Whether you are a dog lover or not I suspect that everyone has heard, or observed pack behavior in dogs.

As an example, a dog starts to bark in your neighborhood. Seconds later there is a caucophany of barking all up and down your neighborhood as other dogs join in the fray. Now only the original dog needs to have smelled something that needed to be alerted upon, yet every other dog joined in sympathy. Even the little dogs that might not want a piece of whatever fight is coming, will lend their voices to the alert. A few minutes pass as the dogs owners slowly wake from their beds, get up and put on their robes, trudge down the stairs and unlock the back door. Then take a deep breath, and scream at the top of their lungs “SHUT UP!” which usually results in the dogs believing that this new powerful voice is a part of the pack so they will double down on the barking, until their owners give up and take them inside.

A couple of weeks ago we were spending the night at an RV resort in New Mexico. We’d been there for a couple of days by this time and was thoroughly enjoying the crisp mountain air, the smell of the pine trees, and the mountain views. Our circadian rhythms seem to change when we are camping, so we’d gone to bed earlier than we normally do. About 1:00a.m. I am awakened by the sound of a car alarm in our small campsite. Sure enough, car after car joins in the fray. Someone, I suspect the original offender, reset his alarm. You could tell by the double “whoop” sound. That was nice but short lived as the other car alarms were still going off, which re-started the original car alarm. This went on for an estimated 20 minutes until someone figured out how to shut all of them off at the same time.

By now its probably 1:30 a.m., and its quiet, but I am lying in bed wondering when the cacophony will start again, which means I couldn’t go back to sleep. Neither could I really get up, and say watch TV, or read a good book. RV’s are arranged in such a way that if anyone is not where they are supposed to be, it’ll alarm all those who are, and they will get up and ask something like “What’s going on? Why aren’t you kn bed? Is it time to get up?”

So here’s my question.

Whose going to waltz into an RV campground, late at night, walk from RV to RV trying the doors, hoping to find one unlocked that has the keys in the ignition, then getting the damn thing started, breaking camp, retracting the levelers, unhooking the water and sewer, and try to make a high speed getaway in a motorhome? Oh, and with the owners asleep in the back.

No One, that’s who. Don’t set your car alarm at night when you are there.

I personally would like to instate a new rule. RV campsites can either allows dogs, or alarms, but not both.