little bitch

I love pets. I have a cat that I love too much - and I'll be the first to admit it. I was raised in a home where the line separating humans and pets was fuzzy, at best. Today if you visit my parents you will immediately notice their cat will be spoken about and to as if he is another member of the group...the group of humans. Anyway, I say all of that as somewhat of a disclaimer - because I'm sharing with you today that I have grown to deeply and whole-heartedly hate the little dog that lives in the condo directly below me.

Her name is Lacy. I have seen her around my building for several months, but never put it together that she lived below me. Lacy is a Yorkshire Terrier. Now that it is cooler outside, Lacy is usually fully clothed - much like the dog pictured above. Her "hair" bow usually coordinates with her "outfit", and more often than not, Lacy has on "shoes" - tiny dog booties - for her walks outdoors. Lacy's owner is a woman probably around my age. I don't know her name - but I sure do know Lacy's name.

I know Lacy's name because if the aforementioned nameless owner is home (which isn't often enough, believe me), she is bellowing - over and over and over - "Lacy!!!!! Shut up!!!!!!!"

Since Lacy and her owner live in the condo directly below mine, of course their ceiling is my floor. And I rarely hear any other noise traveling up - just the screaming, and the constant - unwavering - unrelenting bark of poor little Lacy. Lacy barks from sun up to sun down; I awake to the sound of this animal barking, and I go to sleep to the same sound. On the rare occassion I stop by my home during the work day, the barking is going - going strong.

Again, until recently I didn't know where the yapper lived - I hadn't yet been able to pin point exactly where the sound was coming from. But last week while walking out to my car, I heard that old familiar sound, "LACY!!!!!!!! COME HERE!!!!!!" I turned to find a frazzled woman screaming after a tiny, barking dog in a red sweater running in the opposite direction across the parking lot. I walked behind this pair all the way upstairs and watched them go into the condo directly under mine.

I've wondered for several weeks if my neighbors were as fed up with Lacy as I was, until yesterday when we all received an envelope taped to our doors. The letter read as follows:

"Dear Neighbors,

I know that my dog barks a lot. I know that she barks most of the time and many of you have complained to our property manager. I am trying to deal with this problem. I love her and I can't just get rid of her. Please be patient. I am trying to work something out with my employer so that I can take her to work with me.

Sincerely,
Unit 2218"

She's still nameless, but at least this anonymous dog owner is making some sort of attempt to own up to Lacy's reign of terror over our building. I cannot imagine where this girl works that she could possibly even entertain the idea of taking Lacy with her, but whatever - as long as the yapping stops, I don't care.