Neighbor's Barking Dog issue

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

(Disclaimer -- I love dogs - this is no way a dog hating post.)


DD and I moved into our new house in May. We are now having an issure with our neighbor's dog.

Background ---
When we moved in we were so busy all the time that we fell asleep quickly and easily. Over the summer dd was up later and we often had the windows closed and the AC on.

Well, now it is nice out so we have our windows open. Also since dd is in school she needs to go to sleep earlier.

The problem---
Our neighbor lets thier dog out quite often. When ever the dog is out it barks at everything! It justs barks to hear the sound of its own bark. The problem is that dd has been having trouble going to sleep because of said barking dog.

DDs room heats up quickly if the window is not open. It is not hot enough in the evenings to warrent having the AC on.

So my question is: how should I approach my neighbor about thier barking dog?

I need to do something so that dd can get some sleep.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

How close are you to the neighbor? (personally, I mean.) How well do you know them? The ideal thing is to talk to them in person (either when they are in their yard, or go up to their house) and politely tell them that lately your daughter is having problems sleeping because of the dog. Don't be overly emotional about it. Just state the facts. See how they take it. If there are still problems ,you may want to look into noise ordinances in your jurisdiction.

Alternatively there is a product you can buy that uses a sonic disturbance to stop barking. It emits a sound that only dogs can hear whenever they bark. I would not leave it on all the time, just at night. I have also heard it should not be used on puppies as it could damage their hearing, but these are great aides. I had an issue with my dogs barking while I was gone in my apartment. I used an indoor version of this machine, and the barking stopped with no negative consequences.

 

[Poppinsme]

That stinks.
I worked night shift (12 hours) for many, many years. So had to sleep during the day. Its hard to sleep when there is barking dogs, lawn mowers etc. I finally used ear plugs and a noise machine to drown it all out. These worked very well as a last resort.
Many people are hard to reason with. Good luck!

 

[luvthatdisney]

Well....I'm one with a barking dog. We actually have 2 dogs, but the one that barks is our house dog. I agree that she just likes to hear herself bark. She is a chihuahua mix and has that yappy bark. When I let her out in the back yard, it is for short amounts of time and if she starts to bark too much I go get her (late morning and afternoons). At night, I take her out on a leash so to control her more.

I also hate barking dogs - funny!!! But I do and I am not sure how we ended up with one, but I try my best to control her and limit the amount of time she is allowed to bark. But she really seems to enjoy it!

I would just approach the neighbor and tell them what you said here. Being honest and just letting them know how the dog is impacting you. If one of my neighbors said something to me I would be mortified at first, but I can completely understand and would do whatever I can to to help the situation.

PS: Our other dog (outside dog) only barks at the UPS man and howls at sirens (he is part beagle!).

Good luck to you!

 

[HelenePA]

I have almost the same problem with my neighbors. They know its a problem but do nothing about it. My kids sleep with a fan on year round to help drowned out the sound. when it gets cooler I just point the fan towards the wall so no air blows on them. It seems to do the trick since they dont complain about the dog barking.

 

[golfgal]

You could train their dog not to bark for them. Every time the dog goes outside and starts barking, blow an air horn. It won't take long for the dog to stop .

Actually, we trained our dog not to bark with this method but used some coins in a can. They don't like the sound and realized that every time they bark they hear that sound so they stop barking. It took a day to train our dog. She still barks at thunder and squirrels though--only for a few barks then she goes looking for rabbits in the yard.

 

[DawnCt1]

I have a neighbor whose dog barks occasionally for no more than 5 minutes at a time during the day. It doesn't bother me but it bothered two of my neighbors who are barely home. One of them set up a bark suppression unit on their lawn facing the dog's house. It worked for that side of the yard but it created hard feelings because the "offended" neighbor did not approach the dog owner to discuss it. Her feelings were hurt. The other neighbor lately is bothered by everything, including the dog owner's children's toys in the driveway and them playing in the street. Its getting to be a "sad" place around here when children can't play in the street on a cul de sac without offending neighbors. But that is off topic. Do talk to the neighbor. Our neighbors expect total silence from the barking dog, even during the day when they aren't home, but decide what is reasonable. A dog left unattended all day long barking is unreasonable. A dog barking intermittently after your DDs bedtime is unreasonable.

