[BlargMcLarg]

Because people are incredibly irresponsible when it comes to pets and most countries don't want to invest time into he-said/she-said issues.

For dogs in particular, the issue is almost always a lack of attention, a lack of discipline and/or a lack of awareness. People picking up needy family dogs then leaving them alone for 12 hours, anxiety, boredom, letting dogs decide when they are allowed to bark.

Worst, dogs are quickly taught that barking works as long as it is loud enough. So eventually these dogs start having a competition to bark loud enough it penetrates your walls. And those with separation anxiety will do it while the owners aren't home, leaving them out of the mess.

I really like dogs but the far majority of people just can't handle an easy-going breed, let alone something far needier in any sense.

[cnity]

> the issue is almost always a lack of attention, a lack of discipline and/or a lack of awareness

I'm not sure exactly what sort of regularity you're talking about with barking, but I think this take can be counter-productive. Let's say your neighbor gets a puppy. The puppy at some point will begin barking (because e.g. they will overtire themselves and sometimes need to be confined in order for them to sleep, or they want something they cannot have). Interpreting this as "lack of attention" (and thus urging the neighbor to respond to (read: reward) the dog's barking) will teach the dog that barking gets them what they want.

Thus for a period it is likely that a new dog will go through phases of barking which simply have to be endured in order for the puppy to learn that they don't get rewarded in response to barking. Alas, this can take time and some dogs are naturally more vocal than others. There's no way around this issue except from living somewhere dogs are either not allowed or are far away enough to be of no concern, and educating people about dog training.

[BlargMcLarg]

When I'm talking about "lack of attention", for context, I'm not talking about puppies having to learn what they can and can't do for attention. I'm talking about grown dogs who very clearly need something having no way to communicate/vent their problems outside of barking or even more destructive ways.

As a more concrete example: my neighbors have two adult dogs. Both are at least partially from a breed which requires a lot of attention from their owner(s) and a lot of space to move. They are known to get extremely rowdy if their needs aren't met. Just recently, the two were separated with one in what I presume to be a relatively dark area and almost no human contact. The one inside would bark very often, for hours on end, with the owners not responding at all. The barking was loud enough to penetrate the walls. They also aren't trained properly at all, barking at anything in sight even if it isn't remotely close to or interested in their territory.

Obviously there are multiple factors at play here. But it's not something you should be doing to a breed of dog which grows extremely attached, set in its ways and needy of its owner. Even if they would learn not to bark in such a neglected state, that's not good for the dog either.

As an aside, I've never had issues with puppies. They don't bark nearly as loud as most poorly trained adult dogs do, and most people are still in the honeymoon phase with their dog at that point.

[cnity]

I agree wholeheartedly. I can't imagine leaving my (rather needy) dog alone for any substantial length of time.