Am I? Or are my neighbours being inconsiderate.

[TheJollyPirate]

I'll start off by saying I have not raised this yet with the neighbour downstairs.
I am in a maisonette (upper floor) and the maisonette below me is privately owned and rented out (3 families in and out since the summer). In October a new lot moved in, a few days prior to this I was aware that alot of work was going on in the shed. A few days later the family moved in and into the shed went two adult alsatians and four puppies.

Since then at least two of the puppies have been homed and the other two are still with the parents. The owners care for the dogs and they are out in the garden of the house all day but in the evening they are locked into the shed again. This would be okay but they bark at the slightest thing - someone just breathing as they walk past for example.

Unfortunately DS's bedroom is facing towards the back garden. He is SN (autism and ADHD) so does not sleep well anyway. Last night he got into my bed at about 11.30 because the dogs were keeping him awake. I went and got into his bed (because he is a fidget and bedsharing with him is a nightmare) - the dogs were still barking on and off at 1.00am - this is not unusual. The woman usually leans out and yells for them to be quiet and they do quieten for a while until the next distrubance.

Am I being unreasonable in being irritated? I mean she does at least put them in the big shed - they are not out in the garden. I am just thinking about having a word with the dog warden as I don't know this woman at all and am not sure what she could do in any case.

Tbh if it was me I would always worry about disturbing neighbours but she appears oblivious to the fact that her dogs are so loud.

Are you kidding? Of course not!Its unreasonable of them to keep 4 GSDs in a shed, let alone the barking . Do you rent? Is it something your landlord could take up with theirs?

talk to her before you go to the dog warden, give her a chance to sort it out. If she doesn't do anything about it then go to the dog warden.

That sounds like a nightmare. A quiet word may help. the lady obviously hasn't trained them so it might be in vain.
Keep a diary and get in touch with your environmental health department part of council if it gets too much.

Good luck

I personally agree with keeping dogs in the garden in a kennel. The thought of dogs sleeping in the house seems odd to me.

However, this is not a kennel, it is a shed. Plus they are barking all night. My dog didn't do this.

I think a polite word pointing out in a friendly way that the dogs are keeping your DS awake would be fine.

Any chance they will move out soon, seeing as there is a high turnover for the flst.

God, YANBU in being irritated. I think dog barking is at the top of the list for most annoying noise-nuisance, because it's loud and unpredictable.

I have no clue at all about legalities. Unlike other noises, I doubt talking to them first would achieve much - it's not like turning music down, and they are unlikely to bring the dogs inside, are they?

Can you check out the terms of the lease, with the landlord - either he knows there are dogs, and therefore he shares responsibility for the nuisance, or he doesn't know there are dogs .....

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable about dogs/noise/law will be along soon

YAnbu. But no authorities will do anything unless cruelty is happening :(

The dog warden won't be able to do much. Its the envirnmental health officer who can do something, noise department, they need evidence so you should keep a noise diary and they may leave noise detection equipment in your house of come for a visit and listen and measure the noise levels.