Family pet finds plenty to bark about

Some West Virginia folks are disgruntled over constantly clucking roosters.

One unhappy resident even recorded the offending noise and gave it to Raleigh County officials.

One of the county commissioners says a man is raising gamecocks and the birds have been injected with steroids. Raising the birds is legal in West Virginia just as along as they're not used for cockfighting.

"A rooster crowing very early in the morning is no problem," says county Commissioner John Aliff.

Still, The Associated Press reports that the commissioners are looking at amending a noise ordinance to cover bothersome roosters.

I can sympathize with those folks.

I don't have a rooster. I do have a Sheltie.

Cassie loves to wake us up with a morning bark, actually lots of barks. Just one won't do.

She's worse than a rooster and she's not on steroids.

When dawn breaks, Cassie is ready to go.

She sits outside our closed bedroom door and barks and moans until Joni or I get up.

She's a smart dog. She knows better than to bark outside the kids' bedrooms. They'd sleep right through it.

The only good thing about all the barking is that you don't have to worry about oversleeping. Alarm clock not working? Not to worry. Cassie will get you up. You never have to change her batteries.

You can't turn her internal clock back, particularly in the morning when she's ready to play.

We keep her indoors most of the time so she doesn't bother the neighbors.

Even inside, she has keen hearing. She barks at every truck that rolls through our neighborhood and every school bus.

We know when the garbage men are near. She barks even before we can see the garbage truck. That at least gives you time to put the trash out if you forgot to do so the night before.

She's the noisiest early in the morning.

Joni and I keep hoping that we can teach her the meaning of sleeping late on a Saturday morning. But so far that hasn't happened.

Cassie wants us to wake up at the crack of dawn every day, even holidays.

She can't understand why we would want to sleep late.

Put her with those West Virginia roosters and she'd show them how to really crow.

Of course, I tell people that Cassie's bark is worse than her bite.

She's noisy, but friendly.

At times, it's hard to figure out just what Cassie is barking at.

I'm sure all those barks add up to some intelligent thoughts if only I could decipher it all. Unfortunately, I'm no Dr. Doolittle.

Joni and I have moved a number of items into our garage in anticipation of having a garage sale later this fall.

I don't think Cassie likes to see the garage piled up with stuff. Initially, she barked at the stuff. She's getting more used to it, but I still see her giving it a suspicious glance as if to say, 'This isn't right. What have you done to my garage?' At least, Cassie isn't a party dog. She quiets down once Becca and Bailey have gone to bed.

Even a dog like Cassie knows not to bark up the wrong tree. She prefers to bark at her owners.

She knows we'll wake up.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.