Barking Dog

[Dark Annie]

Seems like I'm posting a lot here but I really need help.

Mum is selling her house and when are having open house on Saturday. This sale is really, really important to my mum as she is downsizing and what profit she can make from the sale will decide her retirement future. The problem is that the dog next door barks whenever nobody is home- he is a little Chihuahua. Normally this is fine as the neighbourhood is empty during the week at work but on open house, the last thing we need is a barking dog to turn off potential buyers.

A few minutes ago, mum approached the next door neighbour and asked her if she could please, please keep the dog inside for the open house on Saturday. Open House will be literally thirty minutes.

Neighbour: Sorry, there's nothing we can do to stop him barking. We will be away the whole weekend and dog will be in the backyard.
Mum: Couldn't daughter come look in on dog? (note daughter is 28, lives five (5) minutes away and will be coming in the evening to feed dog anyway. Family also has a 29 year old son who lives near by)
Neighbour: Nope. She is coming in the evening only.
Mum: Please- is there anything you can do? When other side house was auctioned, they had to stop the auction because the yipping was so bad.
Neighbour: That was different. Sorry.

Mum is absolutely devastated. We have known these people for 24+ years, never had a bad relationship (not close but always friendly) and she treated mum like scum. Further, they have had chipping dogs for 20 (twenty) of those years, which we never complained about.

I am livid. I am going to put in a complaint to the council, but is this going too far? Mum wants to try again, this time to plead with the husband, but I don't feel she should. It is not our problem that their dog barks, it is their responsibility! I will not have mum lose out on a good offer because of their rudeness! I also hate the idea of mum begging.

I guess what I'm asking, am I in the right making a complaint to council? Any alternatives on how to resolve this? Do I tell them I'm complaining first?

[jeni]

Since your Mum has already spoken to the owner and they refuse to do anything about the situation, then IMO you are within your rights to complain to the council without telling them or discussing it any further with them.  She certainly shouldn't have to beg.

Now if they were good friends or at least reasonable about it, and it was an unavoidable occasion, I would probably offer/ask if I could take the dog out for the half an hour while the house inspection was happening, though it doesn't sound like that's an option.

How arrogant are they, that they know their dog barks unreasonably and yet refuse to do anything about it.  I feel sorry for the little dog home alone they don't sound like deserving dog owners to me.

Start documenting the barking in a diary.

[Momiitz]

If all else fails could you get someone (volunteer or paid) to play with the dog during the half hour open house. If the neighbors will be leaving it outside all weekend I'm sure it will be lonely.

[ThreeCrows]

That might be seen as trespassing on the neighbour's property to play with/entertain the dog.  It's what I'd do, but in our country (Australia) it could be seen as criminal trespass.

We have a similar problem with our next door neighbour.  It's OK for his dogs to bark all day and night, but when the sports club we live next door to hired a band for their Christmas party, he reported them to the local council and tried to have their liquor license yanked. Sometimes there's just no dealing with these unreasonable people.

Btw, I've never bought a property on my own, but is a yappy little dog really a downside to the beautiful house the future buyers are looking at??  I only ask because I live in a gorgeous house that DH has owned since 1995, and our only problem is the A-hole who moved in next door 2 years ago, and complains when someone so much as puts their rubbish out for collection too early.  (He has our local council on speed-dial.)  There must be ways you can show the house and excuse the neighbours.

[MrTango]

Your mom should check her local ordinances and see if there's something she can pursue through those channels.

[Miriam]

Make the complaint. A dog barking all day is not in compliance with most town ordinances about noise control.

[Sharnita]

You know, it doesn't help your mom, but if potential home owners will be loojing at  a home where the neighbor's dog is frequently barking they probably deserve to know.

[Margo]

On a practical level, I wondered about seeing whether you could arrange to take the dog out for half an hour or so.

Maybe you could  buy one of those toys you an put food in, or some treats, and toss that over the fence just before the open house starts, to give the dog something else to do, or arrange for a friend to play with it  (if the neighbours are away, how would they know?)

I don't see that making a complaint is wrong , but I would consider whether this is likely to have an effect. Are the council likely to address it quickly enough to have a result by the time the open house is due?

However, if the neighbours are going to be away then one option is simply to mention that, if anyone comments on the dog. "I think he's bored. I believe the neighbours have gone away for the weekend" It's true, and you don't put yourself in the position of lying about it.

Also, if the Open House is only for 30 mins then I would guess it may not be such a major issue as you feel - presumably  that would mean that there will be people coming and going - I think mosr people would then assume that the dog barks at people coming and going, not that it barks incessently all day...

Would having music playing in the house help, so the barking wasn't so obvious?

