The Neighbor’s Dog
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Photos by MJ Klein
UPDATE: Late in the afternoon, the neighbor’s dog got away from him, and the dog ran after a passing motor scooter, forcing the female driver to stop (I wouldn’t have - I would have run him over). I was there of course, with my camera, and I captured a very revealing set of photos presented at the bottom of this article. The shots of the neighbor chasing the dog with a stick are priceless!
Every morning my wife and I are woken up by our neighbor’s dog barking across the street. This has been going on since we first moved here, so I assume that it’s been like this forever. Hui-chen’s mother visited us on one occasion and the neighbors asked her “Why don’t they like dogs?” referring to Hui-chen and I. The reason for the question is because we frequently yell out of the window for the dog to shut up. Apparently why we yell at their dog is a connection that wasn’t made by the owners. We’re supposed to love his dog as much as he does (which isn’t saying much).
Our neighbor shares a laugh with the police - it’s all just great fun!
This morning was it. At 6:30 we hear the disgusting growling and snapping that this dog does. His voice is extremely sharp and high pitched, and I just do not know how these people sleep through that noise but apparently they do, quite well in fact. Well, this morning I couldn’t take it any longer. Before I could say anything Hui-chen was on the phone to the police.
Of course, they didn’t do shit. We saw them drive by, stop for one second and drive off. Hui-chen was furious. She called again and the dispatcher said that the dog wasn’t barking. Hui-chen told her to send them back again.
5 minutes later the cops call her back and ask her to come down. We pressed the doorbell buttons on the neighbor’s gate and it took the home owner almost 5 minutes to come down - clearly obvlious to the noise his dog was making or the presence of the police outside his home.
The conversation that ensued is one of those that are all too common on Taiwan. One where the laws of logic and reasoning don’t apply. The owner defended his dog’s right to bark which I thought was amazing enough, but when the owner pointed to his dog and showed the police how nice and quiet he is, and that he only makes noise when people pass by in front of his home, or other dogs pass close by I thought at least that the police would realize this assclown knows his dog makes noise and what causes it to happen! Hui-chen asked him why doesn’t he put the dog inside the house? At that juncture the home owner suggested that we move to the mountains. Like me, Hui-chen gets really pissed off when people make off-hand remarks like that, so she told the guy that he should move to the mountains so his dog can make all the noise it wants. It was then that this asswipe make the most revealing statement of all time:
“I’m not moving because I own the land!”
Well, eeeeeeeeeeexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxcccccccccccccccccuuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee me!
This is the underlying issue. This asswipe actually thinks that he has the right to do whatever he wishes. It doesn’t matter that his fucking dog disturbs the peace and tranquility of the neighborhood. It doesn’t matter that his dog wakes people up. It only matters that he is a fucking land owner so we can just kiss his ass. After that I told Hui-chen to forget it and we went back inside our home. Once inside I could observe the interaction between the 2 police officers and the neighbor. I knew it was futile but I had to give this neighbor one last chance before I solve this problem myself.
Time for one last joke about the couple who aren’t as good as you because you’re a fucking land owner.
I love this shot because Mr. Asswipe realized that I was photographing him. There’s more coming, bitch.
One of the cops made the suggestion that we give the police some “evidence” that the dog makes unacceptable noise Well, documentation was my gig in the professional world, so documentation is what you’re going to get.
I have other articles planned that will deal with the growing stray dog situation in Hukou, which is becoming an epidemic. We’ve been in contact with the Mayor’s office in Hukou and that story deserves a series of it’s own. Part of the problem is how Taiwanese treat dogs and dog ownership practices.
This owner is typical. His dog is nothing more than a possession. Something to own. It’s not really part of the family. I live across the street and I have seen him interact with his dog on numerous occasions. The family doesn’t play with the dog, nor do they teach it anything. The one responsible thing about this owner is that he does take the dog out on a leash occasionally and he never lets it roam the streets freely like so many other dog “owners” do. But, the dog lives outside the house on his little strip of precious land and gets table scraps for food. During the 2 recent typhoons that passed though Taiwan, this dog was left outside. Yeah, a real part of the family. In Taiwan you put a collar on a dog and that’s all there is to it! Oh, if you don’t want to spend money on a collar, just use a piece of raw chain.
So no wonder that every time someone walks past the dog, he goes nuts. He’s bored out of his mind! He makes the most disgusting growling and yapping sounds, yet his tail is wagging like it’s going to fall off. The owner is right, the dog is nice, but the problem is the dog barks repeatedly at every single normal daily occurrence. The mailman, trash truck, people walking to work all make him go crazy - and every day! And yet, no one will bother to teach him when it’s appropriate to bark and when not to. I taught every single dog I owned and they make that owner look like an idiot.
