Dog owner makes an insane request of a cat owner

This is a first for me. It's about a dispute between neighbours; one lives with a dog while the other lives with their cat or cats. The cat caregiver's cat likes to sit on the windowsill looking out as cats like to do as it entertains them. It is said that windows are "cat television" for the domestic cat particularly for indoor cats.

But the problem in this instance is that the dog owner's dog also likes to look out the window and he sees the cat opposite and becomes agitated and barks. No doubt the barking irritates the owner or owners living in the home and so they have asked the cat owner the following question:

"Can you please keep your cats out of the window? They are causing my dog to sit in the window and bark all day long."

You have got to hand it to the dog owner; he had the gall to ask the question in the first place but it is an unreasonable question. What he should be doing is training his dog not to bark and that's possible if he knows what to do.

Stop your dog barking at people who pass the front of your house.

As it happens, I have a page on that topic (click on link above). Dogs bark at people and other animals because they are protecting their group. The bark is a vocal warning to their group and the dog's owner is the alpha dog in that group so this dog is protecting the leader of the pack. It is an entirely instinctive aspect of dog behaviour but it can be dealt with through training.

ALSO RELATED - a similar scenario: Best way to stop dog barking when there’s a knock on the door?

The cat owner was stumped as to what to do. They went to the Reddit.com website and asked for advice. As it happens the cat owner has five cats who love to sit at the window and do nothing but sleep they say.

The request in the conversation on Reddit.com has garnered 12,000 comments which is unsurprising. One responded by saying the following:

"Make sure to send them a letter like 'please keep your dog out of the window, his presence is disrupting my cat's chakras and chill vibes.'"

Although that is likely to exacerbate what is at the moment a minor neighbour dispute. No neighbours should be entering into a dispute with any neighbour. There is almost nothing worse than a long-running neighbour dispute for ruining your life depending of course on how bad it gets.

Another responded by saying:

 "I'm totally a dog person, but trying to make your neighbour discipline their cat for sitting in a window because you won't discipline your dog for nuisance barking is SHEER INSANITY. I mean what the hell? Train your cat not to chill in a window because training a dog not to disturb the s*** out of everyone is too hard? I can't believe this neighbour had the nerve."

Another possible solution would be to block the dog from looking out of the window but that would be unfair. This dog likes to look out the window. The key, as I see it, is as mentioned; to train the dog to not bark when they see the cat. That will take time and effort. More effort than it takes to write to the neighbour to stop their cat sitting at the window but it would be the only reasonable solution.

--------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.