Neighborhood harmony can be incredibly fragile when too many different lifestyles and schedules collide.

When one early riser’s daily dog walks began setting off a chain of annoying barking from other neighborhood dogs, they found themselves flooded with complaints from their neighbors. But was it really their fault?

Read on to find out what Reddit had to say!

AITAH for walking my dogs early in the morning, waking everyone else’s dogs?

I live in a gated community. Every morning at around 5 AM, I walk my two dogs.

I have to do it this early because I work during the day.

But this habit has sparked some unexpected drama in the neighborhood.

The thing is, my dogs get quite excited during these walks and start whining until we get to the main gate. While the whining itself isn’t particularly loud, it causes the other dogs in the community to start barking.

Before long, the entire community’s dogs are barking.

Although it’s only a small disruption, it’s caused an outsized uproar from their neighbors.

The trip from our house to the gate takes about 2 minutes.

We’ve gotten some complaints about this.

But the dog walker doesn’t feel like they alone should be held responsible for this.

But the way I see it, it’s technically all the other dogs causing the noise. The actual noise from my dogs is minimal. It’s the other dogs’ reaction to my dogs that’s causing the noise.

But I also understand that it’s natural for the dogs to bark at my dogs.

On the other hand, they wonder if they’re wrong for holding their ground.

If I didn’t go for a walk, everyone would be quiet.

No, I can’t walk any later than I do.

Yes, the community does allow dogs in the streets as long as they’re on leashes.

AITA?

This homeowner is now caught between their own schedule and their neighbor’s comfort.

What did Reddit have to say?

This commenter agrees that this dog walker is only doing the best they can.

The onus should be on the owner if they’re annoyed by their own dog’s barking.

It sounds like there’s some serious lack of training going on here.

Some dogs would bark at literally anything.

Ultimately, this homeowner isn’t responsible for how other dogs react to their perfectly legitimate routine.

If the neighbors are so bothered by the barking, they better start taking training a bit more seriously.

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