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The endless barking

   7:14 a.m.
   I'm lying in bed wide awake. I should be sound asleep. My alarm isn't due to go off for another two hours. So what's the problem:
   It's that DOG.
   There it goes again: "Ruf, ruf, ruf, ruf, ruf, ruf, ruf, ruf, ruf." It's non-stop barking.
   It started this morning at 7:00 and it's been going on now, on and off, for almost 20 minutes.
   I can see the little culprit from my bedroom window. It's a small, white fluffy dog. I'm not sure what kind it is, I just know it's annoying!
   It's amazing how so much noise can come out of such a little 'cute' thing.
   Now, I can hear the owner calling it in her high pitched voice: "Fluffy, F-L-U-F-F-Y, F-L-U-F-F-Y, F-L-U-F-F-Y." I don't know what is worse, the sound of the owner calling the dog or the dog barking!!!
   Anyway, this isn't the first time that this whole scenario has occurred - it has happened before.
   Last fall, I was rudely awaked just about every morning.
   It was really bad then. It wasn't unusual for the barking alone to go on for a half an hour straight. I'm talking non-stop Ruf, ruf, ruf. It drove me crazy.
   I even mentioned it to a couple of my neighbors. They too, had both heard the dog. (How couldn't you?) My one neighbor lives only a couple houses back from me, which isn't too surprising that she had also heard it; however, the other lives an entire block away!
   Last fall, I finally got up the nerve to do something about my situation. Not wanting to be known as the complaining neighbor, I decided to send an anonymous note to the woman. I put it on her doorstep one morning. It was a nice note (I thought.) It went something like this:
   'I just wanted to let you know that your dog wakes me up every morning with it's endless barking between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. Please don't let the dog bark for so long. I know that other neighbors have also heard it. I just wanted to let you know.
   Sincerely: Your tired neighbor'
   I noticed an immediate difference. The dog and the owner were much more considerate in the days that followed and I finally managed to get some sleep.
   However, now I'm wondering if the change occurred with the weather; because, now that spring is here, the barking is back - like the plague! I don't know if I can stand it for much longer.
   I can now understand how some people can be so cruel to innocent little animals by throwing things at them, poisoning them, or even shooting them. Sleep deprivation must bring on this cruelty in a person. (I know because doing all these things have crossed my mind. However, my morals would keep me from ever hurting an animal.)
   I am open to any suggestions - anything moral that may help me in dealing with the barking dog. Please let me know. I would appreciate the help and the sleep.

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