To put a note through their door anonymously?

[studychick81]

We live in quite a built up area and have houses around the side and back of us so I am used to noise and know it's to be expected when you choose to live in a semi detached house. I am not one for making complaints about things.

However, the neighbours at the back of us have obviously just got a puppy during lockdown or Christmas and I am becoming increasingly frustrated with what I consider to be very inconsiderate behaviour. I wondered if others would think this is inconsiderate?

Whenever they let their dog in the garden it barks and barks with no attempt from them to correct it/call the dog inside. This is mildly irritating during the day but not too much of a problem. It's when they let it out about 10pm that I find it very inconsiderate. I ve been really tired recently and try to go to bed early to get extra sleep, I am just drifting off around 10pm only to be woken up by the dog barking. I then find it hard to drift back off and can't for some time so there goes my early night! The same in the morning, I am trying to have a nice lie in and the dog starts barking about 7.15 most mornings. I think 10pm is far too late to let your dog out and allow it to bark for a period of time, fortunately it doesn't wake the dcs but bet it does some other peoples. I just want to be able to have an early night sometimes without listening to that.

I am not good with confrontation so was thinking I would just post a polite letter through their door. I know it's tricky to stop a dog barking but they don't seem to make any effort, I don't think they go out with the dog and make no effort to call it back for try to calm it down.

I would just post a polite letter through their door.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a polite anonymous note. I think they always come across as arsey.

Don't worry, they'll probably rehome the dog soon, once they realise that their cute untrained puppy is too much to handle.

I don’t think 10pm or 7am is completely unreasonable to be making a bit of noise, as it’s waking hours for a lot of adults, but if the barking goes on and on then I can see how I could be annoying.

If they’ve just got the puppy in the last couple of weeks, can you give it a while and see how things go? They’re probably just finding their feet and working out a routine and how to manage the dog’s behaviour.

If it does continue and is genuinely antisocial (e.g continued barking rather than a small amount of noise) then I’d personally prefer to go round and politely mention it to them, for most people that would go down better and be more effective than an anonymous note.

They’re letting the dog out for a last wee and a first wee.

An anonymous note will come across arsey.

Can’t you just go and knock the door?

I don't think 10pm or 7am are unreasonable times to let the dog out for a wee. I can understand how annoying a barking dog can be but what do you want to achieve by sending an anonymous note?

In the meantime, I'd get some earplugs and use them!

I know it will be hard to do for nearly everybody (confrontation) but speaking to them face to face will have more of an effect than a note

An anonymous note isn't going to come across well.

@Undies1990

I don't think 10pm or 7am are unreasonable times to let the dog out for a wee. I can understand how annoying a barking dog can be but what do you want to achieve by sending an anonymous note?

In the meantime, I'd get some earplugs and use them!

I want to be able to have the odd early night without being kept awake by their dog, that's what I want to achieve. I get it's a last wee for the dog and I get dogs bark but they do nothing to try and stop it at all. They seem to just let it out on its own and it barks abs barks. Maybe if they went out with it it wouldn't bark? We have neighbours with dogs either site of us and they never disturb us. I think this one is particularly load for us as our loft room backs onto their garden. I know it annoys another neighbour as she mentioned it too but this was during the day when they'd obviously gone out and left the dog.

In my note I was just going to ask them to be more considerate when letting the dog out in the evening slot as it's disturbing us and maybe go out with it or try and train it to stop the constant barking.

I don't think IABU to be able to have a good nights sleep in my own home.

The times aren't reasonable to let the dog out obviously. Letting it bark is unreasonable though. I wouldn't dream of letting my dog do that. If they can't keep it quiet they need to go out and stand with it to stop it barking.

@Otellie

The times aren't reasonable to let the dog out obviously. Letting it bark is unreasonable though. I wouldn't dream of letting my dog do that. If they can't keep it quiet they need to go out and stand with it to stop it barking.

Yes, I wouldn't either. It's like letting my dcs go out at 6am or 10pm and make a ton of noise in the garden. I wouldn't do that as I am considerate.

