Dog Owners-Please help me understand...

[devotedchristian]

Does your dog's barking NOT bother you? It doesn't matter the time of day...Day or Night.

My next door neighbor's dog started barking incessantly around 10:30pm and it lasted until 11pm. I waited a bit, hoping he would quiet down. My toddler couldn't go to sleep because of the barking dog. I walked next door and rang his doorbell (didn't look like anyone was home).

He answered. I asked "is that your dog barking" he replies, "yeah, is she keeping you awake?" (ummm YEAH!) I just said with a smile "yes she is and my toddler can't sleep"

He apologized and said he would "let her go" not sure if that mean't let her off the chain and run around or what.

But, CLEARLY he heard his own dog barking, was HE not bothered. Can you to relate him? He is also married with a 7yr old child. Surely the child was bothered? I cannot understand this.

We just moved into this VERY expensive neighboorhood. I don't want to create war with him over this issue but I will go there. Barking dogs is a huge pet peeve of mine. I didn't spend almost a 1/4 of a million dollars to be waken up by barking dogs everynight. I paid for peace and solitude.

So please help me dog owners why HIS dog's barking did NOT bother him and his wife and child. Am I missing something?

 

[Michie]

I have learned to tune things out over the years, like the Dh and the kids, maybe he is the same way

 

[stinkerbelle]

Is there a noise ordinance in the town you live in?

My parents have 2 shelties (read - BARKERS!) and per town law they can not be outside barking past 10pm...and also they cannot be barking for longer then 15 minutes at a time at ANY point during the day.

trust me - they used to have a neighbor that would keep them to that 15 minutes.

Yeah - you do kinda "tune out" the barking. It never bothered me as a kid (growing up with a Sheltie)...our dog does NOT bark unless there is something/someone in our yard. We're VERY lucky. So, when I'm at my parents house...I tend to bring the dogs in when they start barking alot...as I haven't learned to "tune" it out.

So...to answer your question in the "short" answer...yes, when you are a dog owner, you do tend to tune it out.

 

[Hillbeans]

Believe it or not, I used to live near a very small train station and I got so used to the trains coming and going (maybe 7 trains in the AM and 7 trains in the PM) it became background noise.

With that being said, I think a dog barking for 30 minutes between the hours of 10-11 pm at night is not acceptable and you did the right thing.

 

[dvcgirl]

I'm a dog owner and when my dogs bark it does bother me, but I can probably tolerate it a little more than someone without dogs. It's funny because we have a family behind us with a toddler and he's constantly crying and yelling....and we wonder if that bothers them...because it sure irrates us...lol!

 

[QuiltTeddy]

Well I don't think all dog owners should be lumped into the category of your post. We have a dog. She barks at something walking by, we are right there and bring her in or get her to stop. The people behind us, on the other hand, let their dog bark and bark and don't do a thing about it. But then again, these are the same people who don't give a cr@p if their dog is running in the street where it can get hit. I find it highly annoying when people choose to ignore their dogs which are disturbing the neighborhood, and perhaps that's why I always make sure our dog doesn't continually bark.

 

[babar]

I don't tune mine out, they bother me!! But they are pretty quiet normally. What really bothers me is Max goes out in the backyard, runs and barks for maybe 30 seconds (really), and my idiot trixie neighbor screams in a piercing voice "SHUTUP"!!!!

She's so obnoxious and the best part is the people below her had a baby and she cries at night and you know that's killing my neighbor!

 

[NMAmy]

Yep, if you're used to something you can learn to tune it out. However, I also get annoyed with barking dogs and have never let mine do it more than once or twice before I'd scurry out and bring them in.

I have a neighbor a few yards over and on the next street that must have some kind of hound. That thing will just bay and it drove me crazy when we first moved in. DH used to laugh because the darn thing would not begin until practically the exact minute that I laid down in bed (no matter what time it was!)--apparently he had some kind of doggy radar that would let him know what I was doing. (Ok, I guess it's apparent that it's all about me, isn't it?) I've learned to just ignore it now, though.

