I’ve lived in my apartment building for just over a year and over that time there have been at least seven passive aggressive notes left by neighbours in lifts, the front door and plastered over the walls.
All of these notes have been directed at the exact same thing… a dog.
The dog in question, we suspect, lives on the second floor and can sometimes be heard whining and lightly barking but nothing too bad for us. Our neighbours evidently don’t feel the same.
We had no idea who the owners were or what the dog’s name was until last night. The doggo’s name is Charlie.
And how did we find that out?
Hi Neighbours,
My Name is Charlie – I am 13 years old and I have been with my “humans” since I was 8 weeks old.You may have heard me bark sometimes for long periods of time – I am very sorry!
The letter posted around the apartment building then explains the reason why Charlie barks:
This is because 12 months ago, I was diagnosed with severe osteo-arthritis in my back legs.
Sometimes when I go out to pee, or toilet, I fall over and can’t get back up. When it rains, it makes it even hard[sic] for me to get up because the balcony floors are wet, and my paws slip and I fall over.
When I bark, I am hoping someone can come home to help me get up.
I think the biggest gripe amongst the building’s residents was the lack of acknowledgement from the dog’s owners over the noise. Until now:
I am very sorry that sometimes I keep barking and I know this can be very annoying.
My humans are doing everything they possibly can to support me – they even changed their work schedules on some days to work from home to watch and help me.
Love, Charlie.
Living in an apartment is hard, etiquette amongst neighbours is rare, and because you’re often unfamiliar with them, it’s much easier to be passive aggressive and less empathetic.
But I think that seeing something like this, understanding the other side to what once was a familiar story, maybe trying to be a little bit more compassionate is the way to go?
Or at least when someone like Charlie is involved.