Letting a trained dog out at those times would be absolutely fine, trained dogs don’t bark constantly. Leaving an untrained puppy to bark away in the garden at 7am is not reasonable behaviour at all.

The 7 am time is annoying during the holidays when I would like a lie in but ok during term time as I am up then a anyway. Although I ve noticed they do it at weekends as I guess that's she's they want a lie in. It's more the fact that they make no attempt to try and quieten it down.

Lean out of your window and yell "Will you shut that dog up". They won't know which neighbour to blame!

• don't do it at weekends as they want a lie in I assume.

Several years ago I had an anonymous note pushed through my door regarding my dog's barking, which puzzled me as he was around 6 at the time and we'd had him from a pup. I didn't consider his barking to be excessive.
I didn't do anything as I didn't really know what to do! Then a succession of notes were pushed through my door at different times of the week all getting more threatening.

I eventually received a call from the council who told me that a neighbour (they couldn't identify to me) had complained about the noise and they were notifying me that someone from the council would be putting a noise monitoring system in this neighbour's house for the next week so they could measure the issue.

This made me completely paranoid and really upset. I had no idea who it was, I was getting quite fearful that they would go further and I became really quite vulnerable whenever outside, wondering who was so horrible.

The council contacted me again to tell me they the noise monitoring system had not picked up excessive noise and that they were closing the case. They couldn't release the name of the neighbour to me, but they did send me the complaint. This neighbour had detailed all of the times that they believe my dog was being a nuisance - these times included a weekend when we were away with the dog, and several weekends where we had taken the dog out for the day. We had been advised to keep a "barking log" for our dog (which I did religiously) and very very few of the times that the neighbour had detailed, matched up with the times on my log.

At the final contact with the council (a 90 minute phone call) the woman told me that they receive loads of these kinds of complaints and it's incredibly difficult to pinpoint a specific dog. She said the noise log that had come back, was no doubt several neighbourhood dogs and not just ours (and even collectively didn't cause an issue) but that very often when someone has a bit of a noise grudge, they can interpret ANY noise as coming from their perceived source often unfairly.

She also said that as she had had 3 long phone calls with me, and at no point had my dog barked even once during any of those times, she was satisfied that the neighbour was completely in the wrong.

The main point of me sharing this is to say please please do not put an anonymous note through the door. It was absolutely horrifying to be on the end of that, and it really affected my perspective of my neighbourhood.

I did find out who it was though. They don't know I know but I have NEVER forgiven them

Go and speak to them or if you can't face that ask a friend to go for you
It's better than sending a note

Why an anonymous note, specifically? Why not sign your name?

7am and 10pm may be legally OK for noise but not morally, and people allowing their dogs to bark and bark are a PITA (and I say that as someone who had dogs for years so pro-dog). I sympathise OP, I had a neighbour that used to do the same as yours, and although 7am isn't really early it's very unpleasant when you don't need to get up until later or it's a sleep in day! I'm not really sure what to suggest because people that think it's fine aren't going to change, and it can't be that they're unaware of the barking. My neighbour used to let hers yap for about a minute (long enough to be an effective "alarm clock") then start shouting at it to shut up, which just increased the noise nuisance 🙄 It pissed her other neighbours off too.

I think a puppy needs letting out to go to the toilet late at night before going to bed. However, the owner should go out with the pup. It may be barking to be let back in. 7.15 a.m. is certainly not too early to let a pup out in the morning either.

I don't think an anonymous note is appropriate at all. You don't need to be confrontational but I think you do need to grow and overcome your dislike of handling problems. Talk to them in person.

They may, however, be clueless individuals who have never had s pup before so maybe you could research some solutions and ask if they have considered those options. Don't go in all guns blazing and don't tell them what times you think are okay for their dog to bark. Think of it as if it was your baby crying - the pup is barking for attention. Does it want something? (It probably wants to come back in or wants its owners to come out and play).

