is a lot of tension that has been building, I hope you'll understand my full meaning. My dad has flat-out refused to build or fund a privacy fence. I have offered repeatedly to help and have several of my friends help put it up, but I'm not sure why he won't do it, as he has the money. Perhaps it is principle, perhaps it is something else. All I know is, I can't take my dogs over to my parents' nice, big yard anymore. I will not ever EVER do that to another one of my dogs again, and if I am embarrassed or ashamed of anything that transpired tonight, it's that I actually did that to my dog for a bunch of stupid jerks that aren't even trying to help the situation. Everything is our fault. Nothing will ever improve. I'm done with it. YOU WIN! I walk away from it. That yard is not worth it anymore. It has been tainted for me. I will always remember the steps I went through to try to make you people happy and how you reacted to it.
thanks for letting me rant. I'm a horrible monster. I can't stop crying.
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77627
are jerks.
i am so upset right now i am crying. Angry, frustrated crying.
i went over today to celebrate my older brother's birthday, we had a little cook-out. Now, I had a herding clinic today with roo and merlin (info on that tomorrow when i'm not so ticked off) and poor popper was home with only the old girls from 6am until 5pm (my parents let them out to pee at noon). So I decided to take him with me. Not wanting to cause any more trouble with my parents' stupid neighbors, and against my better judgement, i took his old electronic collar with me to keep him away from the fence and their barking dogs. (agree with them or not, I did it, and if you read what follows, I don't need a reaming about it if you hate them.)
So, their dogs all come storming out as usual, and line up at the fence barking. Popper takes off like a rocket and runs over to the fence, running up and down and barking as well. I toned him, and that didn't work, so I unfortunately used the shock on a very light setting. He came back to us and their dogs kept barking for a while and eventually went inside.
An hour or more later, their dogs come out again, line up at the fence, and resume their incessant barking. Popper again ran out and again, sadly, got the shock. At this point I am really upset. I do not want to do this to my dog. Not for these inconsiderate jerks. Popper comes back, and again, their dogs continue barking. And barking. And barking. It's certainly not fair to my dog. Very, very angry now that I'm making some kind of effort to control MY dog, I step out into the yard, because I know it will keep her dogs barking, and eventually she'll waddle out of the house to make them come in if it starts annoying *her*.
She did waddle out, and immediately yelled to me, "Oh, you can't stare at Shepherds!" and then said something else I couldn't quite catch. Why, then, does she stand outside and stare at my dogs? I wasn't staring at her dogs anyway, I was waiting for her so I could get a few things off my chest. Unfortunately, that comment set me back and the words that I uttered were definitely lower class, completely vulgar, and something you can never take back. My parents were appalled such speech could come from their daughter, my brother was ashamed, and my SO was even a little taken aback that I could scream such obscenities at someone. I would do it again. In a heartbeat. Yes, it probably did lower me to her level. But it felt good to get it out. Years and years of them blaming us for crap and us never doing anything about it just built me up to it and I snapped. It definitely didn't help the situation. The woman's eyes got big as saucers and she immediately started attempting to round the dogs up, but as they have absolutely zero obedience, nothing much happened. I think that's the first time in 30 years we got the last word. (Well, I.) They kept barking. My mom then snapped. My mom is one of those people that doesn't do that kind of thing. The fact that I was shocking Popper (her favorite) to try to keep the neighbors from getting upset, going out of my way to keep my dog away from the fence barking, and again, years of taking their crap built up to the exploding point with her. She marched out, grabbed the garden hose, and began hosing down their dogs, just like they did to mine before. (and I found out last week that they were apparently really scaring popper when they sprayed him - my parents said they'd laugh about it when he ran away... he likes being sprayed when i do it - and yes my parents confronted them and were told we don't do anything to try to stop them from barking)
Her husband had wandered out by this time and he said, they LIKE being sprayed! Isn't it funny how my mom told them the same thing about my dogs? And how they sprayed their own dogs, too, effectively REWARDING them for behaving in a manner that should be corrected?
My dad was really angry at my mom and managed to turn the hose off, but it was after my mom was done with her mad hosing spree. I don't recall EVER seeing my mom that out of control. So when I tell you there is a lot of tension that has been building, I hope you'll understand my full meaning. My dad has flat-out refused to build or fund a privacy fence. I have offered repeatedly to help and have several of my friends help put it up, but I'm not sure why he won't do it, as he has the money. Perhaps it is principle, perhaps it is something else. All I know is, I can't take my dogs over to my parents' nice, big yard anymore. I will not ever EVER do that to another one of my dogs again, and if I am embarrassed or ashamed of anything that transpired tonight, it's that I actually did that to my dog for a bunch of stupid jerks that aren't even trying to help the situation. Everything is our fault. Nothing will ever improve. I'm done with it. YOU WIN! I walk away from it. That yard is not worth it anymore. It has been tainted for me. I will always remember the steps I went through to try to make you people happy and how you reacted to it.
thanks for letting me rant. I'm a horrible monster. I can't stop crying.
