Should I keep dogs in because neighbour is WFH

[poodlelocks]

I have 2 dogs.

Bark when postie knocks, van pulls up etc When told to stop, they do.

If in garden they'll bark at cats, or if someone comes up back alleyway (no pun intended)

Again they shut up if told

Last week neighbour asked if we could keep dogs In before 12pm as she does nights and is sleeping - fair enough? Agreed to that.

Now today she's asked if we can keep them into 4pm as husband is WFH and barks disrupt him.

Any advise before I return my answer to them!?

Meh. I would ignore them. My lot bark at the post man and people who go past the house too - I am glad of this. I ask them to be quiet and they do so.
You are doing nothing wrong and neither are your dogs. And FAR better to hear dogs bark occasionally that the screaming and shouting of kids!

Anyone wanting total silence to sleep during the day is going to have to get earplugs. Lock down or not there's always going to be some noise - house improvements, dogs, kids, vehicles, gardening, bin men deliveries. The world can't stop because you work nights, I wore earplugs when I did

I’m sorry but this is a great big bug bare of mine with neighbours leaving dogs to bark in the garden all day.

Some dogs bark more than others, but I think of you have barky dog, that’s constantly yapping, you should keep it inside and take it for a big 1 hour walk and just let it in the garden to do its business throughout the day.

The way I see it, is it’s the owners dog. It’s their choice to own one, it should not be a nuisance to the rest of the neighbours.

If it’s just one off barks then days enough but when it’s barking every 20 seconds 😫😠

I trained mine from a puppy, if he barked excessively he came in, he soon learned not to. Perhaps a water pistol may help? Can you count in a day how many times they bark to give us a rough idea? Does one set the other off?

Dogs bark, children shout, people do DIY, mow grass etc. All of which makes noise. Where does it stop?

On Mumsnet threads it doesn’t. It seems the only noise some people expect is birds, people talking quietly and children playing in silence. 😬

Dogs bark, children shout, people do DIY, mow grass etc. All of which makes noise.

Dogs barking at anything that moves is the only one in that list that is always anti social.

Others depending on time/volume (DIY at 5am every Sunday, children screaming constantly) are completely normal.

Oh God, your poor neighbours. Have you only just got these yappy dogs or has it taken a pandemic and being trapped inside their home for them to complain? Because if it's the latter, they're not just complaining for the fun of it, are they?

I’m sorry but this is a great big bug bare of mine with neighbours leaving dogs to bark in the garden all day.

Have you actually read the OPs posts?

Pilates
Water pistol??!! Tell me more x

Train your dogs.

Hedgehog. Very helpful, thanks

Poodlelocks I think you have been very reasonable, they are dogs and by nature will bark, that’s their job! In their minds they are protecting the household.
This is just a suggestion. I once had two very boisterous German Shepard pups, they were about 8 months and very big. My husband had a separate home office at the time in the garden and clients would come to see him and needless to say they barked their heads off ever time a car arrived. Even through they were kept fenced off from the office area it did naturally make some clients nervous. Our vet suggested taking just two pages of a rolled up newspaper and slapping it against something every time they barked. The noise used to startle them and shut them up pronto! Now before I get flamed we adored the dogs and the newspaper and praise and a treat when they stopped in their tracks worked wonders. Might be worth a try?
Having said that you’ve done more than enough to facilitate them, ive never heard of anything so stupid as keeping dogs inside until four, unless they’re chihuahuas of course!

Why cant you train the dogs and then let them go out all the time?

Lockdown is surely the best time to do it.

Usually they'd go out on 2/3 walks daily. But obviously now they're only allowed 1!

This isn't true. You can go out to exercise multiple times a day. The once a day is just a guideline. The law doesn't have a limit on how many times you can go out.

If walking them more often calms the barking, then do that.

Other peoples barking dogs are annoying. I have had dogs in the past and would purposely not leave them in certain rooms of the house because it would set of a tirade of barking when something had encroached on their territory. for .e.g. the front room would set off yappy dog, when people walked past the window, so she was not allowed in their during day when curtains where open.
Most domestic dogs are lazing around the house and only get up when something sets them off, so they don't need free range of the house or garden, you are just giving them more territory to protect and more opportunity to bark.
If your dogs are barking as infrequently as you seem to think then your neighbours are unreasonable and I would imagine a pattern of other unreasonable requests from them, which you have not referenced. But I suspect that you're not aware of how much your dogs are barking and how irritating they are to your neighbours, so would suggest that you keep them in until you can manage their behaviour properly, its very anti social behaviour imo.

Maccapacca
Train them to Not ever bark?

WeAllHaveWings - I can't tell whether or not you are being ironic? Because if you are not - well [sceptical]

Why can't you train the dogs

She has trained them, they stop on command.

But dogs bark. It's normal and natural. It's only on here that people are so intolerant of normal neighbourly noises.

Ours barks when someone rings the doorbell or walks past the side of the house. Sounds about the same as yours. That doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. And who doesn’t have their back door or patio doors open in this glorious weather so they can wander in and out at will?

First off, how are your dogs with water? When you want them to stop barking give them a little squirt (not in the face). It may take a couple of days. If after a while you see an improvement and they don’t bark when you would have expected them to give them a high value reward and lots of praise. If they are not bothered by water it might be a pointless exercise.

Your dogs sound quite normal to me OP! It's normal for dogs to bark yet some seem to think they shouldn't at all. Yes constant or frequent barking is antisocial but the occasional bark isn't.
I have a reactive dog who like yours doesn't like the postman/deliveries/knocking at the door/next door moving their bins. I've not had much luck training him out of those as they all happen randomly with no notice.

The barking in the garden I have though. The garden on the back of ours has a very barky dog and they used to bark at each other on either side of the fence. To start with I made sure he was never out there alone so he couldn't practise the unwanted behaviour. Then every time next door's dog barked he'd get a treat. Taken a lot of repetition but now every time he barks mine comes trotting over for a treat. It hasn't stopped next door's dog barking and annoying us but we can relax a lot more not having to worry about controlling ours.

Look up the power of premack fence fighting

Can you take them out for a walk early morning and again at lunchtime? Then they should be happy to sleep until after the 4pm curfew.

You have already kept them in until 12. So no, as long as you get them in when they bark. I can’t stand the noise the kids round here make with screaming etc, I work from home but don’t ask them to stop screaming. Maybe I should? It’s no different

My NDN is always telling us that her dogs bark at cats. And birds. And people walking past the window.

Thing is, they also bark if I open my back door, or an aircraft flies overhead at 35,000 feet, or a car engine starts half a mile away, or a slight breeze makes a leaf rustle...

If they are outside they just bark at anything and everything. All the time.

Your dogs probably bark far more often than you realise, because you're desensitised to it.

OP, your neighbours sound super-precious! It was (overly) good of you to agree to keeping them in til 12, there's no way on Earth you should keep them in til 4!

Like a previous poster said, it sounds like nothing you do will be good enough - can't imagine how spectacularly self-entitled you'd have to be to make such a ridiculous request!

Ignore the hysterical posts of "OMG, I hate dogs barking all day long!". Clearly haven't read what you've written