Would you leave your dog outside barking at 553 am?

[roundligament]

I couldn't sleep at all last night I am so exhausted and fed up
I've posted before about the dog but I haven't reported it because to be frank I don't want to fall out with my neighbours it will make my life very hard if I do. We are home owners and they are too.

They have a dog which they do not walk. It's always moaning at home because it's a clever and bored one. I feel so sorry for it.
It is constantly being shoved in the garden and barking so they must have had enough of it barking in the house which is also beyond me.

I want to get a bark buster but my plug outside is a bit far away I think for it to make a difference to this dogs barking.

Last night it was out several times barking

This am at 5.53 when I had finally fallen asleep they put him out again and he barked and barked and barked and they left him.
It woke me up. Woke my son up.

He is out again barking now as well.

AIBU to really want to text them now about this dog? What would you say in the text?
I get it that they need the toilet but can't they let him out watch him then take him straight back in?

I had a neighbour who used to leave his dog outside all day and he'd bark and bark and bark. Drove me mad!

I found this print out/leaflet thing online that said something along the lines of 'you may not know but your dog is barking whilst you're out' and it had lots of suggestions of how to make the dog happier.

I posted it anonymously but they obviously took it on board as the dogs were quiet from then on.

I sympathise though, it's SO bloody annoying. Surely it annoys the dog owner too? And don't they feel embarrassed that they dog is going off at unsociable times of the day?! Maybe you tune out your own pet noise?

Weirdly, no, I wouldn't let DDog out to bark at that time in the morning. If he needed a wee at that time in the morning but started barking he'd be fetched in pronto (as he is at any time of the day). My neighbours have not had to ask me to do this.

When I was a teenager next door had a dog like that which was disturbing my sleep, but my parent refused to do anything about it because it wasn't bothering him. It didn't seem to occur to him that the difference was that I'm not profoundly deaf

I'd speak to them and let them know that the dog is disturbing you, and ask them to fetch it inside when it does bark, particularly between the hours of 11pm and 7am when you are trying to sleep.

The thing is I think they don't care. I really honestly do. They have form for being really insensitive and selfish anyway and not caring about their neighbours.
They do things like leave their car hanging over my drive for 4 days at Christmas.
When I was extremely sick left no space for an ambulance to stop outside my house even though they knew they were constantly coming to the house and having to wheel me up the road in public to go in to it instead of them parking on the other side of the road to let an ambulance have space.
They had another dog which died that barked constantly
They built a tree house and their kids scream into my garden from it
They moan about my tree and then they moan there is no privacy
I just can't bare them
I think I will put a note through but my husband will be upset if I make things worse with them I don't know what to do
I am just about to have another baby and I don't want to get woken up when I manage to sleep

Have you considered going down the council noise nuisance route?

How can I ask them without looking like a moan / whinge/ spoilt?

I dot understand why they do it. They leave it out all day barking. It's not my problem to train him is it. He is bored the poor thing. When I'm trying to work he is barking barking barking

I thought you were me then! Bloody annoying isnt it, particularly when our neighbour's dog is shoving its face through my hedge and barking/snarling at my kids who were here first! Their dog has a stalking path down the side of the hedge where it just runs, launches itself at the hedge in an attempt to get through. I did lose it the other week and they said hes being friendly. In what fucking world is that dog being friendly, dont know what to do. Cos I've tried speaking to them and it falls on deaf ears, they also have NEVER walked theirs in the 2 years they've lived here.

Could you report them to the RSPCA? Poor dog, not getting walked and being shut out the garden, they shouldn't be allowed to have animals.

They are likely in breech of planning permission for the tree house. If they are parking over your dropped kerb, then I think that is illegal.

So when you contact the council about the dog you can go with a little list.

I think you need to stop being such a pushover. It’s hard but it’s already a fractured relationship. Not addressing the issue will make it worse and it won’t go away if they are permitted to be so selfish.