I have DV footage of this dog barking at all hours of the day and night. Here is what I have planned for it:
- A 24 hour barking marathon, where I play an audio clip of their dog barking from the 4th floor balcony using a guitar amplifier pointed at their windows. I may supplement that with live impersonations of Jimi Hendrix.
- A DVD left in their mailbox that contains a movie showing a screen capture of Youtube. The capture will show a movie I made of them.
I’m not going to suggest that I ask the Vietnam guy in our neighborhood to kill this dog for me because that would be wrong. This is not the dog’s fault. This is the land owner’s fault. However the attitude of the police clearly indicate that I have to solve this situation on my own and let’s face it, I’m just not the type to grovel to a land owner.
So if anyone has any suggestions on how to handle this situation I am open to them. Unfortunately this is another “Mr. Wang” I’m afraid. I’m wrong and I just don’t understand. I will never understand. Yeah, fuck that. And after I wrote this article too. Too bad that the asswipe neighbor went and negated it with his bad attitude.
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As promised, here is the update:
Background
I was in my office working on the second floor when I heard a big ruckus outside. There was the sound of a dog growling and barking, and several people yelling. Since the days of 5371 I have had my Nikon beside me pretty much all the time, so I bolted to the window with it to see what was happening. Please bear with the poor quality of the photos because I shot them through the window and the window reflected light from inside the room (the white blotches on the photos). Still you can clearly see what is going on.
Set #1: Woman Stopped on Motor Scooter
When I got to the window, this woman was stopped on her scooter. As I was shooting she started moving again, but she had to stop again because the neighbor’s dot (the same one we called the police about) actually tried to jump into the foot rest area of the scooter! Notice this poor woman’s leg positions changing as she tries to dodge the dog. In this case the dog happens to have a muzzle on. Apparently the owner does realize that this dog is a menace to people. Here is a series of shots that shows this scene unfolding:
Now at this point, our brilliant Dog Owner manages to chase his possession away from the woman so she can go on about her business.
Set #2: The Stick
Our conscientious Dog Owner now goes after his possession with a raised stick. The dog runs just out of reach and waits for the owner to approach before running away further. Every time the owner raises his stick, the dog runs away (gee, I wonder why?). This went on for a few cycles before the dog eventually the dog runs back inside his compound to avoid a beating.
This is what civil journalism is all about. Documentation. The police mentioned it this morning.
Be careful what you wish for….
I need to update the following section. Corrected text is stricken. New comments are in red:
This neighbor embarrassed my wife by speaking Hakka to her, knowing full well that she cannot understand that language. Taiwanese but apparently he used some slang terms that my wife doesn’t understand. The implication for her and I is that we don’t belong here. He’s a land owner after all. We’re outsiders. He thinks we can’t do anything about his dog barking and harassing people.
“Oh yeah? I can make you look like an asshole to millions of people around the world on the internet.” That’s something, isn’t it?
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December 18th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I had the same problem back in France except it was two dogs, a completely crazy neighbor (she did 5 month in a psychiatric ward a few years later), cops that wouldn’t even come by, and a much smaller street.
One day, the two dogs disappeared (nothing of my doing though). The neighbor went crazy at everybody in the neighborhood. About a week later one of them came back, alone.
I’m guessing another neighbor took the two dogs very far away. Seeing that dogs have this amazing sense of orientation, i guess one of the them managed to make it back. The other must be roaming free somewhere around southern France.
This would be my suggestion: Seeing that the dog will probably be happier being free than living chained to the door of your ass of a neighbor, cut the chain, take him very far away, and sleep nice and tight from now on. Keep doing this until the neighbors tires of getting new dogs.
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December 18th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Ed en Vadrouille » well i apologize for the profanity but i was rudely awakened this morning. plus my arm hurts from a tendon problem. i wish i could let him go but i’d have go into their yard. thanks Ed.
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December 18th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Good luck!
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December 18th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Dude, send these pics to the City Hall.
If they try to equivocate like those cops,
then tell them that you will post it online, world wild.
And we’ll see what will happen next.
Actually, I’ve encountered similar situation in Los Angeles like yours.
Altho my neighbor keep their chiwawa in their front yard,
that dog still barks like crazy. No matter its 10am or 10pm.
One of my neighbor had enough and call the cops.
Cops arrived, but the dog aint barking that time.
