The Welcoming Bark of a Dog

It's hard to imagine the welcoming bark of a dog when you live next door to Buddy. Most of what I hear from him is whining, and it's not welcoming. At all. It makes me want to run the other way. Actually it makes me want to contact the neighborhood office and complain, in hopes that they'd tell the neighbors to control him or get rid of him. Thankfully I haven't heard him in quite a long time. I don't know if that's because he's learned to shut up or he's content with the warmer weather or if they actually did get rid of him. He'd probably be better off since they rarely took any time with him. *grumble, grumble, grumble*

There's another nuisance related to barking dogs that makes me not think of them as welcoming. Every time I open my back door to go outside, all the surrounding dogs start barking. Excuse me, but it's my back yard and I should be able to go out and enjoy it if I choose.

I want a dog whistle or another high-pitched instrument that I can use whenever I go out back that would make them shut up and let me enjoy my yard. Then I might find the occasional bark of a dog welcoming. For the time being, though, it's just annoying.