AIBU - dog barking

[JoGP70]

Hi
I generally work 3 days from home in normal times but am currently at home permanently. As I'm effectively a businss at home i have deliveries 2 or 3 times a day. This means my (3) dogs bark for 10-20 seconds. Some neighbours occasionally let their dogs (whilst on their lead) come down our drive, as it's a shared one I can't put a gate on it to stop them. So say, 5 times a day they bark for a few minutes.

We've had problems with our neighbour and have had to report him a couple of times for harrasment. He's now effing and blinding shouting abuse either out of the window, in the garden or just in the house (when his wife isn't in).
I don't let them bark for any length of time as it's annoying to me too!

Is his behaviour reasonable do you think?

I scream abuse when our not-so-near neighbours have their dogs barking. They can't hear me and are proven to give zero fucks if they did.

the waiting for it to happen is now as bad as when it actually happens.

I'm glad I don't live in earshot of you. Why 3 dogs? What is the point?

go ahead, scream. Zero fucks given. I hate dog owners now and you need to realise that I'm not alone.

@mencken why not 3 dogs? I have 2 but in the past have had 4 together.

If people can have as many children as they want, who quite likely make far more noise than most dogs, then people can have as many dogs as they want.

You hate dog owners! What a ridiculous statement. My dogs rarely bark. As I said, only when there is someone at the door or in the back garden. I want them to bark then. They alert me to the fact that someone is around especially anyone in the back garden that should not be there.

I would never let my dogs bark endlessly or needlessly. Thankfully when the dogs both sides of me start with the yapping which, in turn, starts about another 2 or 3 dogs yapping, my dogs stay silent. I believe that they are not stupid enough to bark at nothing plus being relatively large dogs they do not have the "little dog yapping syndrome".

Yes barking dogs can be a nuisance although really it is normally the yappy ones that are the most annoying but children can be just as annoying. So can people talking at the tops of their voices, playing loud music, revving their cars or motorbikes, doing diy for hours on end.

Do people not train their dogs? Our dog honestly doesn't bark ever. She's trained not to and our neighbours have commented on how lovely and quiet she is. I don't need her to bark at the door, I'm quite capable of hearing that someone is at the door myself.

@MissBaskinIfYoureNasty

Do people not train their dogs? Our dog honestly doesn't bark ever. She's trained not to and our neighbours have commented on how lovely and quiet she is. I don't need her to bark at the door, I'm quite capable of hearing that someone is at the door myself.

Surely it depends on the dog too? Our lovely neighbours have had dogs for years, their previous dog never barked at all and I wouldn't have known he was there. Now they have a new dog (old one died from old age) who is equally lovely but barks when the post is delivered or an unfamiliar voice is talking on the footpath behind our houses. We are happy with that as he's a great security asset for both houses, but the point is the owners know how to train dogs and do it well but this dog is a barker and the other one wasn't. He doesn't bark excessively but he will bark at normal things - a couple of barks and then stops whereas the neighbour who bought 4 dogs seems to think the way to train dogs (and children...) is to scream at them.

@JRUIN

I love dogs, but why are you letting them bark for a few minutes at a time? Three dogs barking for more than a few seconds must be hellish for the neighbours to have to listen to several times a day!

It's not minutes, its seconds.

@Couchbettato

Are you looking at this through rose tinted glasses? Dogs bark, it's not unreasonable to expect them to do so as is their nature and people are allowed to have dogs, so if his expectation is that they should never bark, then he's being a huge asshole.

However 3 dogs is 3 times the barking. You say 10-20 seconds, but I have heard this narrative from others who own dogs, when in reality it's a fair few minutes and they've just gotten used to blocking the sound out where others haven't.

Also if they're small dogs their barks are worse because they're happy, higher pitched and the sound travels further.

Love dogs, have dogs, would not cope if I lived next to dogs that barked persistently.

Have you got a PO Box you can have packages sent to and be collected at your leisure?

It is actually 10-20 seconds. I have a dog monitor which logs when and for how long they bark. This gives me evidence, if ever needed. Environmental health have seen these logs and have agreed that it is not unreasonable. Ironically - he, up until recently, had 2 very large dogs that boredom barked all day long when he was at work.

@MissBaskinIfYoureNasty

Do people not train their dogs? Our dog honestly doesn't bark ever. She's trained not to and our neighbours have commented on how lovely and quiet she is. I don't need her to bark at the door, I'm quite capable of hearing that someone is at the door myself.

Some dogs just don't bark. It's often nothing to do with training and a huge amount to do with the breed and temperament.

And I do want my dog to bark at the door. If I'm at the back of the house or in the garden doing something it's handy to know that the postman/DPD man/whoever is at the door. He does one alert bark and that's it.

Some people also want that to happen if they live alone to deter burglars etc. I don't know why MN is massively anti-barking but if children are playing noisily in the garden then that's fine because "they're only children".

I wouldn't want a dog ever (I have cats, which is less of a tie), but I've always liked them. My DSis has a dog (and 2 cats) and quite a few friends have dogs. (It can be tricky as my DH is allergic to dogs, but that's not relevant here.)

Some people just hate dogs and dog owners. It's a shame for them really, as people aren't going to stop owning dogs and dogs bark. This actually has never bothered me, unless it's non-stop for several hours when the dog has been left alone (which is neglect and suggests that the owner shouldn't have got themselves a dog in the first place).

@MissBaskinIfYoureNasty it's not really a matter of training them not to bark. I want my dogs to bark if there is someone at the door. Yes of course I can hear the bell or knocker when in the house but not if I am in the garden.

Also where we live now people seem to think it is ok/normal to come into the back garden to knock on the back door. This can be neighbours, scrapmen, water meter reader etc. Me and DH don't like this (and certainly not think it is normal when we have a perfectly usable front door) and so want our dogs to bark.

We have started locking the back gate almost all of the time although don't see why we should have to.

My dogs are trained that when I tell them to be quiet they are. I don't really have to usually though because they never bark for long.

A neighbour told me recently that she likes that my dogs only bark when someone is around because it makes her feel safe. My old neighbour said the same.

The breed I have is not known for barking though. They only really bark when needed. On the whole it is small dogs that yap all the time. Sometimes the dog next door will be frantically yapping non stop and I look out to see if there is anyone around but almost always there isn't

It's not minutes, its seconds.

"So say, 5 times a day they bark for a few minutes."

Your above statement makes it sound like they are allowed to bark for a few minutes 5 times a day. If, as you say it's just seconds then that's different.