So, the cops told us that if they didnt hear the disturbance when they are at the scene….there is nothing much they can do. Instead of giving the dog owner a verbal warning.
And guess how the dog owner stop their dog barking?
Simply open the window and yelled : “Shut the FUCK up, skipper!”
Not even consider that the children around the neighborhood can hear them swearing. They just don’t give a damn and have no manner at all.
What i did is, i put them on the website called RottenNeighbor
http://www.rottenneighbor.com/
I wonder if Taiwan has a website like this
And I have heard that one of my neighbor is going to throw a piece of chocolate in fornt of that freaking chiwawa….guess what will happen?
Eyes of Sky’s last blog post..Moe
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December 18th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
You write pretty well for a non land owner
That bugs me when people think they have more rights then another because they own a house or earn more money.
owshawng’s last blog post..Hotpot At Home
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December 18th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
owshawng » i used to be a rockstar. does that count for anything? lol
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December 18th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Eyes of Sky » i have yelled “SHUT THE FUCK UP” out my window at that dog, maybe 100 times. at least it does work and he goes quiet for awhile. the dog never barks at me while i’m outside - why? because i taught him not to! that is my entire gripe about it - the owner is an asshole who refuses to acknowledge that he is wrong.
we’ve been in contact with the Mayor’s office about the dog problem in our neighborhood. dogs are running rampant and i have plenty of photographic evidence to support it too. we’ve made prints are are going to make an appointment with the mayor soon. of course i’ll report on everything that happens. i’m not holding my breath!
oh, i love the idea of rottenneighbor.com! excellent!
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December 18th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Totally agree with you, dogs need to be trained.
Yeah, show the mayor whats going on there.
And the meantime, maybe unite your neighbors,
file the complanit against that Mr. Asswipe…
You dont need to fight alone, the more people get invloved.
the stronger power you got.
The neighborhood where I live now, is actually a pretty peaceful
and quiet place. Sometime i do really wanna yell at that freaking
chiwawa to shut the F up. But there are kids around this neighborhood
I dont wanna set a bad example to them. ha ha ha….
Bad luck for me to have a scumbag neighbor next to me.
But I aint gonna give in, still thinking of a new tactic!
Fight on, my friend.
Eyes of Sky’s last blog post..Moe- Testing my lens. ????
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December 19th, 2007 at 12:23 am
Good luck MJ! You’ve made one helluva start. I’m rooting for you.
John and I also have doggy woes in our building. Our next door neighbors have a dog that starts barking shortly after midnight and doesn’t stop until the wee hours of the morning.
Lately, our building security personnel have been trying to enforce new pet rules because people allow their dogs to SHIT IN OUR BUILDING. There are security cams everywhere and a notice was posted but this hasn’t deterred pet owners from allowing their dogs to wander around the main lobby without leashes. What really sends me over the edge is when our next door neighbors (the same one I mentioned above) get on the elevator with their ill-behaved unleashed Yorkshire Terrier. The dog barks and growls at everyone who gets on and off. The owner thinks it’s cute. That dog is going to get a swift kick if it takes one step out of line.
Carrie’s last blog post..Journey through the Cambodian Countryside
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December 19th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Carrie » thanks for your support! yeah that stuff would bother me too! you should “accidentally” step on that little bastard next time he’s under foot. act as if you don’t see it (after all you wouldn’t expect a dog on the floor in the elevator usually). you can apologize while scaring the shit out of him so he’ll avoid you next time!
what kills me is that HC looked up the law and printed it out. clearly our neighbor is in violation of the law but do you think the cops would do anything about it? NO! this system forces people to take matters into their own hands. if we want to do anything we have to instigate a civil suit even though the criminal code is being violated. time to meet with the Mayor…. thanks Carrie. let us know how your situation works out!
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December 19th, 2007 at 8:18 am
I think your biggest problem might end up being face. The dog owner cannot admit to any responsibility, even if it’s witnessed or documented, because it would cause him to lose face. And he doesn’t sound like someone who is reasonable enough to come to some mutual understanding that doesn’t cause a loss of face. Where that leaves you, I don’t know. It may end up coming down to who has the better guanxi with the local politicians and police. Or you could go into his yard and engage in some dognapping. As long as you deny any accusations after that, you’ll gain respect and face (even if everyone knows it was you who took the dog - if you were to admit to it, they’d probably try to kill you), and he won’t lose much face.
It’s a stupid concept, but that’s Taiwan.
cfimages’s last blog post..Tai Chi in the park.
