To let my dog in my garden?

[salviapages]

Really can't figure this one out. My dog is a rescue and a bit jumpy. She loves to hang in the garden and it's enclosed so in nice weather we just keep the back door open and she goes out and sunbathes. We live in a suburban area so have gardens backing onto all sides of our fence.

The neighbour behind us is often in her garden talking on the phone or to her husband, when she comes out and starts talking it makes my dog jump and she barks a few times. Or if there are other sudden noises she'll bark too.

But whenever she barks my partner or I go out immediately to stop her because we want to be respectful of neighbours, and if she's too worked up we just bring her inside.

But the neighbour behind us screeches at our dog. She tells 'shut up!!' all the time, a few times has yelled that 'someone needs to throttle that dog'

I know a barking dog can be annoying but it's usually only a few barks, and we go out immediately every time to quiet her, and sometimes will bring her inside. I don't see what else we could do aside from never let her out. And I just think it's so rude to screech 'shut up!!!' into a neighbour's garden. She's an adult human who can control herself, the dog isn't. And if you live in the suburbs you surely have to accept that you will have neighbours who sometimes make noise.

AIBU to keep letting my dog in the garden?

My neighbour's dog barks EVERY SINGLE TIME we go in the garden. It just barges into the fence snd barks all day long and it makes me miserable. I sometimes shout at it to shut up because they'll often be in the garden whilst it's barking and just tune it out. I've spoken to them about it and they just half heartedly call its name which does nothing to correct its behaviour.

I have a dog too. She gets barked at for going in her own garden. It's fucking miserable.

I hope you're not my neighbour!

You need to train your dog not to bark at people before you let her have free run of the garden. It’s horrible when you step out of your house and next door’s dog barks at you, your poor neighbour probably startles!

I’d shout ‘shut up’ if I got barked at every time I dared make a noise in my own garden. It sounds like you need to bring your dog inside immediately she barks at anyone and tell her off harshly, rescues still need discipline. Once she realises barking at neighbor’s won’t be tolerated she’ll stop.

Living next to a dog that barks at the slightest noise is awful.

Imo it's in ddogs best interests to be desensitised to people noise... Less stressful.
Can't imagine the BP of the local ddogs here who bark incessantly..

We had a dog next door in our old house and we couldn’t do anything in our garden without it barking.
I’m not even exaggerating, I could put a cup down or just move a bit in my chair and it would start.
Just opening the back door would set it off and we started to just sit in silence in our garden because we were worried we’d set it off .
Honestly made last summer hell and we ended up spending most of it shut in the house as the garden was unbearable.
We spoke to the neighbours and even got the council involved and they made a half arsed attempt to quieten it but any bark by that point just went straight through me.
If it’s been going on for a while, as in the dog has been doing this for a long time then any bark no matter how many times it does it in a day is very annoying and draining.
As for the “you should expect it in a suburban area” , well no.. I’d expect people who own dogs to train them accordingly if you having them in a built up area.
She has as much right to be in her garden talking as your dog does and I can’t really blame her here.

I’d shout ‘shut up’ if I got barked at every time I dared make a noise in my own garden

Me too. There is nothing worse than a dog that barks EVERY SINGLE TIME. How irritating not to be able to be in your own garden without next door’s dog barking.

Train your dog not to bark then everyone is happy!

Barking dogs are so annoying, especially when you’re trying to work at home. I’m not sure why everyone else is supposed to put up with the noise of your dog. It isn’t fair. You bought a dog, they didn’t!

Barking dogs are annoying. Full stop.
Neighbours to the right have a dog that we never hear and neighbours to the left have a dog that's always barking. I can even hear it barking in the house. All the blinking time, bark, bark, bark. They do nothing to stop it. The dog goes in the garden a lot and they close the door so the bloody dog had to bark to be let in. It's the most annoying dog I have ever come across. The owners, particularly the man, are arrogant and entitled and don't seem to care about neighbourly behavior

when the neigjvoir screams shut up, she barks back, so the neigjbour shouts again...and it's like she makes it worse by starting an argument with a dog

As well as being an idiot, she is making it worse. You say you are working on training your dog to be quieter, have you had any luck in training her to stop barking on command? Are you friendly with yor neighbour?
If you are, I'd talk to her and let her know you are working on it, but her shouting back and forth at the dog is making it worse.
If you are not friendly with her, then I'd ignore her and just keep working on your training.

