Animal Shelter

Sadly because of the neighbors complaining to the Chapala officials the Animal Shelter is being forced (or may be forced) to close down the "dog shelter" across the street from the Animal Shelter.

There seem to be two sides to the story of why the dog shelter should be closed down. But the dogs barking at night has gotten some home owners very upset.

Gee I'm in a condo in Seattle right now, right across the street from ambulance entrance to a large hospital. And boy did I think I could never get used to those very loud sirens I would hear every night. They're much louder than a barking dog. At first, it bothered me so much that I was even thinking about moving out a week or two after I moved in. Today, I don't even hear the sirens. And they are very loud. To bad the home owners near the dog shelter could not get used to the barking dogs. (No, not all of those living next to the shelter are complaining, but that's another story)

Look at the anger you are showing. What would have happened if instead of building up this anger, you were able to try to relax? Just maybe, you would learn how to sleep through the barking. Gosh between my next door neighbors and I we have 6 or 8 dogs. No they probably don't bark as much as the shelter animals do, but sometimes they bark a lot.

One night my dogs were barking quite a bit, and so I apologized to my neighbors who also had dogs that sometimes barked a lot. My American neighbor whose parents were born in Mexico, looked at me rather strangely for apologizing and she answered, don't worry about it, that's what dogs do.

Like I’ve posted on another board, what really bothers me are not the music parties, not the barking dogs, but those Gosh darn fireworks that go off at 6 AM in the morning. But give me a few mornings and I get used to them.

I’ve talked to some of your other neighbors who are not bothered as much as you. And I am truly sorry that you are so bothered by these dogs.

I hope that a solution can be found that makes sense for the majority, whatever that may be. There is just so much these volunteers can do to help these animals. And I understand that if the dog part of the shelter has to be closed down that there may not be a replacement run by the same organization. The dog shelter has been within a block or three of where they are now since the mid 90s when I got here, and probably much longer than that. I am sorry that you (plural) are closing them down

Viajero: My God. the anger shown in your post is really telling. You posted; “Why in the hell should I have to learn how to sleep through the barking?”

As I answer you in a 139 condo unit in Seattle, I can hear the siren (double siren) of a very loud ambulance racing to the hospital. Some 35 of the 139 units face this street. And let me tell you those sirens that go off all of the time are one heck of a lot louder than barking dogs. Do any of us demand that the sirens stop being used when going by our building? Of course not. we get used to the loud noises and we don’t post saying why the hell should we learn how to sleep through the sirens

When in upper Ajijic, I live in a neighborhood where most all of us have 3 to 4 dogs, and boy do they bark sometimes. Do they bark as much as they do at the animal shelter? Probably not as much. But we all (my neighbors and I) have learned to sleep through the nightly barking spells, so we don’t really know. One night, my three dogs were really bad and barked much of the night. When I apologized to the neighbors, a “pocha”, American daughter of Mexican born parents who runs a B&B and has four loud barking dogs of her own said, “why should you apologize?” That’s what dogs do. That’s what my (her) dogs so.

I promise you Viajero, if you lived in my neighborhood you would be complaining, perhaps even more than you are now. Mexico is a loud place. I don’t mean to be rude when I say this, but get used to it.

In my neighborhood we also have loud music and worst of all we are at the same altitude as much of the fireworks go off that are fired from the Ajijic square and the church. And every year during the November, 9 day Ajijic festival, I have a hell of a time sleeping through the morning fireworks that sometimes start at 6 AM. I don’t know why the dogs don’t wake me up at night, but the fireworks do. What do I do? I don’t send out angry emails or post complaining on the forums. Rather I adjust.

I truly hope you can adjust.