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December 19th, 2007 at 10:35 am
For all the complaints I have about where I live… I don’t have dogs barking or kids practicing the piano at any hours of the day or night. I guess that’s a rarity in Taiwan. I look forward to more posts in this series. I hope this stubborn asshole gets his comeuppance.
Todd’s last blog post..Ranie Yang [???] - rènyì mén [???]
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December 19th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Todd » he won’t get it, because no matter what, he won’t make any connection whatsoever with anything at all. the other posts in this series will be about the very sad state of dog affairs in our neighborhood. you’ve only heard me talk about it but this is the part of Hukou where people dump dogs because it’s the industrial area. but i’m going to show what goes on here.
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December 19th, 2007 at 10:43 am
cfimages » my biggest problem is, he is a stubborn asshole land owner and we’re nothing. what he doesn’t get is my guanxi is better than his because mine is with the very kind of people who go into this yard and nap his dog. what it comes down to is that guys like him really need to grow up. his mother never taught him to respect other’s. he’s too fucking old for me to spank so whatever happens is going to hurt more. i’m now in the process of recording video for my new show on him.
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December 19th, 2007 at 10:48 am
We have an amazingly similar dog that lives next to us.
The way I see it is a balance between love-thy-neighbour, love of animals and love of sleep. Fortunately this dog does not wake us at night so the love of sleep factor does not play for us.
What really bothers me is the possession and no responsibility. This dog lives in a cage and is released once a fortnight when said cage is cleaned.
His only exercise is barking, only stimulus is shadows of passer’s-by, only contact with anything but a cage is a hose-down every two or three weeks.
The incessant barking simply reminds me of the poor dog’s plight.
Stephen’s last blog post..Population pyramid hits university expansion
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December 19th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Stephen » you are so right, and it’s not the dog’s fault. i charge that the Taiwanese dog is not a part of the family. my proof is that in this society when a child simply sneezes, he is rushed to the frigging ER, and yet a dog will never be taken indoors during a storm, let alone veterinary care. i keep telling my wife that i want to get a dog just to show “how it should be” but truth is, no one would notice. all my dogs were hand-signal trained. i could unleash my dog and tell him to stay outside of a store for me, with a simple hand motion. an hour later he would still be right where i told him to wait. i could also tell him to keep quiet with a simple facial expression. the average Taiwanese dog is basically a wild street dog on a chain. sad…. thanks for your comments Stephen.
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December 19th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Hey MJ. I feel sorry for you and Hui-chen having to put up with such a tosser. Keep on documenting everything and it won’t take long to have a good list of evidence to the problem the dog is causing.
As you said ‘it’s not the dog’s fault’ it’s the owner. He seems like a real peice of work.
Here in Thailand stray dogs are at a stupid level. Where I live I am so lucky and don’t have any dogs around me except Mew our stray. So I luckily get a peaceful sleep most nights.
My poor English mate though isn’t so lucky. Across the tiny soi (road) from him there is a family that have 7 mongrel dogs. It used to be over 10 but is now back to 7. They drive him nuts and he has complained to them but it has fallen on deaf ears.
I was attending a BBQ there one night and this one dog was standing just outside the gate and barking at us. We shased him away again and again and in the end I chased him with a broom to his gate that he retreated through and the owner was looking at me like I was crazy.
I told her that if the dog came out and barked one more time I would stick the broom up its ass and hers. Keith’s wife mearly fainted when I said this but it worked as the bog wasn’t seen for the rest of the night.
Keith is like you and doesn’t blame the dog but the useless and oxygen theives of owners. I will take some pictures of the pack of dogs that sleep in a vacant block about 400 metres from my house. The number has to be around 30 plus. I don’t think they even have animal control officers in Thailand.
Hope it works out for you soon mate.
Brunty’s last blog post..Thailand. Young girl killed by a 1.5kg rock thrown at her.
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December 20th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Brunty » there are no animal control officers in Thailand because there is no money in it for the officers. unlike an officer on the street who can pull over a car and threaten seizure of license or vehicle an animal control officer can’t rob anyone.
people look at you like you are crazy here too. this is because the noise of barking dogs isn’t considered to be a nuisance. that one i will never get! i would like to see photos of that pack Brunty. i have photos that i am compiling into a story about our town and the insane politics of animal control. thanks.
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December 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Much of this is so true. I can relate to this post because of my dog experiences down here.
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February 19th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
[...] is one aspect that the coward who throw this rock failed to take into account. The dog across the street. This is the dog that barks every morning when the mailman comes, every evening when the trash [...]