Finally - check with your realtor before you make any complaints - I know in the UK you have to disclose any neighbor disputes to the buyer, when you sell a house, so it would be worth checking whether there are any similar rules where you are.

In your mum's position, I would speak to the husband and ask him about arranging to take the dog out for half hour while the visitors are there. I agree that neighbour was really rude but what you really want if for the open house to go well, so I would do whatever is most likely to achieve that, even if it means letting the neighbor get away with their bad behaviour.

If he won't agree- do you have daughter's phone number? It might be worth calling her just before the open house and asking *her* permission to take the dog out.

[Morty'sCleaningLady]

If all else fails could you get someone (volunteer or paid) to play with the dog during the half hour open house. If the neighbors will be leaving it outside all weekend I'm sure it will be lonely.

I like this idea best.  It is a shame that the owners leave the dog outside for the whole weekend when they are away and that's surely the reason for the barking.  Add in strangers in the neighborhood (attending the open house) and you have a recipe for non-stop yipping. 

Can your Mom offer to take the dog for a car ride during the open house or perhaps a 1/2 day at puppy camp? 

[Minmom3]

That might be seen as trespassing on the neighbour's property to play with/entertain the dog.  It's what I'd do, but in our country (Australia) it could be seen as criminal trespass.

We have a similar problem with our next door neighbour.  It's OK for his dogs to bark all day and night, but when the sports club we live next door to hired a band for their Christmas party, he reported them to the local council and tried to have their liquor license yanked. Sometimes there's just no dealing with these unreasonable people.

Btw, I've never bought a property on my own, but is a yappy little dog really a downside to the beautiful house the future buyers are looking at?? I only ask because I live in a gorgeous house that DH has owned since 1995, and our only problem is the A-hole who moved in next door 2 years ago, and complains when someone so much as puts their rubbish out for collection too early.  (He has our local council on speed-dial.)  There must be ways you can show the house and excuse the neighbours.

Yes.  Next door neighbor has 2 dogs that bark every single time somebody walks by their fence, on either side of the road, and every time I walk out my back door - Ruby is a chocolate lab, and Zoe is a tiny black terrier mutt.  When I refill the suet feeder, they bark.  When I let my daughters dogs out, they bark.  When ever my sliding door opens, they bark, AND we've had to block access to the side fence because they've tried to dig out to get at our dogs, and our dogs have gone all Chihuahua Killer Dog territorial.  One time they had a fight through a 2 inch hole at the bottom of the fence....  They're out far more than they should be, and I feel bad about it, but it also costs me sleep during warm weather when my windows are all open, because they bark nearly 24/7.  They are rarely indoors, unless it's horrible weather.  In addition to the wretched barking, they chase skunks that are unwise enough to come in their yard.  We sometimes wake up at 2 in the morning because of the stench and yet more barking.

So yeah, people SHOULD know that.  It's not a deal killer for me, but if all other things were equal, I would choose a house without the yappy neighbor.

[Rusty]

How about a nice juicy meaty bone tossed over the fence just before the open house!

[secretrebel]

Offer them money. You shouldn't have to but it might work - or shame them into doing e decent thing.

[bopper]

First you have tried to talk to the owner.  It didn't work.

Next I would call your local council/police station and ask what the laws/rules are for barking dogs and what one should do if the owners let a dog be outside barking all day. 

Do what they say in terms of reporting it.

[camlan]

Anyone have contact information for the daughter? Could you ask her if it would be possible for her to come over and put the dog inside for a bit? She might be willing to do it, even if her parent doesn't want to ask her.

Otherwise, the council/police seems like the only other solution.

And remember, this is one open house; it is not the only time the house can be sold (even though I know things would be much better without a yapping little dog next door). There will be other times for people to see the house, hopefully when the dog is inside.

It does kind of amaze me that the dog's owner knows about the problems with the dog's barking, like the auction needed to be stopped, and yet simply refuses to do anything about it. Definitely not the world's most considerate neighbor.

[mmswm]

Wow.  The neighbors were really rude.  I've been the person with the nuisance barking dog.  Of course, I'm a decent enough person that I worked with my dog almost non-stop until he learned not to bark (well, most of the time anyway...we're still working on standing down once I tell him that the visitor is okay).    For a while there, I was really sensitive about people commenting on Baxter's barking.  I think I was so sensitive because I was working so hard to curb the behavior, and it was taking forever. I took the comments as an insult to my ability to control my dog and got defensive because I hadn't had him for very long.  While I don't think that's the case with the OP, is it possible that the neighbor is feeling sensitive or defensive about something and lashed out?  It's still not okay, but it might help the OP's mom to approach the situation from a different viewpoint and maybe get a more neighborly resolution than making a noise complaint.