Barking

[kiesha09]

Yes, this is so annoying. I think I'm now hyper-sensitive to stupid and irresponsible things that other dog people do, even things like not picking up after their dogs. It make me so, so angry.

I have a really annoying neighbour who yells obscenities over the fence whenever my dog barks. Except she's in the house all day, and only ever barks when she's outside, and if there's actually something to bark AT. Or if someone comes to the door. Ie, things that in my opinion, it's ok to bark at. Him yelling at her ("AHHHHHHHH SHUT THE EFF UP YA FILTHY EFFING MUTT EFFFFFF" etc etc) even in response to ONE bark, just sets her off. ARGH. I wish he understood how lucky he is that he's not living next to a dog that is actually problematic in their barking.

Rant over.

Similar problem here. If my dogs bark for more then 5 seconds straight, even once per day, the neighbour is out there yelling.

The first time I thought there must really be an issue so went over, knocked on the door and explained that yes, I have a 4 month old (at the time) puppy, I realise her bark is very loud, however the small amount of barking you heard was because of .......... and I am working on training her out of it. I was met with "Well that's not good enough and I won't tolerate it". The dog had barked for less than a minute at 7:30pm at night. o_O

Well several repeats of her screeching through the fence to "Shut that dog up!" every time she made a noise and I realised that she wasn't 'suffering', she was simply being a bully. Took the wooden spoon out into the yard and bashed it against the water tank for 30 seconds, told her that if she wanted real noise then I'd happily give it to her. Haven't had any problems since..

The thing that makes me so angry is that unlike everyone around me I DO do the right thing by my dogs. They are walked at least twice per day, trained, crated inside on a night, never bark for hours on end. The Mali has a supersonic bark that could probably be heard from 2 streets over however she never barks for more than about 15 seconds at a time, never more than once or twice per day and never during the night. Usually it's from inside the house anyway.

Makes me think that perhaps I should turf both dogs outside for 24 hours with no exercise and no stimulation like the rest of the dogs on this street so they can find out what 'real' problem barking sounds like.

Mind you these are the same neighbours that complained when my pup knocked a bone against the fence because 'she might damage it'. Argh!

Unless it is constant a dog is allowed to bark at 8-9pm. Where I live it can bark for 15 minutes in every hour until 11pm and not be deemed a nuisance

My concern is never the council, they do jack shit, but nasty (or fed up) neighbours taking matters into their own hands.

My god that is the silliest thing I've ever heard.... It's so silly it's funny!

They should come and live with me... the kids next door just LOVE banging things along the fence!!

[Guest lavendergirl]

I have a barker and to be honest I find the management to be a PITA but I do as best as I can to avoid conflict with my neighbours.

Having said that they're not exactly helpful as they never tell me about the barking. My girl is inside mostly during the day and barks at people going past the front of the house. You can't hear her bark when shes inside. At night though she will bark at the possums while she's out for a wee. I had no idea it annoyed the neighbours because whenever I said to them 'please tell me if my dogs barking is annoying you' or 'I'm sorry about the barking' etc. they always told me that they never hear them. So I thought all was good. Then one night one of the neighbours came out an yelled at her to 'shut up dog' and I started noticing their kids yelling at them to 'shut up dog' and banging on the fence if they barked while we were outside playing (during the day). They must of learned it from somewhere!

So now she just isn't allowed outside after dark unless I'm right there with her. Even on lead though she will still get some barks out at the possum if it's there so it makes it really hard. I am trying my best but she has to pee.

Maybe I should start yelling 'shut up kids' as they drive their little trikes up and down the side of the house banging a stick on the colourbond fence at 6am ;)

I can't understand however, how some people just do nothing about their dog barking.

That is really unreasonable IMO - dogs should be allowed to bark occasionally its only natural. I have a problem barker also and yes it is a nightmare trying to resolve the problem especially as he only barks when I am out. Even though he is left inside I still worry that he is annoying the neighbours as you can still hear him. It can be a very difficult problem to fix even for owners who are very motivated and responsible - many are not.

[Maxiewolf]

Just been through this with one of my own dogs, or I should say one that stayed with us for a while, She quickly became very neurotic in suburbia, barking at absolutely everything, and nothing.

She barked loudly, and alot at all hours of the night and day... I felt terrible about it and was constantly coming up with solution after solution, etc etc to try and stop her barking. It was driving me crazy so of course I knew It was driving the neighbours crazy. We got a fantastic trainer in to help us with her but unfortunatly It was a bit late by then.

Fortunatly she didnt get reported to the council (I believe she didn't bark long enough to fall into their guidelines of constant barking) - After she has gone back to her breeder, I found out our neighbours "punished"us for the barking dog by making every kind of silly report possible to our real estate agent.

