A mother has shared her anger after her neighbors sent her an aggressive note on the day of her daughter's funeral.
The grieving mother in Eagleby, a suburb of Logan in Queensland, Australia, has ignited a heated discussion on neighborly behavior after receiving a series of abusive notes from an anonymous neighbor about her dog.
The Logan resident, who had just returned from her daughter’s funeral, found a handwritten note at her front door that caused her significant distress.
The aggressive note read: “Shut your f***in dog up, you f***head.”
She chose to ignore the note, pointing out that she was not the only resident with a guard dog.
She added that there were ten other barking dogs in the surrounding properties, making just as much noise as hers.
However, less than a year later, while going through the grief of returning from her brother's funeral, she found a second note.
“Both notes were within 12 months of each other,” she told The Courier Mail.
Recently, she discovered a third note. Although the notes were anonymous, the Queensland mom is convinced they were all written by the same person.
“I know it is the same neighbor, as it has the same handwriting as the other two notes,” she said.
Frustrated and angry, she took to social media to express her thoughts. “I will not shut up my guard dog, get over it,” she posted, cited by Kidspot. “I deal with barking dogs [in the street] too.”
The post sparked a mixed reaction online. Some people suggested that the disgruntled neighbor could be “shift workers trying to sleep.” However, the Logan mother countered this by saying she is also “a shift worker who starts at various times of the day and night.”
Addressing the note's author directly, she added: “Have the guts to come and see us when both cars are parked out the front.”
While some online commenters sympathized with her plight, others believed the neighbor’s complaint could have been handled more appropriately.
The comments stated that while a barking dog can be annoying, there are better ways to go about complaining rather than an aggressive note.
Going and having a friendly chat would presumably be the best way.
According to the Logan City Council, dogs barking for six minutes in an hour or for three minutes in half an hour between 7:00AM and 10:00PM constitute "excessive barking."
The council advises residents unhappy with a dog's barking levels to speak to the dog’s owner first.
What do you think about the situation?
