Neighbours dog

[El2El]

Posting for traffic, sorry! Lived here for over a year. Neighbours are nice, keep themselves to themselves. They've got a dog who I have never, ever heard bark. Tonight she's been barking/yelping for about an hour. Should I do anything? And what should I do? Not a dog person at all, as in don't know anything about them but I'm worried something is wrong with her.

I don't think you need any pretence over why you are going. Just ask if everything is ok as the barking is really unusual.

I'd be worried something was wrong with neighbour and dog was barking for help.
Go and knock, peer through letterbox - you are not complaining, just making sure everyone ok as you were concerned.
Dogs do call for help like this.
If all is ok, and dog barks again, you will know not to go round.

I’d knock, what if the dog is barking lassie style because their owner is lying unconscious on the floor????

I once went up to a perfect strangers door to check everything was ok because I could hear the letter box flap flapping.... I’d just listens to alan Bennet’s talking heads, the one with Thora bird about the elderly woman who fell in her house and broke her hip and couldn’t get any help and imagined someone lying prostrate on the floor behind the front door trying to attract attention for help by flicking the letterbox flap on the back of the door. A very nice elderly lady answered the door and was totally bemused when I told why I called, it was the wind making it flap but she was lovely about it thanked me profusely and offered me a cup of tea. I was mortified but very glad I’d checked as I’d always have wondered if I hadn’t

I can see your hesitation is not wanting to be intrusive but I think it would be a neighbourly thing to do to check everything is alright. One of my dogs “alarm barks” as in she’ll only really bark if something is wrong. Could be the case that your neighbour needs help—no harm in checking.

Fair enough, I retract my don't knock. Go knock on the door

Just go knock. You've got nothing whatsoever to loose by making a welfare check. But if something is wrong, and you could have done something by going over there, you'll never forgive yourself for ignoring it.

I hope you’ve checked! “The dog barking is unusual so I wanted to make sure you’re OK” is a perfectly good reason.

I know someone who heard neighbour's dog barking, and barking. No one did anything.

It turned out the owner had been taken ill and if someone had checked he would be alive now. He was found eventually and the poor dog taken away, too old to be rehomed, they said.

Please check.

Id knock if nothing is wrong at least they know your looking out for the dog if they did go out or something

Definitely go check the dog is ok!

Knocked but no answer. Some lights on but tree lights off and no room lights on, which is how I would leave my lights if I was away for a night. Their car is outside though. Had a peek through the letterbox but they've got a porch and so couldn't see past the porch door.

If you haven't got a phone number for them, could you see if you can find them on Facebook and message them? I'd want to know if I was out and my dog was barking. If he doesn't normally bark then something could be wrong.

Suppose you could put a note through the door letting them know about the dog. Could be a family emergency or something. Does sound like they have gone out for the evening though.

Knock, just say you wanted to check all is ok as dog never barks, but you've heard it tonight, which is really unusual. Most neighbours would be thankful you cared enough to check dog was ok.

I called my neighbour not so long back. She's got two greyhounds and there was a kerfuffle. They never fight (that I've heard) and my dogs and I were worried after the very short spat, which is an unusual reaction for us. Turns out I was right to call. Neighbour came home to blood everywhere and a dog with a 6" hole down it's side. I felt a bit better not to have overreacted. I know if it was my dogs I'd prefer a false alarm to the dog being injured and unattended for an extended time.