Including things like our dogs are supposedly causing a local rodent plague (how the heck is that even possible? - haven't seen a mouse on our property, i'm sure we would notice a "Plague" of them)

Anyways... I hate how people let their dogs bark without trying to stop it! I lived in fear day in day out that some dog hating person would have had enough and throw a bait over the fence or let them out or who knows what. Now I just have the one dog, and I realise just how many OTHER dogs around here bark all the darn time, no wonder the new dog I had was never quiet... I just coudln't hear the instigators over her!

[Souff]

I don't see what good guard dogs are out in the yard anyway. The burglars just go in through the front door, or a front/side window. The dogs are stuck in the yard and can do nothing.

This is a property where the dogs have access to all areas and will seriously take on an intruder should they climb over a fence or gate - it is unlikely that they would get to the house in one piece. I have no problem with anyone having dogs for security purposes but these are large dogs and their barking is huge. The dogs could secure the house from inside the house when their owners are not there and if anyone did get in the house, they wouldn't be getting out in one piece!

There is much more training and advice for dog owners than ever before.

I just shake my head that we still have people (who are otherwise normal people) who can leave their dogs out at night to create such a racket when the owners are not at home, particularly when there is a longstanding nuisance barking history with council.

In some rural areas this type of barking might be OK, but in suburbia it is definitely not OK and as others have said, I too would be concerned that some fed-up person would take care of the matter permanently.

It is very bad PR for dog owners per se. As a dog lover, I feel very let down by such owners. It is inexcusable.

Yes, the whinging dog hating nutters are out there - many of whom just live and breathe whinging and love to put anon notes in letterboxes under the cover of darkness.

One of them eventually moved from our neighbourhood a while back ... I like to think that he ended up in a neighbourhood with loads of really noisy dogs and other problems... ;) Despite everyone's efforts to keep their dogs quiet he would still have a whinge any chance he could, and if he ever paid you a visit, the dogs would really go off at him.

They sensed that he did not like dogs.

Souff

[Dame Aussie]

Yeah, even if I had dogs that NEVER barked I wouldn't leave them outside at night.

During the day people need to accept that dogs, kids, cars etc will make a certain amount of noise, if people can't handle that they need to move out of suburbia, but I do also wonder about people who let their dogs bark all night.

We had a rottie next door that would go all night, someone must have complained because it vanished one day

[LizT]

I like the little speil that's in our council booklet about responsible dog ownership stating that "dogs bark". period. It is only when they bark continually and excessively that it is considered a problem.

Even so, having had a neighbour very nicely leave me a letter alerting me to my boys barking when I was at work at night and the rest of my family blissfully sleeping through it (mums are light sleepers so she couldn't) and I never did either. I had to put a bark collar on him as neither OH or the kids heard or did anything about it. He doesn't need it much now but I do sometimes put it on when we go out on a Saturday night (rarely) as it can get a bit noisy then and it prevents a problem.

Of course, he only needs to bark for a few seconds and we react, poor fellow, he doesn't really get to 'cut loose' and have a good ol' bark at all, not even for a minute or two because we so don't want it to be an issue with anyone.

Meanwhile though our neighbour has his "home hobby" construction noise, with whatever the hell it is he's doing in his shed/workshop. Somedays it sounds like we are an industrial estate!!!!!

And he'll have the local radio station on as loud as so he can hear it over his din, not my choice of music either, despite them playing both kinds, Country AND Western. ;) And to top it off his kid is roaring around on a pee wee dirt bike. Then there are the chain saws and line trimmers.......ahhh the peace of a semi rural lifestyle.

Edited March 30, 2012 by LizT

[Guest]

I have a barker and to be honest I find the management to be a PITA but I do as best as I can to avoid conflict with my neighbours.

Having said that they're not exactly helpful as they never tell me about the barking. My girl is inside mostly during the day and barks at people going past the front of the house. You can't hear her bark when shes inside. At night though she will bark at the possums while she's out for a wee. I had no idea it annoyed the neighbours because whenever I said to them 'please tell me if my dogs barking is annoying you' or 'I'm sorry about the barking' etc. they always told me that they never hear them. So I thought all was good. Then one night one of the neighbours came out an yelled at her to 'shut up dog' and I started noticing their kids yelling at them to 'shut up dog' and banging on the fence if they barked while we were outside playing (during the day). They must of learned it from somewhere!

So now she just isn't allowed outside after dark unless I'm right there with her. Even on lead though she will still get some barks out at the possum if it's there so it makes it really hard. I am trying my best but she has to pee.

Maybe I should start yelling 'shut up kids' as they drive their little trikes up and down the side of the house banging a stick on the colourbond fence at 6am ;)

I can't understand however, how some people just do nothing about their dog barking.

haha, I know what you mean. Sometimes people with very (!) noisy kids seem just soooooooo concerned about the occasional bark of a dog...

