COMMON ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF NOISE ABUSE
In this section we look at some of the arguments in favour of noise abuse.
Starting with:
Starting with:
“But it’s two o’clock in the afternoon.”
There are those in power and authority (as well as the ordinary citizen) who seem to believe that certain noise abuse should occur without rebuke or admonition. For instance, if someone plays their music loud at 1.30pm, the authorities will do nothing as it is not regarded as inappropriate behaviour. But how would they like to listen to loud music when they are trying to work, rest, or play? And who decides what time is, or is not, appropriate for certain behaviour?
For example, in the United Kingdom there is a “curfew” of sorts regarding disturbances – from 7.00pm to 7.00am. But what if a dog starts barking at 7.05am and does not stop until 8.30am? Is the behaviour of the dog or its owners deemed appropriate simply because it occurred after 7.00am? Another example might be a neighbour who begins playing loud music at 8.15am and does not stop until they leave their house at 2.15pm. That is six hours of unadulterated torture; especially if you do not like their taste in music. That said, you do have the option of contacting your local authority’s environmental office and requesting a visit from their officers. However, said officers may attend and express the opinion that the noise level is “not loud enough to be considered a nuisance”. Really? By whom? If you have no other option than to listen to the music, does that not constitute a nuisance? |
They may also express the opinion that the offending music is not as loud as that of other offenders. Not as loud? That would be akin to a police officer stating that your relative was only stabbed twice and that seven other people were stabbed multiple times. The Director could imagine a young constable stating, “You got off lightly.”
And what if your neighbour is working from home . . . as a mechanic, or carpenter, or DIY enthusiast? Then your entire day would be filled with the noise of car engines being revved up in order to ascertain that they worked, or a power saw cutting wood, or a nail gun being used to nail items together. Neighbour’s children might well your main “gripe”. Said children could, in theory, being playing with a football outside in the street at ten o’clock in the evening. When all about is peaceful and quiet, you still hear the noise of a football banging against a wall, or fence. So, who should decide what time of the day is acceptable for noise? Answer: NO-ONE. |
There should be zero tolerance regarding noise. Any time that
a noise is too much is the time that it should be STOPPED!
"So, my dogs bark. That's what they do, bark.”
a noise is too much is the time that it should be STOPPED!
"So, my dogs bark. That's what they do, bark.”
Actually, no. Barking is something common only to domesticated dogs. Wild dogs (or wolves) do not generally bark but they may occasionally whimper or growl softly for attention from the pack. They can bark, growl, bare their teeth; especially in a display of aggression towards an intruder or similar menace. They even use that behaviour during the mating season; when the Alpha male must appear dominant over other males. But, in general, they simply exist. When a wolf pack hunts, they do not bark instructions to each other? If they did that, the prey would know they were close by. Instead, they rely on training they’ve received from parents, and other pack members. They grow learning how to hunt, learning what to do, learning their position, and the position of others, in the hunting party.
The act of barking is something which has been indoctrinated into these animals from the time of their domestication. In days of old, when knights were bold, but didn’t have the complex alarms systems we have today, they used dogs as early warning systems. Indeed, there are still a few cases where dogs are used as early warning systems. |
It is possible, due to the dog’s heightened olfactory sense (smell) that they will detect a fire before a smoke alarm begins to bleep its warning.
But does that mean they have to bark for six straight hours before the fire begins?! In the main, however, more dogs are owned by people who live in suburbia than those who live in the country – quite possibly because there are more people in suburbia than in the country. Yet, in suburban areas we have things like, oh, police forces, alarm systems, doors, locks, deadbolts, to name but a few. Why, then, is it necessary to have a redundant alarm system in a dog? |
“So, why do dogs bark, then?”
There can be as many reasons why a dog barks but they can be broken down into three main areas - training, health, and socialisation. For example, some dogs bark at anything and everything; even, as one sufferer said, “the wind blowing through the trees.” This behaviour could be attributed to a dog’s lack of activity but should be directed towards to the owner’s lack of training and suitable attention. In fact, dogs have evolved from ‘pack’ animals and require the constant proximity of others (unless otherwise trained).
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Left to their own devices, boredom soon sets in and dogs become restless. As a result of this, certain behavioural characteristics manifest themselves; some unsociable, others dangerous. The distinct lack of behavioural training allows for the animal to adopt a similar behavioural pattern to that of its owner. Most complaints range from dogs being left alone for too long periods without adequate supervision, through to the more serious aspect of dogs being allowed to run free (causing injury to people and other pets.)
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These owners, to coin a phrase originating from the USA, are FIDOs - F***ing Ignorant Dog Owners.
“But they’re not making that much noise.”
“But they’re not making that much noise.”