 

[Pakey]

The neighbors' had a small dog in their yard who barked non-stop. We put up with it for over a year listening to it in the evenings and when we went to bed. Then I had to go through chemo and was home during the day. I was so sick and hated listening to it. I went over and talked to them. They said they would fix it. I went again. The third time, I told them I was going to call the police (we live in the city). After that, I noticed that when the dog started barking, they would take it inside for awhile.

They were not friendly at all after that but I didn't care. It's so unfair to subject everyone to that.

 

[minkydog]

You could train their dog not to bark for them. Every time the dog goes outside and starts barking, blow an air horn. It won't take long for the dog to stop .

Air horn? I'm not sure the *other* neighbors would approve but that's hilarious!

 

[stahshee]

I have the same problem. I have a l dog and he runs all over our yard ect, as we are always in yard. The neighbors got a pitbull last month. We have a chain link fence betweenthe two yards. That pitbull dog is out all day. My kids can not run in our yard with out that dog going CRAZY barking, foaming at mouth. My l dog thinks he's big. He trys to bark at the big dog..That pitbull I thought was gonna rip my dog apart through a chain link fence.
Now I have no choice but to keep my dog on a leash in my back yard because of this crazy dog... As I am writeing this that dog is going ape @##% barking like a mad man......also I feel bad for the crazy dog I think it needs some attention

 

[terri01p]

This is exactly why we run a fan at night, to block out most of the outside noises, that seems to help us maybe it could help her as well??

 

[maddmike]

I would go tell them what is happening and how its causing you trouble. You don't need to be mean about it. Then the ball is in their court. If the dog continues I would make another trip to the neighbor. This time being a little more forceful.

Finally if that didn't get the problem fixed I would make a third and final trip and tell him - Shut the dog up or I will call the local animal control officer/police and let them deal with it. There are laws in most communities about barking dogs and noise.

 

[SydneyFalco]

You could train their dog not to bark for them. Every time the dog goes outside and starts barking, blow an air horn. It won't take long for the dog to stop .

Actually, with our dog a similar method never worked. Neither did the citronella collar. She's just a nervous, yappy little things (a poodle, and I think they're uncommonly stubborn). Luckily for our neighbours, she only gets let out for quick bits of business. The rest of the time we're the only ones that have to hear her nervous barking.

 

[nickey]

This was not tolerated on our block dog barked 24 hrs a day even choking himself . The owners refused to take him in one neighbor had everyone sign a letter complaining we didnt want to get involved we couldnt hear him that good. After letters, calls to animal control, police etc no luck so the ring leader of the letter sending just poisoned the dog. Didnt like to see it come to that and hthey were WARNED never to get another dog.

 

[a1tinkfans]

I have the same problem. I have a l dog and he runs all over our yard ect, as we are always in yard. The neighbors got a pitbull last month. We have a chain link fence betweenthe two yards. That pitbull dog is out all day. My kids can not run in our yard with out that dog going CRAZY barking, foaming at mouth. My l dog thinks he's big. He trys to bark at the big dog..That pitbull I thought was gonna rip my dog apart through a chain link fence.
Now I have no choice but to keep my dog on a leash in my back yard because of this crazy dog... As I am writeing this that dog is going ape @##% barking like a mad man......also I feel bad for the crazy dog I think it needs some attention

I would be VERY sure that your chain link fence has the wire that runs thru the bottom to prevent that dog from getting into your yard from Under the fence..
It could be a VERY sad situation, never mind your dog, your kids CAN be in danger. PLEASE take the time to check that fence.

