Neighbours dog barking - I'm so stressed and anxious

[Chefpig]

My neighbours dog barks frequently when they're home. They're home pretty much all the time. Their attempts to shut the dog up consists of screaming at the dog or saying its name very meekly. This has been going on for 18 months since I moved in. I tried to talk to male neighbour twice when I bumped into him the street but he was full of excuses such as ill health as to why they hadn't trained the dog. I also went round during one particularly bad morning which was constant barking til 1pm when I'd had enough. The man was incredibly short and rude to me.

I ended up going to the council and they fit a recorder. The readings were just below the threshold and I wasn't surprised as they'd kept the dog especially quiet that week.

It's all started back up again and I'm going out of my mind with the noise, the sheer stress. I feel like I live with a dog and two people because I can hear them so often.

The council are willing to fit another sound recorder but can't for a month due to my and their availability.

The barking is scaring my own pets as well as disturbing me.

It's started late at night when he goes to and from the pub, which it used to do but stopped but lately it's been waking me up again.

What can I do?

There's nothing worse than neighbours, except neighbours with dogs. You can't get away from them in built up areas these days and most of the dogs are under-exercised and frustrated.

Some people won't understand how noise affects you because it affects intelligent people more since we have more going on in our brains... It has been shown to cause depression and other health issues, though.

I would really recommend moving somewhere quiet if you can try to get the money together. We have no neighbours close by and it's a million times better.

I'm really surprised at some of the responses on here. A dog constantly barking is nuisance noise. It would totally wear me down. Plus, it sounds as though the dog is not being looked after correctly. Keep reporting to the council and also report to the RSPCA.

You sound quite rude.

OP, unless it’s a council house/LA housing; don’t spend loads of money doing up someone else’s house.

In her own home?

Hi, they're semis.

im confused by why it would be barking; especially when they are at home. I have a barky dog, a clingy rescue spaniel - he barks a lot as dogs go I would say; but it’s typically when we are going out (with or without him), or if someone goes past with another dog and he spots them at the window; or if he sees next doors cat on the wall- that sort of thing. Why do you think their dog is barking? Do you think there is risk of abuse? Have you seen the dog / does it look well? I wondered if you could speak to the RSPCA or similar; they may be able to help? If the dog is just barking here and there, YABU. If it’s constant or loud more like a dog fighting, I can see why you’re stressed by it.

Came back to add that I wondered if it was significant that the dog is barking when he comes back from the pub. This is also an usual reaction imo.. normally nervous dogs bark when you leave them; not when you return- they are normally happy to see you and the noise is more like whinging or crying; not really a bark. Is it possible there is domestic violence going on next door???? Obviously I’m leaping here but it popped into my mind as a possible scenario. I could see why a dog would bark if it was witnessing any kind of fight or threatening behaviour; not necessarily directed at the dog but at someone else. My dog will also bark when my husband and son play fight… it’s a game but he doesn’t enjoy it and I wondered if something else is going on here.

I'm glad that horrible comment was deleted, although I'm surprised at the number of unsupportive comments on this thread.

@Chefpig ignore all the negative comments. A constantly barking dog in a house with an adjoining wall would annoy me so much. I think all the negative comments are from people who have never had to put up with it.

I hope you can get some recordings and get it sorted.

Can you record the noise and play it back at them?

I only hear then shouting at it when it's barking or telling it off for stuff and she sometimes screams at it. Never nice things. I truly thing the dog suffers anxiety when thru are home, which is crazy.

Their house is also filthy. Caked in dirt on the inside and he seems to chain smoke as th3 ceiling is yellow. They have a district nurse visit regularly, so why she hasn't reported the filth of the house, I'll never know.

I'd not thought of that, just that they must cause the dog anxiety by being there. It's the woman who shouts a lot at the man but I've heard it him shouting at her. In fact, they used to loudly argue at 11pm every single night. I complained about that to the council too and they've more or less stopped.

While I agree that legal action probably won’t help, it’s not the OP’s problem at all whether her complaints would have to be declared if the landlord sells. Perhaps the landlord themselves should be taking steps so that his tenant can have the quiet enjoyment of the property she’s paying for.

Sorry to hear of your struggles OP. As a dog owner there is no way I’d allow mine to cause this disturbance and they could stop it with a small training effort. They sound like crappy dog owners.

She might not rent though, which is why I was checking. Legal action makes less sense if she doesn’t rent

The OP doesn't own her home, so I assume she must be renting, or maybe living rent free in someone else's home.

The neighbours sound awful.

We have two dogs but our neighbour has a yappy thing which NEVER stops barking. She's one of those people who doesn't give a shit about other people having to put up with her noise.

The other day, she was away overnight but her daughter was home alone, and kicked the dog into the garden and shut the door. All we could hear was YAP! YAP! YAP! absolutely repeatedly, and I mean it did not stop for a second. Still going on at 11pm.

My partner got up and brayed on their front door. Because they have some glass on the door and no frosting, he could see the daughter legging it to the garden to get the dog back in. She knew exactly what she was doing, but like mother like daughter, she didn't care until challenged.

Nothing we have done has worked, and we don't complain to the authorities because we want to sell now - yes, because of them.

Noise pollution is a real problem and people minimise it all the time.

I've just heard three different dogs barking where I live. One is very lethargic, a sort of "woof, the silly critters are off again woof" but the other two are super-annoying. At least of the other two, one doesn't live there all the time and is quiet at night but the other one lives there. If there were a dog warden where I live I'd have reported it months ago. I assume your local authority doesn't have a dog warden OP? They can be pretty effective if they know problem owners.

All dogs bark. My neighbours dogs go ape when postie arrives or anyone rings the bell. My own dog is silent. But he barks if there is a cat in the front garden he can see from the window. He ignores all neighbour noise, including hearing other neighbours dogs barking, but barks if he can see passers by from the gate. We are all considerate and bring them in immediately.

All neighbours dog owning or not are pissed off if a dog is left to bark.

But you have an easy out as you don’t own. Unless this is social housing you could and should move.

@Chefpig this is the thing, presumably the dogs have been an issue since you moved in.
Moving is probably your best option but anywhere could have barking dogs/screaming kids/loud music etc etc. You'd have to write off the money you've spent on the house.

You can get fan noise and white noise etc through YouTube, just play it on your phone. Some loop and go on for 8 hours plus

Totally agree - it can feel like mental torture. In the end you're on red alert even when you get the occasional quiet spell.

I despair of neighbours - I've had so many noisy ones that never consider the effect they're having on other people.

There are aps you can use to record noise. Statutory noise nuisance has to be at a certain level for a local authority to give out an enforcement notice. However noise nuisance is also classed as anti social behavior, which doesnt have a noise threshold for enforcement. A local authirity can issue a Community Protection Warning which if breached will escalate to a Community Protection Notice, breach of which is a criminal offence. You don't need to do anything to your property, just contact the council and find out which department deals with noise as anti social behaviou and take it from there. It will either be dealt with by Environmental Health team or Community Safety (some councils amalgamate the teams). Your neighbours are responsible for the noise, so they will have to face the consequences for their innaction.

I empathise with you so much. We have neighbours. Nice people. One is a psychologist. They had a new dog this spring. Thier older dog never barks this one never stops. If I'm trying to work in the garden I gave to come in. Eventually I start to get a headache from the stress. They said they would take it to training classes which they obviously haven't.