Call Police, or Animal Control?

[Chattyaholic]

I am just about at the end of my rope with the neighbors, and their barking dog. They put it outside and tie it to a tree and just let it continually bark. We hear it in the afternoon, in the evening, but worst of all is when it wakes us up at 6:00 a.m. We do not have children in school anymore, so we do not have to get up as early as they do. I feel 6:00 a.m. is too early to put it out and just let it bark. Today it barked continually for 3 hours. We can hear it even with our windows shut (they don't live directly across the road, but a bit further down). This morning when it woke me up I went outside on the deck and yelled "shut up!" After I came back in I heard someone over there yell something, I don't know if it was at me or the dog, but the dog never did quit barking. I do NOT want to call these people and complain about it, as I HATE confrontation, but I am at my wit's end with the noise. A continually barking dog is my worst pet peeve. I wish I knew if they had an answering machine, and I could wait until their vehicles are gone and then call and leave a message (polite!) on their machine. But, if it continues I'm going to have to call them. It's just getting ridiculous.

But as for my question, if calling them doesn't do any good it leaves me no other choice but to call authorities. So, do I call the police about it, or animal control?

Have any of you ever had a problem with a neighbor's barking dog and if so, did you do anything about it and what were the results?

 

[Belle1962]

We had this problem and tried animal control--they never came. he police came but the only time they ever did anything was when the dog was loose. What I started doing was calling their house and waking them uop everytime the dog woke me up "Hi this is your neighbor xxxxx. Your dog is barking and waking me up." 30 minutes later:
What happened to my cousins was that THEIR dogs were barking and a neighbor videotaped them and took the tape to animal control. THEN aninmal control fined my cousins.

So I would call and videotape.

 

[luvwinnie]

The dog is obviously neglected. I would contact the local human society for advice.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Try your local humane society. It sounds like the owners may be neglecting the dog and the HS might be able to help.

If that does not work, try the police. I would not try confronting them yourself. You never know about people these days.

Good luck.

 

[VAN]

Do you have a lot of neighbors? If so, I would ban together and confront the dog owners as a group. Also agree with the above replies as options.

 

[Chattyaholic]

Just wanted to clarify, I don't believe the dog is being neglected. It has food and water, they don't leave it out overnight, in the rain, etc. They took it to obedience classes, etc. It basically is an indoor dog, but obviously hates being tied up outside and will usually bark non-stop until they bring it back inside. I guess the barking doesn't bother THEM, because if we can hear it over here at our house, with closed windows, I'm sure it's much louder over there. I just hate to be a "complaining neighbor" but it's really getting annoying. Maybe I will have to try the videotape thing.

 

[Chattyaholic]

VAN: No, very few neighbors. We live in the country and for the most part houses are quite a distance apart.

 

[poohtown]

could you possibly be a neighbor of mine? LOL - our neighbors dog howls. When I go out to get the paper - it's howling, when I go to the store - howling, mail - howling, walk my own dogs - howling.

 

[CRB#33]

It's very possible there is a peace ordinance in your township and they are in violation. They may have to be informed of this. If they do not stop their dog after they are informed, you can file a complaint.

You may not be able to avoid a confrontation. What's worse? Your aggravation or trying to work it out with them.

 

[luvwinnie]

Maybe "neglected" isn't the right word, but it certainly isn't GOOD for the dog to leave him in a situation like that...barking for 3 hours straight just isn't RIGHT...for the DOG or for you!

 

[stinkerbelle]

Originally posted by CRB#33
It's very possible there is a peace ordinance in your township and they are in violation. They may have to be informed of this. If they do not stop their dog after they are informed, you can file a complaint.

I would look into this.

In my parent's town, dogs are allowed to bark for 15 minutes at a time. Now, my parents have 2 shelties (big barkers) and her PITA neighbor has called the cops on my mom MANY times. Saying that the dog barking is interrupting her nap at 3pm/etc..

regardless, my mom learned the town ordinance and sticks to it. The dogs go out, do their business, run around for a bit, and come back in. They are never left outside all day.

My mom has called the cops on other neighbors about THEIR barking dogs as well...no one should have to listen to a barking dog all day..

 

[Trish Bessette]

This happened for a very short time in my neighborhood. What made it stop was someone close by ended up calling the house with the barking dog when they were gone and left a message....not saying a word....just letting the machine tape their dog constantly barking. It went on for quite a while. I believe they even called back and did it one more time right after.

