. . . to ask next door to keep their yappy dog inside?

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We put our house on the market this week and had our first viewing today. Feedback from the estate agent was that the prospective purchaser loved the house, but was massively put off by next door's dog barking its head off when they went to look at the garden; also the fact that the neighbours were all sitting outside chatting and laughing in the sunshine. The houses are townhouses (ie terraced) so the back gardens aren't particularly private, and separated only by low fences.

I'm so disappointed and can feel myself getting stressed . . . I know our neighbours have every right to enjoy their garden, but would IBU to ask them to keep the dogs inside the next time there's a viewing, just for half an hour?

No, viewers need to know about the YapperDog.

Not fair to make them think they'll be getting a quiet garden if they're not.

Viewers are being weird about the family enjoying the garden, though.

Agree with first reply.

People who let their dogs yap away endlessly in the garden should be taken out the back and shot in my opinion, so you have my sympathies. If you did ask them, they'd probably tell you to piss off cos theyve already proved themsyto be selfish arseholes anyway.

So you don't think my neighbours have a responsibility to prevent their dogs from being a nuisance by training them to stop barking when told, or if they're unwilling to train them, at least prevent them from bothering the neighbours . . . ?

UpperWallop

Typically, now the viewers have gone, the neighbours have gone back inside and all is calm . . .

To be fair, the dogs are usually fine, they just get excitable when we go into our garden. I just didn't realise something like that would completely put someone off

Yes, I think your neighbours have every responsibility to prevent their dog from being a nuisance...

...but they haven't.

Can you put up a higher fence so Yappy isn't visable?

Viewers need to know.

I bought a house next to one with a huge plot of land, the house was as far from mine as it could be, at the other end of a very long garden. The first night I stayed there a dog was barking at my house for hours, non-stop, in the garden next door because heaven forbid, someone was in their own property.

I had been desperately searching for somewhere quiet to live and the big empty green space next door looked fine. Checked it at different times of day and night and not a sound. First night there and yap yap yap. It was a struggle to get it called away too as the neighbours were horrible and so far away in their nice quiet house that they had no idea what Fido was doing unless someone went and used their gate entry system and made them get him back to their end.

I would take legal action if someone deliberately hid a dog. As for the neighbours, I wouldn't want that either but then I am longing for a quiet home which doesn't seem to exist. Most people seem happy with this 'communal living' where you hear everyone fart and sneeze even in a detached house.

Just to add, once viewed a beautiful house, would have bought it except for the constant yapping coming through the walls. Poor dog seemed to have been left home alone, wondered if that was the reason the house was for sale so looked elsewhere.

Is it reacting briefly to kerfuffle your side of the fence and being shushed by the owners (normal enough)? Or is it barking continually, unheeded by the owners? (Not on at all.)

Would your neighbours be willing to take the dogs out for their walk when you've got people due to come and view the house?

Feel for you. Our ndn has a yappy dog, yap, yap, yap all day long. We came back from hols and they’ve got another dog. So 2 yappy dogs left in the back garden all day long. Means we can’t sit out in our back garden (and we have 6ft fences, makes no difference).

So you don't think my neighbours have a responsibility to prevent their dogs from being a nuisance by training them to stop barking when told, or if they're unwilling to train them, at least prevent them from bothering the neighbours . . . ?

Of course they do, but that’s not what you’re asking them to do. You just want them to hide the barking so your viewers don’t hear it. Which is very unfair to your viewers. They should know about such a massive problem.

But it's not a massive problem. When we're in the garden, the dogs yap a bit, then after a couple of minutes of us ignoring them they stop. It's never bothered us at all. The issue is that the viewers aren't in the garden long enough to see that it stops, so they'll make an assumption that it's constant barking.

That's why I didn't think it was a big deal to ask the neighbours to keep their dogs in while there's a viewing.

I live next door to a dog that yaps away at 6 in the morning to be let back in after it's done a shit. I dream of shooting it quite often.
it wouldn't be fair of you to hide the dog. Any potential buyers need to know what they're in for.

Its anti social allowing dogs to bark endlessly in the garden.

It doesn't bark endlessly in the garden.

But it's not a massive problem. When we're in the garden, the dogs yap a bit, then after a couple of minutes of us ignoring them they stop. It's never bothered us at all.

So why are you going on about them being a nuisance;

So you don't think my neighbours have a responsibility to prevent their dogs from being a nuisance by training them to stop barking when told, or if they're unwilling to train them, at least prevent them from bothering the neighbours . . . ?

It doesn’t sound as though they are a nuisance, really.

If you want a favour from the NDN, FGS calm down and get off your high horse and try asking nicely.

Battleax they're a nuisance because the few minutes of barking that happens when we go into the garden has been enough to scare off a potential buyer for our house. THAT'S absolutely a nuisance. The buyer doesn't know that the barking stops; they'll assume it's relentless. Which is a fair assumption, but not actually the case.

Erm . . . I think you might be the one on your high horse, not me

If it doesn't bark endlessly, but was just yappy today, it's just one of those things. Ywbu to expect neighbours, minding their own business and enjoying their garden, to shut up and go indoors simply because you are having a viewing. As soon as the weather changes the problem will disappear. I think your viewers were unreasonable too. You can expect neighbouring garden noise in fine weather. I can hear kids, dogs, music, all sorts. If they don't want such close neighbours they should buy a house on a large isolated plot.

No, you’re panicking, because something that’s “never bothered you at all” and isn’t really an issue, HAS bothered your viewer, so now you’re wondering if it will be an issue for all the viewings. Which is understandable. But the neighbours aren’t really doing anything wrong.

So it seems to me that the helpful thing to say to you is to calm down and not go down the thought train that they’re irresponsible neighbours who haven’t trained their dogs. You’ll get much further asking nicely with no indignant thoughts in your head.

Which is easy enough for me to spot and to say because I couldn’t care less whether you sell your house or not I’m just reading what you’ve said.

It's summer and people use their gardens. That wouldn't put any sensible buyer off OP.

The dog, however, is another matter. It would put me straight off, and I'd think that's why the person is moving.................

Hi Lucisky - I absolutely didn't expect my neighbours to go inside or stop chatting etc.; I'm pretty sure I never said anything like that . . . anyway, I agree that they definitely had unrealistic expectations about gardens, of course they're going to hear/see the people living around them. Hopefully the next viewer will be more positive

Are the people on this thread really that brutally honest about their homes when selling?

Christ. We're selling ATM and, as per any house sellers guide, are doing our utmost to hide, disguise or minimise ANY negative points of the house.

I don’t believe you that the dogs aren’t a nuisance. Funny enough I guarantee you that all the owners of the dogs that provide the background theme song to my day will tell you their dogs only bark for a minute and then stop. It is, frankly, bolleaux. Dogs that bark when someone goes in a garden are a pain in the arse. I bet that’s not all they bark at either.

If I bought a 'quiet' home, only to find there was a resident yapping dog next door which I'd been purposely kept unaware of before I signed, I'd think the sellers were a pair of underhanded cunts.