Not making that much noise? How much noise is acceptable? A dog may only be whimpering - not a sound which can be heard two houses over. But when you live next door to the whining mutt, it can be extremely disturbing. You only have to remember what it’s like to lay in bed listening to a dripping tap, or a wailing child. Then you can get some idea of what it’s like to listen to a whimpering dog. Yet the most important question is, “Why is the dog whimpering in the first place?!”
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Added to which, when you have to listen to a dog yap, whine, or bark, all afternoon, morning, or night, then the volume is totally unimportant. When there is absolutely no respite, then it becomes more than just a mere inconvenience! It becomes nothing short of torture!
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“You’re just anti-dog!”
To be honest, the response the Director would give to that is “Yes, and no.” True, he has been traumatised by the sound of dogs barking; so much so that he can no longer stand the bloody things. Personally, he would not own a dog if you paid him. And he certainly wouldn’t want to visit someone who owned a dog. However, though he may have been traumatised, he still appreciates the benefits some people can derive from owning a dog (or dogs.) That little pooch might well be that little old lady’s only companion; her children do not visit any more, she has no friends with whom to associate, etc. Others may simply like the association between human and canine. And there’s nothing wrong with that . . . per se. But when a person’s enjoyment of anything infringes on another’s right to live the way they want to, then it becomes an entirely different matter.
What really gets the Director’s goat is when an owner attributes their dog with human characteristics. “You should have seen my little Snuggles. He licked his bowl clean like a good little boy.” Lady, what the hell did you expect him to do? He was hungry, for God’s sake! |
“Well, my dog, Butch, saved my life. I was having a heart attack and my dog gave me CPR.” Oh, you have got to be kidding! Can you imagine the scene: a woman has a heart attack in the street and people gather around (as they do), and from out of nowhere a dog pushes through the gathered crowd and says, “Make way please, ladies and gentlemen. I know CPR.”
In short, there are simply good owners and bad ones. The good owners take the canine into their family and their life. They develop a bond with the dog and attend to its needs as they would a member of their family; if the dog is ill, the owner takes it to a vet - if the dog is restless, the owner takes it for a walk - and so on. But when all is said and done a good owner will not treat their dog simply as a pet, but will treat it as a friend. As for the bad owners? Well, you only have to read the Forum to know what they’re like. |
“It’s my music, I’ll play it as loud as I want!”
Really? You’ll play it as loudly as you want? With absolutely no consideration for others nearby? With total disregard for the well-being of your own children?
“What’s my own children got to do with it?” Does any young parent, these days, realise how damaging that loud music can be to their child’s hearing? Imagine a parent (or parents) travelling in their car with their two-year old child in the back seat. The windows are closed, and they decide to listen to some music whilst they are driving. Nothing wrong with that, you may say. But considering that the windows are closed, the sound has nowhere to escape to. It reverberates off the windows back into the car, straight into the young child’s ears, through the ear drums, through the canals, and on into the inner ears - causing untold damage to the child’s hearing. |
And does this damage become any less simply because the child is in a house? Not really.
It is not so much the music which is the dangerous aspect, but the bass-line associated with certain types of music. Music in the higher frequencies does not travel far. But music in the lower frequencies (such as bass music) travels quite a distance. Were you aware, for instance, that elephants can detect sub-harmonic frequencies up to ten miles away. This concentrated volume can damage ???????? within the inner ear; eventually causing severe loss of hearing, and even total deafness. |
“But I’ve got no children, it’s just me.”
No, it isn’t just you; it’s your neighbours, as well. They do not deny you the right to listen to that music; indeed, any music. All they want is for you to be aware that they do not wish to listen to it.
“I don’t have dogs and I wear headphones when I listen to music.”
Good for you. That shows the behaviour of a very considerate person . . . doesn’t it? Well, maybe. But noise abuse doesn’t just apply to barking dogs and loud music. As stated above (“But it’s two o’clock in the afternoon”) anything can constitute noise abuse if it involves a noise which is force-fed into another person’s environment.
There was one case where a person posted an entry in a forum decrying the actions of their upstairs neighbour who, at eleven o’clock at night would do his washing. The noise of the washing machine prevented this person from going to sleep. The neighbour explained that, as he was on “nights” there was no other time he could do the washing. |
The Director disagrees. If you are working on “nights”, then the chances are that you will arrive home at about eight o’clock to eight-thirty in the morning. Naturally, you will be tired and will require your eight hours of sleep. But even if you get to sleep at about nine o’clock in the morning, you should awaken at about five o’clock in the afternoon/early evening. Surely, that is a more considerate time to switch on a washing machine?
The Director, himself, has practically zero impact on the environmental soundscape. Indeed, the only sound the Director makes is in the use of household appliances. He personally wishes that microwaves, kettles, and hoovers, were quieter. And that is the main distinction between the abuser and the abused. |
Abusers do not care about others, non-abusers DO.