Hands on my hips

The dogs that live across the street next to my mailbox hate me. And the thing of it is, I'm not very fond of them either. The wolf dogs that live behind me don't hate me, they aren't crazy about me but they don't hate me. They've been trained and their owner refers to them as "guard dogs". They're kind of isolated though and don't have much to guard. They never leave their yard. So I don't know what it is about the dogs arcoss the street other than they haven't been trained and are allowed to act however they want. They never leave their yard either.

Everyone in my neighborhood has dogs in their yards, and a couple of my neighbors have dogs in their houses. I'm not sure what's better and what's worse. I live on a corner lot and have a pretty big yard. One time I stayed home sick. I was really sick. I never call in sick when I'm not sick. But for some reason I had to go out to my car to get something. This was just after 8:00 am when usually I'd already have gone to work. One of my neighbors let their dog out. A great big yellow dog. It trotted across the street to my yard and went to the bathroom with master watching. I was a little shocked. I walked out in that direction and put my hands on my hips. The master, a woman called the dog and it trotted back in the house as she held the door open for it. I had to wonder if this was their routine each day after I left for work.

But the dogs across the street are fenced in with a chain linked fence. The corner of their yard is right next to my mailbox. So every day when I go and get my mail the dogs bark and growl at me when I go to get my mail. They start the moment they see me. The "master" of them, this old guy, is usually out in his back yard smoking a cigarette. When he hears them barking he will wistle as if he's controling them. He never comes over to talk or anything. I guess I'm just a problem for him. I'm the reason his dogs go off. It's like he can't decide what's worse, me or his dogs, but we both annoy him.