When a dog won't stop barking...

[Mental Magpie]

LB and I talked about it and she is going to follow what her city law says. She declined to go speak to her neighbor because, and I quote, "Sure, that'll really endear me to them. 'Hey, I know we've been neighbors for years and haven't spoke, so the first time we do, I'm gonna tell you how inconsiderate you are. Yeah! Let's be friends now, 'K?' I'd rather just call in a complaint."

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Outdoor Girl]

I agree with your friend's reasoning.  If she already had a relationship with the neighbour, I'd advise talking to them first but not having met them despite living there for a while?  You don't want a complaint as your introduction.

I had some neighbourhood yappy dogs driving me nuts.  They would bark all the time and then I found out that the reason the dogs were always in the yard is that the owners would leave the patio door propped open so the dogs could come and go as they wanted to.  I couldn't enjoy my own yard because this dog would bark at me the entire time I was outside.  And when I went inside, it would bark at something or someone else and I could still hear it.  I had to close all my windows.

One night, I came *this close* to calling in a noise complaint but I didn't.  I should have - the house next door to the yappy dog house was broken into.  So the next time a dog was yapping non-stop, I called in a noise complaint.  I ended up cancelling it because the owners came home and let the dog in - it wasn't the same set of neighbours.

The situation has improved but there are so many dogs that when one is outside and starts barking, it sets up quite the chorus.

[Eden]

LB and I talked about it and she is going to follow what her city law says. She declined to go speak to her neighbor because, and I quote, "Sure, that'll really endear me to them. 'Hey, I know we've been neighbors for years and haven't spoke, so the first time we do, I'm gonna tell you how inconsiderate you are. Yeah! Let's be friends now, 'K?' I'd rather just call in a complaint."

I'll let you know how it goes.

Following that same logic, though, calling the authorities on them isn't exactly going to endear them either. I suppose it's anonymous but Neighbor will likely be wondering who called it in and probably assume the ones who keep hours that would have them sleeping during the day.

I had to speak to a neighbor about this with whom up until that point I'd only had the casual wave from a distance. I just said, "I'm sorry to bother you, but your dog is barking incessantly and makes it difficult to sleep. Could you bring him inside?" My neighbor was extremely apologetic and honestly had tuned it out and didn't realize the dog was barking that much. It opened up a dialogue with the neighbor that turned out to be very useful. Especially after his new pup turned out to be a Houdini and I regularly had to let Neighbor know I'd seen his dog three blocks over!

[Green Bean]

(My front and back doors are actually on the same side of the house about 2 yards between them, separated by a fence. If you are at my door you can tell there are no dogs in the yard.

Sorry for the highjack, but how does this work? Is you're back door at the front of the house, or the front door not at the front?  i can't imagine a layout where this makes sense to me.

[doodlemor]

Maybe something like this would help.  Perhaps the layout of the yards would be such that it would squelch both dogs.  Although pricey, it might be worth every penny if it takes away the aggravation of the barking.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+18168+18896&pcatid=18896

I've never used one of these, nor spoken with someone who has.  Maybe an ehellion can share whether these things work.

[Morty'sCleaningLady]

Maybe something like this would help.  Perhaps the layout of the yards would be such that it would squelch both dogs.  Although pricey, it might be worth every penny if it takes away the aggravation of the barking.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+18168+18896&pcatid=18896

I've never used one of these, nor spoken with someone who has.  Maybe an ehellion can share whether these things work.

That's a bark breaker that I referenced in my reply.  They do work.  It will take a while and can annoy other dogs in the area though.

[Girly]

I had a neighbor that moved in a couple of years ago that has three large dogs. She put up an electric fence that went around her entire yard, and would leave her dogs out all day while she was at work. I work from home, and would hear them bark bark bark bark bark bark the entire day.

Our first communication was me saying to her 'I don't think you realize this because you aren't home during the day, but the dogs are barking almost the entire time you are gone'. She ended up modifying the fence so they stayed in the backyard, and the noise problem was resolved.

I also have two dogs (three at the time this happened), and would leave them outside in our backyard (leave the door open so they can go in and out) that has a 6foot privacy fence. When they would start continuously barking, I would bring them in, every time (not for just a random bark here or there).  I did notice that I was having to call them in less often, and it was because my crazy neighbor put up one of those bark things mentioned earlier in the thread.

I was not offended in the least, in fact, I tried to pay more attention to the barking thinking maybe I had just started to tune it out, however he never said anything to us about it, so I never changed anything we did (continue to call them in when they were barking more than the 'random' bark).