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

im laughing cause i to neighbors behind our fence with 2 YACKING ,SCREACHING,LIKE SOMEONE IS KILLING THEM, and i dont understand the owners. they really are nice people to. although i have to admit this summer has not been as been as before. but i dont get people that have dogs, why do they think WE want to listen to them. oh yes i have to admit ,i have YELLED out my WINDOWS to. call me crazy............but i cant stand listening to them..... ......

 

[minkydog]

I used to have a neighbor who would let the dog out in the evening to run round and bark from 7-9pm--the exact hours when i was sleeping in preparation for my night shift job. I was nice about it and tried to only complain a little, but they never "got it." I never minded my neighbor's dog barking as much as I minded them screaming obscenities at their little kids.

Now I have a dog of my own. He likes to run around and bark in the yard. While I never let him carry on for hours, his limited barking has bothered another (dogless) neighbor. So I think the sensitivity to barking probably is proportional to whether you have dogs or not. My dog's bark is deep, so it carries and gets annoying pretty fast. He has learned to bark "politely"--a very soft mooff at the back door.

Living in a neighborhood requires courtesy from everyone, whether you live in a $250,000 McMansion or not. It's not acceptable to allow a dog to bark for more than 15 min. It's not acceptable for the dog to bark endlessly after 9pm. I won't get into kids screaming in the pool at 6:30am, kids riding their motorcycles, kids cutting wheelies across the yard, kids ringing the door bell, kids selling stuff,etc....

 

[devotedchristian]

Well do ya'll think...for future occurrences, when his dog starts barking again, he'll stop and think "better bring her in since I know the new next door neighbor has a problem with barking dogs" or do you think he'll ignore it Again and I have to ring his bell Again and ask him to bring his dog in?

I don't want this to keep repeating itself.

 

[ziggystardust]

I have a choc. lab, so she has a rather loud bark.Anyway, she has this thing with shadows, so every night when she goes out, she barks. Usually its b/c the neighbor kid is sneaking a ciggerette in the back yard creating these shadows. But we are annoyed by it, so every night we go out with her. She'll still do the, "I'm here so you stay away bark" but thats it.

Some people think its tough love to let their dog continue to bark. They think the dogs need to learn a lesson. I don't think that way of thinking works. I don't like being awoken by car alarms, screaming babies, or my own dog. So I'm treating others as I would want to be treated.

 

[minkydog]

Well do ya'll think...for future occurrences, when his dog starts barking again, he'll stop and think "better bring her in since I know the new next door neighbor has a problem with barking dogs" or do you think he'll ignore it Again and I have to ring his bell Again and ask him to bring his dog in?

I don't want this to keep repeating itself.

You have to wait and see. My neighbors never did "see the light."

 

[stinkerbelle]

I won't get into kids screaming in the pool at 6:30am, kids riding their motorcycles, kids cutting wheelies across the yard, kids ringing the door bell, kids selling stuff,etc....

you forgot "kids under 5 having screaming matches in the backyard"



To the OP...just call the cops. Seriously - check if there is a noise ordinance in your town...if there is, he's breaking the law...call the cops.

We just moved into this VERY expensive neighboorhood. I don't want to create war with him over this issue but I will go there. Barking dogs is a huge pet peeve of mine. I didn't spend almost a 1/4 of a million dollars to be waken up by barking dogs everynight. I paid for peace and solitude.

And like someone else said...it really doesn't matter what type of neighborhood you live in...expensive or affordable... or how much you paid...you'll get dogs every where.

 

[Horseshoes]

I'm very careful to not let my dog bark constantly. My problem is my neighbor thinks that every dog they hear barking in the neighborhood is mine. And I hear plenty of barking dogs, you cant exactly tell where its coming from so they assume its my dog. They are nice about it but the little comments annoy me.

