How can I stop listening to an annoying street musician? [more inside]
posted by pantufla on Jul 25, 2006 - 22 answers

I live in an apartment building next to a couple who have a dog. This dog is left alone most of the time, and to express his frustration, repeatedly scratches and runs into the apartment door, which creates a loud, annoying noise which I can hear in most of my small apartment. This regularly happens from about 8 in the morning until 9 pm or later. I work every weekday morning at home, so this is particularily irritating. It sounds like they leave NPR running all day, but either the pooch is reacting negatively to Terry Gross, or maybe he's not into talk radio. I left a note for the neighbors several months ago, which they did not respond to. I recently sent them a longer letter explaining that they were violating the house rules of the building and that I would like to meet with them to discuss the matter. Now I have received a note from them saying that they are ready to talk about it. My question: Is there anything I can sugggest to them to reduce the dog's noise, even if they continue to leave the poor thing alone most of the time? I would like to be able to make a constructive suggestion besides "stay home with the dog" or "get rid of the dog". At any rate, if the noise continues, I will be contacting the building's board of directors and pursuing the matter until the dog's noise stops. It just doesn't seem like there is much they can do besides "take care of it or get rid of it" Any info. appreciated!
posted by pantufla on Nov 8, 2005 - 45 answers