As far as OP and barking dogs, well, that is just awful. I happen to LOVE my dog and he is not a barker, BUT, my neighbors is....goodness, they leave that dog outside and it just wants to go inside so it barks and barks and barks....day and sometimes in the evening as well.
One day, while it was barking his lovely head off, I went to their home and asked the husband (who happened to be on front drive)
IF his dog was hurt or sick as he was out there barking for a long time. He then seemed to get rattled and said, Uh no, I'll check on him...and I again said, OH, just curious because he sure is barking alot....he knew exactly what I meant and that dog no longer stays out for hours barking.....he still barks every time he goes out, but atleast they are conscious of it (I swear they must have blocked it from their ears at the beginning )
SO, I agree, approach them being both polite and sensitive rather than accusatory and HOPEFULLY it will work out for you all.
Best of Luck...

In a cul de sac nearby, neighbors that lived there for years moved out because of a barking HUGE dog that drove them nuts when new people moved in, SAD, it was the last straw for them and they literally upped and moved!

 

[DVC Sadie]

This was not tolerated on our block dog barked 24 hrs a day even choking himself . The owners refused to take him in one neighbor had everyone sign a letter complaining we didnt want to get involved we couldnt hear him that good. After letters, calls to animal control, police etc no luck so the ring leader of the letter sending just poisoned the dog. Didnt like to see it come to that and hthey were WARNED never to get another dog.

Good grief, you mean to tell me that someone poisoned a dog? How did your neighbors WARN another person to not get another dog?

 

[WhateverLolaWants]

Get ear plugs. Trust me, been there done that with a basketball being bounced between 7am-8am pretty much every morning and it's not worth the hassle. We talked to the neighbor and asked maybe if they could withhold until like 9 or 10 because I was in college full time and working full time and not getting home from work until nearly midnight and then staying up to wind down and finish up any homework. Her response was "No. Maybe you should have thought about that before you moved to a neighborhood full of kids." (Which, btw at that point we had been living in this neighborhood for over a decade when I was a kid and her children were not even a twinkle in her husband's eye. And they didn't even live in the neighborhood then). You could try the approach of anonymously reporting them to the police for a noise violation, like the people on the other side of said neighbor did. Our town doesn't have a noise violation, so it didn't help but maybe that will be helpful for you.

 

[Ephany]

Been there, done that. It was so bad that animal control was always in our area (then they'd bring the darn dogs in) and I know the police were called on multiple occasions at 2am by our other neighbors because the barking was so bad. They worked nights and simply didn't care. Their back yard backed most of our back yard and there were times DD couldn't go out there without us the dogs were trying so hard to get into our yard. DH has pictures of their BIG dog busting through part of the fence and chewing it off to get at us!

Nothing worked, not calling animal control, not calling the police, not the neighbors (including us) all buying those sonic birdhouse, nothing. We finally ended up putting up another fence on the inside, it was board-on-board so they couldn't see anything in our yard. That helped a little bit, at least DD and our dogs could play in the yard without being snapped at. I understand your frustration, it's very obnoxious to have to deal with this day in and day out.

 

[lillygator]

This was not tolerated on our block dog barked 24 hrs a day even choking himself . The owners refused to take him in one neighbor had everyone sign a letter complaining we didnt want to get involved we couldnt hear him that good. After letters, calls to animal control, police etc no luck so the ring leader of the letter sending just poisoned the dog. Didnt like to see it come to that and hthey were WARNED never to get another dog.

poisioning an animal? wow! what would they do to people who were overly noisy??

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

This was not tolerated on our block dog barked 24 hrs a day even choking himself . The owners refused to take him in one neighbor had everyone sign a letter complaining we didnt want to get involved we couldnt hear him that good. After letters, calls to animal control, police etc no luck so the ring leader of the letter sending just poisoned the dog. Didnt like to see it come to that and hthey were WARNED never to get another dog.

What I think should happen to that ring leader can not be posted on the DIS....what a worthless piece of garbage.
Now, as far as the original question I think you should talk to the owner of the barking dog. We have one in our neighborhood that starts barking before 7 AM and is also often heard after 11 PM. That kind of irritates me (especially because it's a yippy dog...I don't mind real barks, but those high-pitched barks have always bothered me), but during the day is a different story.