But in the end, it doesn't matter (to me) where noise originates from: noise is noise!

[westiemum]

Exactly Erny. When I got the westies I introduced them all to the neighbours, took them to 'say hello' to all the 'next doors' so the neighbours knew them by name and they were not just the nameless dogs next door. I asked the neighbours to let me know if there was ever a problem - as if they didn't tell me I wouldn't know if I was out or at at work. On the odd occasion that Sarah has a bit of a bark to the world (she does occasionally like to 'talk' to the neighbours if she senses they are in their gardens during the day) then one neighbour just pokes her head over the fence and tells her to be quiet and usually she does. I also make a point of asking the neighbours to feed them for me occasionally - it then becoems a much more community type relationship.

And even though I have three westies, I've not had one complaint. :)

I also think it has to do with people not knowing their dog is barking.

Of course if they know they should do something about it, but if the dog is barking when no-one is home and the neighbours don't say anything, then how would they even know they have an issue?

And IMO that comes back down to the owners - they should say "hi" to their neighbours when they get a dog and invite their neighbours to contact them should their dog prove a nuisance.

Edited March 30, 2012 by westiemum

[Dame Aussie]

Exactly Erny. When I got the westies I introduced them all to the neighbours, took them to 'say hello' to all the 'next doors' so the neighbours knew them by name and they were not just the nameless dogs next door. I asked the neighbours to let me know if there was ever a problem - as if they didn't tell me I wouldn't know if I was out or at at work. On the odd occasion that Sarah has a bit of a bark to the world (she does occasionally like to 'talk' to the neighbours if she senses they are in their gardens during the day) then one neighbour just pokes her head over the fence and tells her to be quiet and usually she does. I also make a point of asking the neighbours to feed them for me occasionally - it then becoems a much more community type relationship.

And even though I have three westies, I've not had one complaint. :)

I also think it has to do with people not knowing their dog is barking.

Of course if they know they should do something about it, but if the dog is barking when no-one is home and the neighbours don't say anything, then how would they even know they have an issue?

And IMO that comes back down to the owners - they should say "hi" to their neighbours when they get a dog and invite their neighbours to contact them should their dog prove a nuisance.

What would you have done if one of your neighbours wouldn't answer the door?

[Erny]

What would you have done if one of your neighbours wouldn't answer the door?

That depends on the neighbours and the layout of the land. With my neighbours I just 'caught' them when I saw them outside in their yards. Wave over the fence and have a yarn. Or when others were outside the front of their homes. I had no problems with being able to do that but I guess if I didn't get to catch them, I'd be inclined to drop a friendly note in the letter box .

[Kirty]

We have a problem barker behind our house. It is outside 99% of the time and it barks, howls and whines all day every day. I won't report it, but I know others have. Nothing has changed in the several years we've been here though! It is very annoying!

We had a problem barker next door in our old house too. That one would bark madly at all hours of the day and night, and it would do it just outside our window. We spoke to the neighbours about it nicely several times, I even offered to walk it for them ("Oh no, he doesn't know how to walk on a lead"). After my daughter was born and I was incredibly sleep-deprived, I resorted to going outside and hosing it every time it barked. I would be in tears some days from the non-stop barking.

[Dame Aussie]

What would you have done if one of your neighbours wouldn't answer the door?

That depends on the neighbours and the layout of the land. With my neighbours I just 'caught' them when I saw them outside in their yards. Wave over the fence and have a yarn. Or when others were outside the front of their homes. I had no problems with being able to do that but I guess if I didn't get to catch them, I'd be inclined to drop a friendly note in the letter box .

Yeah I did drop a note introducing us and included our number in case the dogs were ever a nuisance, no response. That was months ago when we first moved in. These neighbors are hermits, barely ever leave the house, Isaw one of them once over the fence and said hi but they just skulked off without a word....I wish I had normal neighbors lol

[mantis]

My beautiful boy who has crossed the Rainbow Bridge now, but he used to bark the minute I left home. The neighbours complained to me, so I bought a huge super soaker & left it on the bin next to the fence & told the neighbours that when he barked just squirt him. It worked a treat, it took only two days for him to get the message.

The place I am staying at presently, there is a Jack Russell cross who barks quite a bit, I just go out the back & clap my hands twice & he shuts up, no idea why that works.

Edited March 31, 2012 by mantis

[perrin]

I don't mind the playing barks. I always smile when i hear and see the dogs next door having a good rough and tumble but the constant barking at night does start to wear thin. We live next door to a mareema and a jack russell that are constantly barking all night. Sleeping with the window open has become a thing of the past. And i know Georgia finds the mareema quite intimidating.