I want to be able to have the odd early night without being kept awake by their dog, that's what I want to achieve.

Ear plugs.

Do feel free to go round and explain the barking at night & morning is a bit disturbing to you, and be nice about it, and see if they tell you they’re trying solutions etc. But don’t do the note. Seriously, it just pisses people off. Most people are normal and can have a helpful doorstep conversation with a neighbour, you know.

@toomanypillows

Several years ago I had an anonymous note pushed through my door regarding my dog's barking, which puzzled me as he was around 6 at the time and we'd had him from a pup. I didn't consider his barking to be excessive. I didn't do anything as I didn't really know what to do! Then a succession of notes were pushed through my door at different times of the week all getting more threatening.

I eventually received a call from the council who told me that a neighbour (they couldn't identify to me) had complained about the noise and they were notifying me that someone from the council would be putting a noise monitoring system in this neighbour's house for the next week so they could measure the issue.

This made me completely paranoid and really upset. I had no idea who it was, I was getting quite fearful that they would go further and I became really quite vulnerable whenever outside, wondering who was so horrible.

The council contacted me again to tell me they the noise monitoring system had not picked up excessive noise and that they were closing the case. They couldn't release the name of the neighbour to me, but they did send me the complaint. This neighbour had detailed all of the times that they believe my dog was being a nuisance - these times included a weekend when we were away with the dog, and several weekends where we had taken the dog out for the day. We had been advised to keep a "barking log" for our dog (which I did religiously) and very very few of the times that the neighbour had detailed, matched up with the times on my log.

At the final contact with the council (a 90 minute phone call) the woman told me that they receive loads of these kinds of complaints and it's incredibly difficult to pinpoint a specific dog. She said the noise log that had come back, was no doubt several neighbourhood dogs and not just ours (and even collectively didn't cause an issue) but that very often when someone has a bit of a noise grudge, they can interpret ANY noise as coming from their perceived source often unfairly.

She also said that as she had had 3 long phone calls with me, and at no point had my dog barked even once during any of those times, she was satisfied that the neighbour was completely in the wrong.

The main point of me sharing this is to say please please do not put an anonymous note through the door. It was absolutely horrifying to be on the end of that, and it really affected my perspective of my neighbourhood.

I did find out who it was though. They don't know I know but I have NEVER forgiven them

I get what your saying am sorry you went through that. I wouldn't get threatening in my note. However, I don't agree with doing nothing. Why should I not be able to have an option early night or a lie in because of their dog? It is the only dog that barks like that in our neighbourhood so it would be easy to pinpoint. Other neighbours are more considerate.

If I had a note like that through my door I most certainly would try to solve the problem and would mortified. I do need to make sure the house is the right one though 😂 going to ask out neighbour who is also annoyed by the noise, which house she thinks it is.

They won't hear that if they are indoors. It's understandable not wanting to be outside when it's - 4 degrees, as it was here at 7am this morning. But that's what needs to be done as it goes with the responsibility of dog ownership. They should be out there with it, training it not to bark in the garden.

I get what your saying am sorry you went through that. I wouldn't get threatening in my note. However, I don't agree with doing nothing.

You do realise those aren't the only options? Talk to the neighbour non anonymously.

Our dog barks at real and imagined fixes in the garden but we always shut her up and bring her indoors; we have tried anti bark collars and never encouraged her to bark. Our last dog was a terrible barker, every time someone walked past the house, knocked on door etc etc but again we never let it go and dogs left to bark in gardens annoy me as it’s really disturbing.
If the neighbours are new to dog ownership they may be struggling, especially as puppy training classes are cancelled in tier 4 and not easy in tier 3 so they may not be getting the advice they need.
A face to face chat is always better than an anonymous note IMO. It’s more confrontational to be anonymous and if you don’t have the courage of your convictions, why would they go to the bother of amending their behaviour? If the barking stops or lessens (what is it you’ve asked them to do?) will you write an anonymous thank you note?

I've shouted out of the window to shut your fucking dog up recently. Yappy little shit.