A note that their dog was barking at 5:30am and this is unacceptable is a good starting point with mention that you will be contacting the local authority if it continues. Then contact the local authority with a record of times, duration etc.

I’d contact the planning department about the tree house too as it might well have needed permission if it is close to the boundary. Failing that put up a higher fence.

You might worry about looking like a whinge but clearly they see you as someone they can walk all over. Next time their car is over your drive, knock and say you want the car moved please. Not nastily, not angrily just firmly.

RSPCA might be best route...
I don't think it's illegale I just think it's really knobby and lazy of them to park over it. I would never do that to them.
They foster and have two daughters who are constantly there with their ridiculously noisy kids in the garden as well. so there is often like 10 people in the garden making a huge amount of noise.
The tree house is ridiculous. But if I report it do you see how it would obviously be me although they are not liked by their surrounding neighbours for being noisy and just really selfish to be honest.

@BettyJune07 honestly I just hate it when people say their dog is friendly when it's clearly an arsehole. This dog is not friendly he is bored. He is noisy not a puppy any more and they didn't bloody train him in time. He is a cockapoo so very clever and they have really let him down.

I'm afraid you need to woman up and your DH needs to man up and confront them about all this.

Or move.

But you can't complain (though you are perfectly reasonable to do so) but do absolutely nothing about it.

@CherryPavlova honestly my husband said English people can get really awful with their neighbours. He had a horrible neighbor before and the neighbour was saying he would kill him etc letting another dog poo all over front garden which is horrendous
I was raised in Ireland and in Switzerland so we are different with neighbours. It's not like we live in the ghetto here either! It's a normal family, wide road !
If I say to them about their dog my husband will be worried they will be even more disrespectful and continue to park like arse holes , leave their dog out longer and make even more noise in the garden.

The tree house is definitely in breach. I know because I worked with planning permission. It's at least 10 ft up the platform where the kids go. It's butted up against the boundary of the other garden where there is a higher fence and their viewing platform looks over our waist height fence which I really need to address.
I should look at the deeds to see who is responsible for the fence.
Every time we try to speak to the husband who is the step dad of the grown up daughters he always tell us to speak to the girls ourselves but they came and called me a bitch for asking them to leave me more space to get on the drive knowing I'd had surgery. They park in front of my house all day when the rest of the road is free and I have a son who is 3 and heavy as a rock now I have mobility issues due to the pregnancy with him. I can't just leave him in the house and go off to the car up the road to go and get something
I don't understand why they are like this.

I resent spending hundreds on a fence because they are loud and obnoxious.
They even look through a bamboo screen and talk to me. I'm not interested. I'm going to say to them "I am breast feeding please stop I am uncomfortable" next time it happens and I'm in the garden with a baby regardless of if I am or not.

It makes me not want to wear a swim suit in the garden because of them.
But that bloody horrible noisy dog :( I hate it

It's that if we complain things will disintegrate
I can't afford to move because some selfish family next door
It's not at the point where it makes me want to move but it's at the point where I'm really upset about it
My husband is very tall, young and strong and the neighbour said he was intimidated by him before when we tried to discuss the parking. It's just because we are younger then them by about 20 years and I think more independent that they don't like us and the man is insecure about how his size is compared to my husband who is a gentle giant.
It's the get out of jail card to say to a large man you are intimidated by him :( so my husband ends up getting taken advantage of because if he says something it's portrayed as aggressive

I would not let me dogs out to bark at any time of day.
If they go out and start barking they are brought straight in!