 

[CookieGVB]

Luckily, our beagle isn't really a barker. He bays at us, the cat, and assorted wildlife outside, but usually because we encourage him at the time.

He USED to bay when we left him alone in the house for ANY length of time (going downstairs to check on the laundry...), but now he's fine with it, thankfully.

 

[magicfan]

I understand what your saying and I don't get it, either. When my dog barks I put an end to it because I don't want to hear it, either. Our neighbors leave thier cats outside 24/7 and when one of them is in heat, sometimes it will make this awful meow (if that's what you call it) by my bedroom window and it drives me nuts. Or, when the cats want in, which they don't seem to be allowed, they might sit and meow and meow and meow by thier door, or on the fence between our house. If I can hear it, I wonder why they can't, or do they not care, are they really deep sleepers, have thier TV or radio up loud, etc.... I really don't know. People really should be more considerate, especially during late and early hours when people are trying to sleep.

 

[justhat]

My mom has a beagle who howls every night when he's out in the yard, only at night. At 9pm she makes him come in (she doesn't want him waking people up) but our town ordinance states 10pm so she could keep him out another hour. It's not really that she has tuned it out, you really just can't hear it from inside her house. He tends to stand right at the fence in the back of the yard and howl at the neighbor's yard (neighbors who hate him incidentally). They can hear it quite well but from our house the only way you can hear it is if the windows are open and the tv is off. Because we can't hear it, we had no idea he was doing it at first, until the neighbors called us to complain.

If your neighbor can hear his dog barking though, odds are he doesn't even notice it anymore. We live in downtown DC now, across the street from a fire station, police station, and 3 blocks from the hospital (but it's on the same street as us, so all the ambulances pass us to get there). We hear firetrucks, police cars and ambulances literally all day and me, my husband, and our daughter all sleep right through them. During the day we don't notice it at all either, well my daughter does but that's just cause she loves to watch them drive by. In fact, one night there was a fire across the street from us and it took us over 20 minutes to notice it because we're so used to hearing the sound!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

my downstairs neighbor moved in over 2 months ago and they have a dalmation that from day ONE whenever they let him out OR leave him alone he will bark NONSTOP!!! i'm not kidding NONSTOP! we have a 7month old who won't go down for naps without a fight and now i'm constantly stressed about getting her down that it began weighing on my pregnancy! arggg....needless to say after 2weeks of that i complained and i continue to complain to the property managers EVERY day. And i time the barking constantly. i'm not being annoying i'm just trying to get some peace for my dd and hopefully get it settled by the time my new baby comes home!! you did the right thing and maybe try the police like other posters have said. My neighbors have been given several written warnings and all our other neighbors have been complaining too! mainly because these people leave ALL NIGHT! sooo late at night a giant barking dog is not fun! Good luck!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

We have 2 dogs and one of them tends to bark when she sees something outside (whether she's inside or outside at the time). We do not ever let her bark for more than a few seconds. We find the noise annoying and I imagine the neighbors do, too. She will woof to come inside, as will our other dog. Sometimes it take a few minutes before we hear the "woof", but we try not to leave them outside when they are making any noise.

Next door neighbors have a beagle, which barks whenever anyone goes by. I've never heard them even try and quiet the dog and they think it's normal. One day I did make a comment to her about the dog and it seems to have gotten better.

The neighbor on the other side has a small schnoodle, who barks a lot. An annoying yippy kind of bark. The will leave the dog outside for quite a while as the dog barks at us while we are doing terrible things (ie, playing in our front yard lol). A very annoying dog, but they are strange neighbors so we're not surprised that they are not better at quieting their dog.

BTW, I do not believe that the worth of the house should influence whether or not someone expects peace and quiet at night. My house is worth over 1/2 million dollars and I'm not any more entitled to a nighttime of peace than someone living in a house that is worth a fraction on mine.

T&B