Yip Yip YAP!

Help me understand what possesses people to go out and get these little yappy dogs as pets. What purpose do they serve? The Smoot neighborhood features one family who has at least three of these little, nervous wiener dog things, and they are fully capable of spending entire days yapping and yipping at everything they see, real or imaginary.

Sometimes the owners will thoughtfully leave their yappy dogs outside while they head off to work for a day, safe in the knowledge that they'll be far enough away that they won't be the ones who have to listen to these little monsters while they're gone.

I just have a hard time understanding the appeal of these dogs. They spend all day barking up a storm, and if they're not barking, they're probably peeing somewhere inappropriate or pestering someone for food or something. It's not like they're big enough to be useful in any way, like Lassie was. When was the last time you read a newspaper headline like, "Family Saved from Tragic Blimp Accident Thanks to Alert Yappy Dog."

Every once in a while one or more of the neighbor dogs will escape through the gate and will end up wandering around through the yard and on the street. Sometimes other neighbors will try to corral them back behind the gate, but there is definitely a highly insensitive part of me that roots for the cars...