@harrypotterfan1604 I expect dogs to bark sometimes but this one he clearly wants to go back inside and they don't care they are heartless leaving him out there
Bragging about driving hours to get the right breed but they clearly have no idea how much attention and stimulation and walking he would need!! Poodles and spaniels are both really clever so I imagine that cross breed is a really clever one who needs walking.
I am not a dog person though so maybe I'm just naive to think that

I don’t mind my dogs barking for a reason, they disturbed an intruder in my home at Christmas so if they bark at people coming to the house that’s fine.
They also bark for a minute when a cat or a bird comes in their garden but it’s quick and over with as quickly as it started.
If they bark just for the fun of it or they bark for longer than a minute or two they are brought straight it because I respect my neighbours.
All dogs need exercise.
I’d be reporting them to be quite honest

I wonder if your neighbours are also my neighbours as this happens to us too every single night and morning. I had enough and reported them last year but they knocked on my door being aggressive and threatening and I wimped out of following the complaint through (single mum and felt intimidated). Have you tried ear plugs? Just so you can sleep while you decide what to do. Dog whistles sometimes help. I bang on the wall a lot to passively aggressively make them aware I’m getting angry . If all fails it’ll have to be a complaint to the council/dog warden and mention the lack of dog walking as that’s neglect. I think if my neighbours walked their dog it wouldn’t be half as bad. Good luck

@AnnieMay100 I wish we were neighbours as we could collectively do something
I would wear ear plugs but I have a toddler and I need to hear him and I also have a baby coming imminently
So the consensus does seem to be its unreasonable to leave a dog barking outside
I'll see what I can peacefully do to resolve

Poor dog. I would definitely say something or report them to the RSPCA OP, if only to make them aware that their neglect of that poor animal is evident to their neighbours-shame the twats into caring for it properly! Please do not get a bark buster, although I understand that the barking is highly irritating for you,the thought of the poor dog not even being allowed to vocalise it's distress breaks my heart

My dog would never be allowed outside just to bark at any time of the day or night. It must be so bored and lonely, poor creature. And it sounds very hard on you.

We had this with a previous neighbour in our old house. The dog had separation anxiety and used to yap and bark really loudly every time he was left out on his own - which used to happen at all hours of the day and night. They'd leave him out there for up to 30 mins at a time and it was ruining our sleep as the noise was awful.

We reported it using the council's webpage for the dog warden to make a complaint about dog noise. The warden wrote to us a couple of weeks later to say he'd been round to have a word with them and to tell them to make sure they supervised their dog to stop the noise.

It pretty much sorted the problem (with the odd relapse, but that was bearable!). I'd recommend going to the dog warden first - the RSPCA won't do anything (I do voluntary work for an independent rescue and trust me, it would be a waste of time contacting them).

Meant to add, we have dogs and one of them is a barker if he sees a squirrel or a cat. Regardless of what time of day it is, he's immediately brought inside. He is getting better as we are training him at the moment, but nobody wants to listen to a dog barking endlessly! Plus he's wary of strangers so if we are burgled I want people to hear barking and think that something is wrong, rather than rolling their eyes because it's the bloody FerretDog carrying on again...

Really annoys me when dogs are left to bark outside at all hours!.We have a dog and she is NEVER left outside.Just a wee/poo and then in!.I think they have taken on too much with the fostering as well TBH ,and the dog is ignored most of the time .You need to think of ways around this ,what about other neighbours nearby ? they must be able to hear as well surely,maybe speak to them and try to explain together the problem together if possible .

Is your house attached to theirs? If so be careful about how you go about this noise complaint at this time. They are being unreasonable about the dog, the parking is annoying but if it's an unrestricted road you can't dictate where they park as long as it isn't over your drive.
Having a baby and a toddler in the house I'm sure there will be plenty of noise there too, and the last thing you need is a tit for tat neighbours dispute

It’s horrible isn’t it OP I hate to say it but the council or RSPCA will probably not do anything unless the dog is being severely neglected. I counted my NDN’s dog’s barks the other day and it was well over 1000 in one day. It’s fucking disgusting if I’m honest with you. There is nothing I could do that would equate to the aggressive bark of a clearly traumatised GSD. Poor thing never gets walked and is obviously frightened by the slightest noises (been around a lot of police dogs so know the different barks). It’s vile that others have to suffer sometimes crippling mental illnesses because of dog owner’s laziness in training their pets