That got the message across to the owners and now their dog stays inside during the day

Good luck!

 

[LisaSt]

Well I do not think there is much you can do I know where we live the only noise violation issues are after 10PM till 4 AM after that there is nothing really you can do.

 

[CRB#33]

Actually Lisa it really does depend on where you live. In the neighborhood I lived in (a townhome development) when my children were little, the peace ordinance was a lot like stinkerbelles....barking for a short amount of time and that's it.

 

[goofy4tink]

We have to deal with the same situation!!! Our neighbors put their dog out and she barks constantly. She just wants to be inside with her family. Understand, we also have a dog. So I realize how hard it can be. But these people put the dog out, turn on their A.C. and can't hear her!! Evidently someone reported them. We heard that they thought it was us. My dh told them that he wouldn't go to animal control before he contacted them directly. So, obviously someone else had a problem with the dog. My suggestion would be to try animal control first. In our town the police will send you there to begin with anyway. I would keep a journal of the times the dog was barking also. Good luck. This is a tough one.

 

[DisMN]

Originally posted by Trish Bessette
This happened for a very short time in my neighborhood. What made it stop was someone close by ended up calling the house with the barking dog when they were gone and left a message....not saying a word....just letting the machine tape their dog constantly barking. It went on for quite a while. I believe they even called back and did it one more time right after.

That got the message across to the owners and now their dog stays inside during the day

Good luck!

I love how creative (and non confrontational!) this is! LOL LOL


I agree about the noise ordinance. That's the first place I'd start and after that, I'd film or tape the dog barking and show that to an animal control officer.

Good luck.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Our PITA neighbor has a dog that they let run loose, which is bad enough. But then the dog comes into our yard and barks at us. The other night my dog was outside barking at this dog, who was out barking at her (this dog was up at our fence). I finally went out the front door and told the dog to shut up and he then shut up. I'm hoping the neighbors heard me telling the dog to shut up. It is left outside for a long time (not all the time, but often and it's never been on a leash or tied up. It poops in everyones lawn, and is a nuisance. These neighbors are pains, anyway, so this is only the tip of the iceberg.

We keep our dogs inside and when we hear one barking (it's always the younger female...) we quiet her down or bring her inside. She loves to be outside, though, but I won't make the neighbors put up with barking.

T&B

 

[chernabog]

I'm going through the same thing with some neighbors that recently moved in. We have a Dog Control Officer that is trying to get a handle on the situation though. Each day he stops by the house and listens for the dog. If he finds it to be barking, they are cited for maintaining an excessively barking dog. Our judge really frowns upons this. Unfortunately, because of my position as a police officer, I have refrained from becoming confrontational with them, only to try and keep peace within the neighborhood. I can't even go over and talk to them because the wife barricades herself in the house during the day and won't answer the door and the husband is gone to work. The wife then puts the dog out for most of the day, so it doesn't bother her inside the house.
I have come up with a way to get even though. I usually wait until it starts to get dark out and then I have a radio in my garage that is tuned to a Russian speaking station. I point it towards their house and turn it up nice and loud for about 20 minutes. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but it does give me some sense of satisfaction!
I don't know what bothers me more, the dog barking or the fact that they're new to the neighborhood and have no respect for the people who were living her before them!

 

[Jynohn]

We're experiencing this problem with our new neighbors. When they first moved in they had a very old German Shepard who would be left outside and howled continually. One day the howling stopped abruptly and I felt like such a terrible person when I said to my husband, "thank God, that dog must have died."

We enjoyed a few weeks of peace of quiet until one day DH looked out the window and said, "guess what, the neighbors got a new dog." So here we go again...
That poor dog is left outside all day and night and barks continually. The weather is nice outside now and I can't leave my windows or front door open because he's so loud. It eventually got so bad that one night at 9:30PM when the dog was still barking and keeping my 4 year old awake I decided something needed to be done.

I hate confrontation, and with my husband now deployed I couldn't send him over, so I decided to write them a letter. I tried to be as polite as possible and said that I'm sure they weren't aware that their dog was bothering other people (although I don't see how they could not know) and that I hoped that they would consider bringing him inside so he wouldn't disturb the neighborhood. I did sign my name, and stuck the letter in their mailbox. That seems to have worked a little bit. He still barks, but it hasn't been as bad as it was before. Now if I can do something about listening to them screaming at each through their open windows all day!

I miss my old neighbors