BARKING DOGS & Rude Owners

[BearClaws]

I live in a two story house, My bedroom faces the backyards of three homes that are located behind me.
Nearly every night, the dogs,(Big Lab sized dogs)that my neighbors have, bark for hours on end.
Don't the owners hear them or care?
I bring my dog in at night out of courtesy.
I finally called the cops after they woke me up at midnight the other night.
I wake up at 4am every day and am really getting tired of the dog pound.
Anyone else have this problem?

[Chalco]

1. There's a noise

ordinance where we live. No noise between 11pm and 7am. I think it's 8am on weekends. I do think you have recourse with your neighbors dogs barking during the middle of the night. In the meantime, I recommend earplugs.

I actually have the reverse problem. We have a new dog now 9 months old. Our immediate neighbors have a dog as well, we both have fenced in yards and have a gate in between. The dogs go through the gate and play with each other. Sometimes when my dog is in my immediate neighbor's yard he barks at the elderly guy in the next yard. Rather than ignore the dog so he'll stop the elderly guy yells at him to which my dog responds by barking more. Then, the old guy comes down the street to my house and bangs his cane on my front door and screams that he's going to call the police. This occurs at 8am because this is when he leaves his house and gets into his car.

In my opinion my dog is within his rights because his barking is within the established noise ordinance times. Witnesses say the guy causes the dog to bark more.

Long story short, we agreed to compromise with the old guy and not let our dog into the neighbors yard until the afternoon. Yesterday my husband took the dog for a walk and ran into the old guy. My husband walked up to him said hello and noted to the old guy that the dog did not bark at him and the old guy admitted that the last time the dog barked at him he did not yell back and the dog didn't bark again.

[murielm99]

2. I used to.

I live in the country now, but 26 years ago, I lived in town.

My neighbors had a pool, and a barking dog. The kids would play loud music day and night around the pool. I let someone else complain about that.

But their dog was tied outside most of the time. It barked at everything. The funny thing was, that whenever I called, they would hear the phone, and bring the dog in immediately, ending the barking. They never answered the phone. I found out that I was one of several neighbors who complained. Some had even called the cops.

I don't understand why people have a dog and tie it outside day and night. Why even have a pet?

When I lived in town, and lived alone, I put my dog in a large kennel outside during my working hours. He was always inside with me when I was home, though.

[China_cat]

3. I have had it

went for 6 years without an unbroken night's sleep because of the neighbor's dog barking under my bedroom window. Nothing seemed to work. We finally just moved to the bedroom on the other side of the house. I know that doesn't solve your problem, though.

At the time, we didn't have the stricter laws that we do now about cruelty. That dog was never allowed in the house and was never given a proper shelter. He was expected to den up under the house in bad weather. But he was fed and had access to water and that was all the law required at the time.

You might check to see if those dogs have shelter, food and water and if not, call your local animal control and complain on those grounds. It might get you further than the barking complaint will.

I have 3 large dogs and I don't even allow them to bark excessively in the daytime. But the one time I did get a complaint about them was from that same neighbor...she insisted that I call my dogs in so that HER dog would stop barking at them.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. I had neighbors who kept a hunting dog chained near a pigeon coop

An animal trained to hunt birds, chained up within feet of a wood 'n' wire cage FULL of pigeons. Little cooing, wing-flapping doggie snacks.

The dog did that loud "yelping" barking for 3 to 4 hours at a stretch, every night, 7 nights a week. It would stop, then it would start. Stop, start, stop, start, stop, start..."white noise" inside the apartment didn't drown it out. This was what is known as a "piercing yelp." This dog had issues.

The husband was one of those half stoner / half alcoholic types. My ex-girlfriend and I got to the point where they were cool if we called them and asked them to deal with it, but we had to call every night. On the third phone call the wife answered and the husband could be clearly heard in the background yelling "tell them to "F" off." So we stopped calling them.

It was one of those neighborhoods that, over a two year period, went straight to hell. The immediate next door neighbors running an unlicensed day care center ALL...SUMMER...LONG, and the husband was a COP, with a back yard full of stuff stolen from the local school district. Guys hiding out in the stairwell smoking joints and drinking beer out of brown paper bags, that kind of stereotypical "bad neighborhood" BS. My car, vandalized three times in a month and a half (two batteries stolen, spray painted once). Gang graffiti scrawled all over my car port. The only thing that solved this one, I hate to say, was when I moved.

The one thing to remember when trying to deal with your neighbors: in most (but not all) instances, they DO...NOT...CARE. So don't get too stressed in an attempt to "reason" with them...there's no guarantee that it will even be possible. Your legal options are basically the cops and the SPCA / Animal Control.

[CindyDale]

5. For a minute, I thought you were my neighbor

but then I checked your profile. You are in California? Whew!

Part of the problem is that we are three houses in a row with multiple dogs and fenced yards. None of the dogs are tied. Also at least one of the dogs in each household is very vocal and feels compelled to talk to the neighbors when they are out.

My three dogs are aged 10 to 13. Two of them are in the house most of the time. The third likes to be out a lot more than the others, but luckily she's not the vocal one.

Unfortunately, the vocal one is also the one with the weak bladder, and when she says she needs to go out she really does.

We have a noise ordinance. I go out with this dog if she needs to go out late at night and bring her in if a neighbor lets dogs out while she is out. There might be a short interval of barking while I am getting her in.

No one has complained that I know of, though. You *are* in California, right? If not, let me know.

Cindy

Cindy

[gristy]

6. Your town should have an animal control officer

In my town you filed a complaint, and he would eventually come out and sit and listen. If the purported barking dog(s) barked non-stop for more than 15 minutes, or off-and-on for more than an hour (or something like that), the owner got a citation and would have to comply, or the situation would escalate.

Of course, your town has to have applicable noise ordinances and be willing to enforce them.