July 6th, 2008 at 10:46 am
This is from Florida Lake County in Eastridge sub division in Scenic View Circle. Sooo true, some people just are too stupid to acknowledge how stupid they really are. My next door neighbor, has two dogs. I had to go to her and tell her everytime I come home from work and as I drive up my driveway, the dogs which she keeps in the garage with the garage door opened just enough so they wont get out, barks at me or any member of the family. Also, If I’m in the back yard and they’re usually in the back yard also chained up, they bark as if they wanted to jump my fence. She doesn’t have a fence. I also told her I’m concerned the dogs especially the black one growles at me and my grandkids of 3 and two years old. Oh I didn’t know that????? the washing machine was on???? and don’t hear them??? I told her she should buy a collar to train them. Oh wow that was an insult. Buy a collar???? she griped. Well I let it at that. I did call animal control, but the animal control officer, looked like a Mastiff female dog said dogs are for barking, eventhough I showed her the ordinance laws…… She did speak with my neighbor, so now ofcourse, she doesn’t talk to me as if that was going to kill me. I do have plans for this situation. This neighbor, is just like like guy in Thaiwand, if I spelled it right. Her dogs are just a possesion inf fact,, Just keeps them tied down in the back yard. I took my camera one day they were barking by the sid of my house because she has them with a 25 foot chain or more and took some clips of the dogs barking at my grand kids. Surprisingly enough, the dogs are now kept on a shorter leash and most of the time inside. The day I was filiming them the neighbor across from us was present and I did take the clips when he was watching. So I guess they must have told her of what might just be coming her way. As for myself, my favorite dog is the german shep.. smart animal. I no longer have him as he’s gone to a better life. Duke,,, his name. I got him when he was about 2 1/2 months or 3. I bought books on sheps, to have a better knowledge of these dogs. I studied and trained myself on how to train an animal that would eventually be as big as me and 150lbs or more. he grew up to be 165 lbs. heavy bone. I would wake up at all hours of the night because my dog would bark. I needed to do something for the sake of neighbors and myself. I am very conscious and considered of my neighbors. So If at 1:00 am my dog would bark I would get up and swat him on the snout with a newspaper. 5 minutes after having gone back to bed,,, Duke was at it again. Barking his head off and mine. I would get up and go out and swat him again with the news paper. I don’t remember when he finally got the idea that If he barked, he would swatted with the newspaper. Finally he stopped barking. I loved him for it and more so that if he found something he would need to bark at he would growl, and man that meant respect for him from anyone…. Time past and he got the nickname of the Mute!. no one could hear my dog bark.. Some new neighbors a few house down thought he was for real a mute dog. I trained my dog to such an extent he developed a personality that we would make eye contact and he new what I wanted and I new what he wanted. Had no fear of me for anything. One day he came to me, sat in front of me and raised his right paw, laid down and raised his right paw again. I wondered what he wanted, he sat up again, raised his right paw again and again laid down, he while laying down, he again raised his right paw to me and muflled a bark at me. I thought maybe he wants me to look at his paw. I just barely touched his paw and he yelled out a happy one. I saw what was going on. He had a small cut in the padding and a splinter. I fixed it ofcourse. Another day he came to me and grabbed my wrist with his mouth and pulled me to his favorite pale of water where he would splash on a hot day. He then looked at me and then looked at the giant empty pale. I filled it up with water. Before he jumped in, he did a wheelie, and licked my face to kingdom come. I can not emphasize enough the fact that a neighbor needs to be considered of the other neighbor as apposed to loving an animal. Some people are dump enough to give up the friendship of a neighbor and lose a neighbor at the same time because of their dear 4 legged animal. The animal is more important than another human. So be it. All she has for dogs are (coward dogs) that have not been trained. A true guard dog does not bark at any stupid thing. A coward dog is more dangerous than a guard because the gaurd dog knows when to attack if someone or something enteres the dogs domain. Not these stupid dogs from these stupid neighbors, that bark at anything. God forbid should one of these dogs get lose and comes after one of my kids. She will wish she was never born…. Also her two sons and their friends also inconsidered, skate boarding at 1:00 am in the morning. I never called the police for this, but am waiting now for the first chance I get when and if they start skae boarding again. I can’t have any consideration for any idiot that doesn’t consider me or my family…..
[Reply to Comment]
thenhbushman
reply on July 6th, 2008 3:02 pm:
Steve Solis » i recommend that you invest in a Super Bark Free Pro. it’s worth the money. the best part is that your neighbors will never know you’re using it! thanks for the story.
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