[Mental Magpie]

I don't know about LB, I'll have to ask her, but I personally want my dogs to bark until I tell them to stop.  If they're trained to never bark, what happens when someone breaks into our house and I'm asleep?  My dogs know that if they bark more than the random bark here and there, they're coming inside.  (Now they stand at the door and bark when they want in... ).  That being said, I'm not sure how I'd feel if a neighbor put up a bark breaker.  Well, I know I'd feel chastised passive aggressively, that's for certain, but my dogs don't bark all that much (we're very conscious about this, see above about what happens when they do) so it would seem OTT to me on top of someone thinking they can train my dogs how they want.  I personally wouldn't by a bark breaker for any dogs but my own, but I would probably recommend it to someone whose dog wouldn't stop barking, like in LB's case.  "Oh, Neighbor, I know how hard it can be to get your dog to stop barking, but it is really keeping my husband from sleeping.  He works graves, you see.  Have you heard of a bark breaker?"

[Isisnin]

LB has a good game plan. 

Another problem with LB talking to the neighbor before the authorities is that someone else may already have called the authorities and the neighbor is wondering who called.  So if LB approaches the neighbor under those circumstances, the neighbor may get irate and say "So it was you!!!". And the relationship goes from nonexistent to bad.

this happened to me over my neighbor's shrubs.  I think I've posted this story, so long story short,  I asked him politely to cut back his shrubs overgrowing the public sidewalk.  He shouted "So knew it was you!  You're the reason I got all those tickets!".   A few days, Animal Control stopped by due to LOTS of complaints from apparently one man about my dog.  I pointed at neighbor's unkempt house and said it was him.  I didn't get a ticket and they said they told him to stop calling them as they were noting his calls as "neighbor dispute".  There were some other things that happened that I suspect he was behind.

Moral of the story:  unless you well know and are well friendly with a neighbor, don't ask them to stop the dog from barking/cut the shrubs/etc.  Let the authorities handle it so things can stay peaceable between you and the neighbors

[Mental Magpie]

LB has a good game plan. 

Another problem with LB talking to the neighbor before the authorities is that someone else may already have called the authorities and the neighbor is wondering who called.  So if LB approaches the neighbor under those circumstances, the neighbor may get irate and say "So it was you!!!". And the relationship goes from nonexistent to bad.

this happened to me over my neighbor's shrubs.  I think I've posted this story, so long story short,  I asked him politely to cut back his shrubs overgrowing the public sidewalk.  He shouted "So knew it was you!  You're the reason I got all those tickets!".   A few days, Animal Control stopped by due to LOTS of complaints from apparently one man about my dog.  I pointed at neighbor's unkempt house and said it was him.  I didn't get a ticket and they said they told him to stop calling them as they were noting his calls as "neighbor dispute".  There were some other things that happened that I suspect he was behind.

Moral of the story:  unless you well know and are well friendly with a neighbor, don't ask them to stop the dog from barking/cut the shrubs/etc.  Let the authorities handle it so things can stay peaceable between you and the neighbors

I agree, especially because the tips are technically anonymous.  I think if she already had a relationship with this neighbor, or if they hadn't been neighbors for so long without having a relationship, talking to the neighbor would be the best bet.

[kherbert05]

(My front and back doors are actually on the same side of the house about 2 yards between them, separated by a fence. If you are at my door you can tell there are no dogs in the yard.

Sorry for the highjack, but how does this work? Is you're back door at the front of the house, or the front door not at the front?  i can't imagine a layout where this makes sense to me.

Hope this makes sense
                         street
Front yard and driveway

                         front window    garage
                      |
                      |
      side yard   |
                      |
                      |
                      front door
                      |
                      |
                      |
Fence -----------
                      |
                      |
                      |
                      Side/back door
                      |
back yard        |
                      |
                      |_____________________________

[Mental Magpie]

LB* wants to know if it would be retaliatory rudeness or plausible deniability (I say the former but understand why it could be the latter) for her to leave her dog outside even if the neighbor's dog barks at it as long as her dog isn't barking. (Holy run-on, Batman!)



*Not the E-Hellion LB...I didn't realize there was a poster with that moniker or I wouldn't have used it for my friend.  Sorry, LB!

[Isisnin]

It is perfectly fine for her to leave her dog outside as long as it is not barking too much.  LB is not responsible for what her neighbor's dog does.

[Mental Magpie]

It is perfectly fine for her to leave her dog outside as long as it is not barking too much.  LB is not responsible for what her neighbor's dog does.

Even though she could potentially get the neighbor's dog to stop barking (and thus annoying everyone) by bringing hers inside?  I realize it isn't her responsibility to stop the other dog barking, but she can lessen the burden on other neighbors by bringing her dog inside (even though I don't think she should have to).  I think I may, again, be confusing nice with polite.

[TootsNYC]

Again, I think she's not required to give up the normal living of her life (and her dog's life) because the neighbor's dog barks so much.

Sort of, you don't blame the victim for the crime.