There might have been a better – or at least a more cost-effective – way for a Canyon Country man to tell his neighbor that his dog barking was irritating.

Students at Cedarcreek Elementary School and commuters in the normally quiet North Oaks neighborhood around Four Oaks Street were greeted by a platoon of black and white patrol cars, at least one of them bearing detectives from the sheriff’s Arson and Explosive bureau.

Seems a friendly gesture set off a few alarms.

Don’t miss a thing. Get breaking news alerts delivered right to your inbox

A man – we’ll call him the victim – called the sheriff’s department Friday morning to say that there was a device in his mailbox and he could see wires. Then he left for work.

Deputies responded and, in an abundance of caution, advised the school to keep the students on campus. Streets were blocked off in anticipation of the bomb squad’s arrival.

Then the neighbor came forward and told deputies that he was just trying to send a message to his neighbor with the overenthusiastic canine. Seems the dog is pretty vocal and the wires came from an electronic “no bark” device.

Arson investigators removed the device from the mailbox shortly before 11 a.m. and peace was restored to the neighborhood.

No word on whether the victim’s dog barked through all the excitement.