Now, I'm not complaining, you understand, but these foreign dogs I’m living with are crazy. I call those house-hounds 'foreign' because one is part German Shepard, another is a mix of French poodle and something else, while the other is probably, more or less, Tibetan.

The problem is whenever the French guy sees another dog or any other animal, either alive or animated, on TV, he begins barking and making like a love-struck coyote. His partners in noise quickly join in until all you can hear is a pack of dogs doing their off-key impression of the finale to the 1812 Overture (that's the one with all the cannons going off).

Throw in a repeat performance whenever someone comes to the door or, even worse, when a siren or two disturbs the local peace and it's clear why the sounds of silence are not a part of our environment.

But like I say, I'm not complaining…much.