Barking dogs ….

Even before we moved to this countryside village, three houses further on the road there lived this great golden retriever dog, named Dollar. He considered the three new houses which were built next to his, as a mixture of an extension of his property and an intrusion. So while he was walking himself - a thing he could do perfectly without any human companionship - there always was some cheerful barking to be expected. When the years passed by, this became less intense, he too experienced the aging process, he was hit by a passing car several times, and as days went by we saw less and less of him. Last spring he passed away.

For the owners - which are fine neighbors by the way - this was a signal to start looking for a new dog, especially to please their eight year old daughter. They choose a Jack Russell terrier. A dog so small you could easily overlook it because of its size, however, equipped with a great sense for barking. And this he intended to act out intensely. He was allowed to express himself for hours and hours in the backyard of their home. Let me tell you what the remains of my personality came up with because of this:

- dogs should not bark this much
- the owner should take care that the dog remains quiet
- this is extreme, why aren't they bothered by it
- for a while I can accept, but this ...
- I am going to say something about it
- I told the dog itself that it would be more appreciated when he was more quiet
- hoping that the next-door neighbors would deal with it
- maybe they will return him to where it came from, or will he be ....

And so our new neighbor-dog offered me the opportunity to deal with some remaining issues which were upheld by the remains of my personality with regard to dogs, having to face them inescapably in practice, and letting them go. Of course I never actually talked to the owners themselves about it, since I know this is not about changing the input, but about my own personality process which follows from there. So I have used each and every bark of the small dog, so unpleasantly accompanied by irritation from my personality, as an input for increasing awareness. How the story ended? Actually, I do not notice it anymore. Maybe he barks as much as before, maybe less. It is much like getting used to the sound of traffic when you allow yourself to do so.