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!?

We are surrounded by neighbours with dogs and can tell the time by whose dog is coming out for their regular bark. I don't mind a wee bit of a bark, but the ones over the road who bark& whine incessantly for hours on end - well, I worry about the dogs, to be honest, as well as finding it intensely irritating.

If it's just now and again I don't think it should be much of an issue, really. Just that if it's anything like our neighbourhood, everyone is in now ALL THE TIME and all these wee things tend to grate a bit more than usual. It's good of you to keep them in for the woman sleeping, but the wfh doesn't seem so crucial to be silent.

I’d say it’s tough shit. These are unprecedented times, my dogs were doing what they’ve always been doing, so suck it up. God some people are twats.

Occasional barking is just part of life, along with the toddler next door squealing with excitement in his paddling pool, the man on the other side strimming and mending his fence, me and DD playing in the sandpit, someone a few houses up having a barbecue with their kids.

Of course continuous barking is annoying, but some occasional barks when the owner is there to tell them to quieten down is just part of living in a neighbourhood. My dog barks when the door goes. I have no desire to train her not to, especially after she alerted us in our last house to someone skulking around our garden one night and scared them off.

And I work from home permanently, plenty of people do and manage to make do with the general noise of life.

I think you've been very reasonable keeping them in so that she can sleep.
I have two large dogs. Like yours, they bark when someone approaches the gate. They bark at other dogs barking (and we have a really persistent barker down the road). I don't like them barking, so when they do, we simply bring them straight in and shut the door.
I think if you have done everything you can to mitigate things, then it is unreasonable of anyone to expect you to keep them in until 4pm.

I'd be polite but firm: "I have kept them in so that you can sleep. I will happily stop them barking when they start, but I'm not keeping them in the house until 4pm".

I also used to work nights and i wore earplugs and put on white noise as I didn't expect life to stop for me, so she's fortunate you've been so amenable to that!

Our next door but one neighbour has 2 dogs and they bark incessantly, then she shouts (screeches) at them to stop, which they ignore, so she eventually takes them in for 5 minutes. This is on repeat throughout the day. They only stop when she takes them out for a walk or when they're in the house.
When you're at work, is your dog outside or in the house? How often are you walking your dog? I agree, you need to train them to not bark. We had a rescue dog that barked constantly, and we trained her out of it quite quickly using rewards.

I have a dog.

A dog barking like you describe at every silly little noise would drive me absolutely insane!

Even if they did stop every time they were told.

I’d say it’s tough shit. These are unprecedented times, my dogs were doing what they’ve always been doing, so suck it up. God some people are twats.
Would you say that if the neighbour was an ICU doctor working 12 hour shifts on a Covid ward?

No YANBU. If you agreed to the new 4pm request they would just come back with something else.
You've been reasonable enough already.

Frosted
I never said they barked at every little noise.

Would you say that if the neighbour was an ICU doctor working 12 hour shifts on a Covid ward?

If they were they’d more than likely be in a hotel.

what annoying dogs - what possible pleasure can anyone get out of these? Keep them indoors or you go outside with them and suffer with everyone else.

fortunately the fuckers up the road from me are now trapped with their annoying dogs, and amazingly the animals have shut up.

usual choices for dog owners; train or shoot, given that daycare is not currently an option. It must be absolute hell for your neighbours with the endless being on edge waiting for the next bark-bark-scream cycle.

I know MN will blubber over this but dog barking is pointless noise.

Would you say that if the neighbour was an ICU doctor working 12 hour shifts on a Covid ward?

You know nothing about me, so don’t presume anything.

OP has said her dogs have barked once this morning.
How is that excessive?

Your dogs sound a bit like y neighbours'.
He barks at delivery people/postman and cats.

On a bad day it is maybe 6 times and the neighbours run out to stop him after maybe 20 seconds.
It's not exactly the end of the world.

I wouldnt agree to that, my dog would need to go pee at some point, have a run round.
I wouldnt even agree to the sleeping till 12 thing, 9 or 10 maybe but 12, nope.

Dogs bark and yours sound like they bark at normal things then stop when told, like normal dogs.

Where there are houses close together, there will be noise. You made that choice when you moved there. There are other choices you could have made.

@mencken Your post was also pointless noise, alas.

No one likes continual noise of any kind, but you have to have a tolerance for normal neighbourhood noise or you'll drive yourself batty. It must be such a crap life being so irritated by normal things or so intolerant of what other people are doing.

Bark when postie knocks, van pulls up
If in garden they'll bark at cats, or if someone comes up back alleyway (no pun intended)

If my dog barked every time the postie knocked if a van pulled up or a cat hopped into the garden or someone walked near the house she’d be barking more than enough to annoy others..

Your dogs sound very much like the irritating little yapper that lives in the house opposite to me.

I’m not surprised your neighbours are annoyed.

Ignore mencken - she has form. And is definitely a cat person

I am going to go against the grain and say no, you're already keeping them in til 12pm. Honestly, if this was about kids playing noisily outside, people would be outraged at the mere suggestions kids be kept indoors to minimise noise til 4pm. If the dogs are barking constantly, then yes it's a nuisance and you should address that, but it it's pretty intermittent, your neighbour's husband needs to get noise cancelling headphones and deal with it. I have neighbours playing music I can hear as I'm working from home, and it's annoying but also part of the noise of daily living so I'm using headphones.

mencken

I won’t blubber but I will call you a twat. HTH.

Be honest with yourself how often they bark and for how long for. If In total it doesn’t add up to more than a couple of minutes they are being unreasonable. If they expect that level of silence they need to consider living somewhere remote.

If it’s more than that then come to an arrangement that suits you both.

If it’s significantly more thaN a combined total of a couple minutes in the day then look into training your dogs.

Living next door to people, whether it be dogs, kids, instruments, sports, music, whatever will entail some level of noise. If they can’t deal with that in the realms of a reasonable amount (which is hard to quantify but in this case my view is 2-3 minutes I’ve the day) then the issue is theirs.

If you get on usually a compromise could be worth it regardless. Say keep them in until 12, out until 2 and back in TIL 4?

Ignore mencken - she has form

As does Frostedviolets.

You were kind to keep them in until 12. Them then asking for you to keep the dogs in til 4 is taking the piss and cruel to the dogs. Dogs are barking round here. Not continuously or excessively, but dogs are going to bark a bit. Everyone is WFH!

Ah our cat is way noisier than our dog He's the one I have to scoop up and put inside because he's causing a nuisance!