To ask you to read this letter for me?!

[hellospoon]

I started a thread last night about my next door neighbour and their dog, here

I have decided to write them a letter and have drafted it up, anyone fancy reading it for me to see what you think?

I agree with Kat.
DooinMeCleanin Chillax!

doinmecleaning if only that was an option. Please don't take my joke to seriously. i am honestly at the end of my tether and was making a joke in response to porc

Just shortened your letter really:

Hi,

I am writing to inform you that if you do not control your dog's barking then unfortunately we feel that we have no option than to involve the Environmental health dept.

As you know I have a 16 month old child that needs her sleep and my partner works very early shifts. Allowing your dogs to bark continuously for hours at a time is just not acceptable, however I do appreciate that you might not realise what a negative impact the noise is having on us all.

I really hope that we can resolve this matter amicably and continue to be good neighbors.

Many Thanks,

Sorry, I agree with Dickie - I think her/his letter is good. Short and to the point.
I would probably write a letter like yours (the second one), but I think it's still too long and repeats itself.
I think you should stick to the first two paragraphs and the last sentence (the one about keeping it amicable) and leave it at that.

If you can't resolve it by talking face to face then a letter probably isn't going to help.

Sending your first letter will end up with a horrible row between you and your neighbour. Sending your second attempt won't help either.

I'd take the advice and go straight to the environmental health.

ok i have changed it again, what to you think to this?

Hi,
I am writing in relation to the continued problem with your dog barking, I am hoping we can come to an amicable solution.
As we've discussed previously, the noise is really disturbing our sleep patterns and I am left most days with a tired and cranky baby and an exhausted partner - I'm sure you can appreciate this isn't ideal!

When I popped round yesterday I'm afraid I was not in the best frame of mind as your dog had been barking outside for 2 hours - which it seemed you were aware of?

I would ask that if you notice the dog barking outside after 6pm or before 8am, you could please bring it in. This would be a great help to us as a family.

We would be happy to meet with you to discuss this problem, and we are open to hearing any other solutions you want to suggest. Unfortunately if this problem is not resolved quickly, we feel we have no option but to report the noise to the Dog Warden, and this is something we really don?t want to do, as good neighbourly relations are so important to us.

Kind Regards

much better. would remove - which it seemed you were aware of? it does not bring anything.

Not a good idea to rant or ask questions in a letter of complaint - tbh, I couldn't be bothered to read it - I forced myself to... Your neighbours probably won't get past the first paragraph... Here's a more compact version saying everything but without too much detail and without questions or too much emotion...

Dear.....
We are writing this letter regarding the noise from your dog.
The constant barking is starting to have a negative and intolerable impact on our lives.
Our families' sleep is being disturbed both late at night and very early in the morning due to the fact that you appear to put him in the garden and leave him to bark.
When we are at home in the day, the constant noise is imposing on our lives and we are unable to relax in our own home.
I'm sorry to have to write this letter but after having to ask you to take your dog inside after 2 hours of barking last night we feel we have no other option.
We really hope that we can move forward and come to an agreement over this issue as we would hope that we can live alongside each other amicably in future.
We are writing this letter to you in the first instanceas we have no desire at this time to involve the council.

We are asking you to ensure that your dog does not continue to cause a nuisance to us.
Kind Regards....

Hellospoon - even your latest letter is a bit too much. Its going to get their backs up if you START by mentioning environmental health, and I can guarantee they will be much more helpful if you are nice and polite. Did you see what WineAndPizza wrote - its perfect. I would just use that. I have reposted it for you below:

Hi,

I wanted to have a proper discussion with you to see what we can do about the continued problem with your dog barking and waking my daughter up - hopefully we can come to an amicable solution.

As we've discussed previously, the noise is really disturbing our sleep patterns and I am left most days with a tired and cranky baby and an exhausted husband - I'm sure you can appreciate this isn't ideal!

When I popped round yesterday I'm afraid I was not in the best frame of mind as your dog had been barking outside for 2 hours - which it seemed you were aware of?

I would ask that if you notice the dog barking outside after 6pm, you could please bring it in. This would be a great help to us as a family.

I'm glad that we have a good enough relationship to discuss this frankly and hope we can maintain that without having to speak to any relevant authorities about the noise disturbance. Please do feel free to pop round for a further chat later if you have any questions for me.

Kind Regards

As a dog owner I would appreciate a neighbours attempts to resolve the issue with me before involving Environmental Health and as your neighbours have been approachable, if not co-operative, then I think a letter is ok.

I would remove the bit about being cruel to the dogs as people can be very funny about the slightest perceived criticism of parenting/ dog ownership skills!

Dickie, i am going to put your letter and the one using parts of everyone else's onto word and let DP decide which one he thinks. He is very diplomatic and is much better at handling things than i am!

sorry, Xposts with you OP. Your latest letter is just fine - go with it!

X post with op - much better :o !!!

I also like mctemp's letter!

I would speak to them in person.

Ok, i am going to run with that letter. i am going to get DP to drop it through their letter box

insomnia i have spoken to them, to no avail

Good luck hellospoon, hope it all gets resolved. Let us know how you get on.

I'm not entirely sure you've listened to a lot of the advice. Your choice really and I do appreciate how difficult your situation is. I would sit on it for a while then re-read this thread. I echo what's being said about the level of emotion. It's irrelevent and you immediately lose weight to your argument. Good luck.

Well, I mean the emotion is irrelevent to your neighbours.

hellospoon - I would also tell them that you have cc'd a copy to their landlord.

Once you start mentioning councils and environmental health a good landlord should (hopefully) step in and tell his tenants to behave.

I sympathise - we live next door to a house full of barking dogs and totally understand the frustation.

Our neighbours leave their dogs home alone for up to 14 hours - and RSPCA said there was nothing they could do and council have been useless too.

Dont send any letter.

Just report them.

breasticles my revised letter is a mixture of everyones input and what they have advise, so I am not really to sure what you mean about not listening?

Well i printed the letter and got DP to put it through their door, Not heard a single bark this evening it is rather blissfull.

Lets hope it is the end!

Hope it lasts, Spoon!

It didnt even last 24 hours looks like the council is my only option!