Who Let the Dog Out?

For several weeks now, our house has been rudely awakened at 3:00 in the morning by a very noisy dog barking and howling to his hearts content for half an hour or so.  Laura, who is generally a dog lover,  is terrified.  Won't go to bed at night terrified of this scary dog behind our house.

I never thought I'd be the sort of person to file noise complaints with the county.  But here I am.  My case is filed.  I have officially complained about the excessive 3am barking.

I thought maybe we could move on.  I thought maybe someone else would report the barking.  I thought maybe we'd learn to sleep through it.

Instead, my daughter has a stuffed dog sitting on her windowsill to keep her safe.
Instead, my daughter has a five minute ritual of talking about the dog before I can leave her room.
Instead, my daughter cries out in the night, wimpers, and then yells "Stop barking, Puppy!" into the darkness.

Instead, I filed a complaint.  I guess nothing will ever come of it, since I don't even know whose dog is menacing my evenings.  But maybe, just maybe I have made a difference in my neighborhood and home.

In the meantime, I'm bracing myself for this evening when my daughter looks up at me from her big girl bed at 8:00 pm, asking if the scary puppy will bark again.

Well, Laura.  He might.  But what do we tell that noisy puppy?  Stop barking, puppy!  Because he's just noisy.  He can't get in.  He can't hurt you.  He's just noisy.  And look!  Fuzzy Puppy is on your windowsill to keep an eye on that noisy puppy!  So what do you do if he wakes you up?  Stop barking, puppy!  Sweet dreams, my chickie.  I love you!