I'm torn on this one. I mean I suppose yanbu letting your dog in your own garden but god it would drive me insane if I was your neighbour.

@salviapages

Really can't figure this one out. My dog is a rescue and a bit jumpy. She loves to hang in the garden and it's enclosed so in nice weather we just keep the back door open and she goes out and sunbathes. We live in a suburban area so have gardens backing onto all sides of our fence.

The neighbour behind us is often in her garden talking on the phone or to her husband, when she comes out and starts talking it makes my dog jump and she barks a few times. Or if there are other sudden noises she'll bark too.

But whenever she barks my partner or I go out immediately to stop her because we want to be respectful of neighbours, and if she's too worked up we just bring her inside.

But the neighbour behind us screeches at our dog. She tells 'shut up!!' all the time, a few times has yelled that 'someone needs to throttle that dog'

I know a barking dog can be annoying but it's usually only a few barks, and we go out immediately every time to quiet her, and sometimes will bring her inside. I don't see what else we could do aside from never let her out. And I just think it's so rude to screech 'shut up!!!' into a neighbour's garden. She's an adult human who can control herself, the dog isn't. And if you live in the suburbs you surely have to accept that you will have neighbours who sometimes make noise.

AIBU to keep letting my dog in the garden?

No, you aren't. Quote the 5 freedoms at her and tell her to stop screaming at a nervey rescue dog ffs.

Sometimes you just need to let them bark a bit until they get used to noises. If you are always out there bringing the dog in, they will think that x noise is something to bark and alert you to, because when they do, you all retreat inside.

We recently moved and my dog was barking at any and every noise. I let him, within reason, and now he's used to the noises around us and doesn't bark, unless it's at something out of the ordinary. I let him bark once or twice, because I want him to bark if we have an intruder, and then I stop him. But with praise rather than telling off. I let him know I'm aware of whatever it is.

When we moved to our new house with much lower hedges our dog used to bark when saw my neighbours (he couldn’t see neighbors at old house). I would only let him out when I was out with him after I realised the neighbour caused woofing. I also apologised to the neighbour. When dog woofed I took him straight in. It wasn’t long before he got used to neighbour and stopped woofing at her.

Your dog will get used to the neighbour but I’d make sure you supervise and stop the barking until he does.

The following stands out:

My dog is a rescue and a bit jumpy

I wouldn't want to live near a jumpy dog. I'm surprised the rescue place thought this would be a good placement for a jumpy dog. It sounds like she would be happier having more quiet and more land.
How long have you had her?

when she comes out and starts talking it makes my dog jump and she barks a few times. Or if there are other sudden noises she'll bark too.

Living in a built up area there must be quite a lot of sudden noises.

and if she's too worked up we just bring her inside.

Indicating that she has been barking for a while.

I know a barking dog can be annoying

Very.

I don't see what else we could do aside from never let her out.

Train her.

Shouting at a dog that's barking is a really dumb thing to do, it's pretty obvious that it's only going to make any dog bark more. There's a dog down our road that barks when people it doesn't know come by, I know it's name so call out to it and then it doesn't bark. If I was the neighbour instead of screeching at the dog I'd ask if I could get to know it/find out it's name so it recognised my voice and didn't bark or i could just call out to it so it knew I wasn't a threat.

Could you talk to you neighbour?

Your dog is obviously bothering her. Apologize and then tell her what your plan is to stop it. For example, could you explain you're training the dog and you'd like to introduce the dog to her, give her treats to give the dog, say you've read 'barking' back can prolong the behaviour. Then closely supervise your dog in the garden. Bring it in if your neighbour is going outside or say hello over the fence and distract your dog.

