One of my least favorite ways of waking up in the morning is by barking dogs. At 6:00 AM when I look outside my window, I see my neighbor has tied up their two dogs on their open patio with them nowhere in sight. I find this to be most inconsiderate. Especially during the summer months when children are sleeping in and parents are enjoying their morning coffee.

The dogs are still out at 7:30 AM when I leave my house for work. Once they notice me walking to my car, the barking is continuous until I shut my car door.

I notice my same neighbors, when outside with their dogs, do not put one of their dogs on lease. They just let it lose roaming around.

On top of all of this, they don’t pick up their dogs poop. This is in a common area where children play ball. I am sure parents love when their kids come inside from playing tracking dog poop into their homes.

As a Realtor, these are things that buyers don’t like and sometimes won’t buy in a neighborhood because of these types of inconsiderations. Believe me, when I say in my 17 years selling houses, I have seen buyers hesitate for much less. Things like this tend to make buyers discount a house. This tends to make the community what I call a “discounted community.”

As a side note, I wish I had a nickel for every time I was showing buyers houses where we had to be EXTREMELY careful where we stepped while walking around the backyard of a dog owner’s house.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. The City of Indianapolis Municipal Code 531 Article II spells out all the requirements for dog owners. It covers all my pet peeves listed above. ()

I have nothing against dogs. I just think that dog ownership comes with civic responsibilities.