Our new neighbours have a dog that I just hate. He barks all the time and he terrifies DD2 barking and growling when we're in the garden. Our neighbours cluelessly ignore him and just let him go ballistic at the slightest noise. They think he's a great guard dog. He's a nuisance. I'm trying to win hearts and minds by giving him treats and chatting to him nicely but sometimes I just am done and go round and ask them to bring him in. It's immensely frustrating. I am now on the verge of being more pointed about him being supervised as he's just bored but the whole neighbourhood suffers.

@Mischance

Another example of how dog owners cannot grasp how others feel about their dogs, as they are in love with them! Sorry - but that is how it is. Others do not necessarily feel as you do about the barking. Clearly your neighbour finds it a nuisance; whilst your perception is different.

Maybe talk with her about it and find out what she feels able to tolerate.

It would drive me up the wall I have to say!

Another not a dog owner who is making massive assumptions about dog owners. I have two dogs who I adore, but why on gods earth would you imagine that I cannot hear them barking or even worse actually like or be immune to the sound of them barking. I cannot stand the sound of it and look to quieten them immediately, just as OP says she does. But I cannot permanently stop the dogs from barking, they are going to at times because they are dogs.

The neighbour shouting like that at a single dog bark is being unreasonable and is not going to help the issue anyway.

FREEDOM FROM HUNGER AND THIRST.

FREEDOM FROM DISCOMFORT.

FREEDOM FROM PAIN, INJURY OR DISEASE.

FREEDOM TO EXPRESS NORMAL BEHAVIOR.

FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND DISTRESS.

Number 4.

My dog does a few barks at loud noises/the odd low flying military aircraft that goes over, it annoys me the sam amount as the kids in the surrounding garden do when they shriek on trampolines/shout "MUMMY" 900 times in 3 minutes. Give and take isn't it

@3Britnee

FREEDOM FROM HUNGER AND THIRST.

FREEDOM FROM DISCOMFORT.

FREEDOM FROM PAIN, INJURY OR DISEASE.

FREEDOM TO EXPRESS NORMAL BEHAVIOR.

FREEDOM FROM FEAR AND DISTRESS.

Number 4.

...are you lost?

OP, I'm a dog owner too.

I think it's not a good idea for any dog to be left unsupervised in the garden until they have been trained to be calm there (no reactive/alert barking at everyday things). Every time a dog practices a behaviour like alert barking, it is reinforced. What tends to happen is the dog gets barkier and barkier. Sometimes they'll limit this barking to certain predictable things but it can also start to generalise out.

It's better to only let the dog in the garden when supervised, so inappropriate barking can be prevented (you do this through giving treats or redirecting to a toy when a trigger sound/sight is heard before the dog has started barking).

Two of my neighbours have dogs that bark at things from their front and back gardens and passing their houses with my own dog has taken loads of training so my own dog can ignore them, even so we have to cross the road to the grass verge as he understandably doesn't want to walk close to dogs going mental at him. It isn't nice for those dogs either who see passersby as a threat rather than something to ignore.

Dog owners will often say oh he's a great guard dog but actually a good guard dog is one that barks at things that are very unusual (intruder in garden/house) and knows when things are ok and routine. Otherwise, how do you know what barking should be attended to? I work my arse off to try and ensure my dog (who is naturally sensitive and with reactive tendencies) is calm in everyday scenarios, i have no doubt whatsoever that he'd kick off if something was actually a threat.

@daisyjgrey

My dog does a few barks at loud noises/the odd low flying military aircraft that goes over, it annoys me the sam amount as the kids in the surrounding garden do when they shriek on trampolines/shout "MUMMY" 900 times in 3 minutes. Give and take isn't it

Yep! A little bark every now and then is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

@3Britnee alert barking in response to everyday stimuli is a fear behaviour, not normal behaviour.

OP's dog deserves to be desensitised to the sounds of this neighbour so it no longer frightens her, and she is free from fear and distress.

Happy barking when playing is a normal behaviour and doesn't need to be trained away.

The dog behind us barks when it can hear people in the surrounding gardens. Always makes me jump! But the owners try to shhh it so it's not like it's left to bark continuously. (Sorry, I'm saying it because I don't know if it's male or female!)

I think if you live near other people you have to accept that there will be noise- Just while typing this I've heard kids playing, a dog barking, a lawn mower, banging from building work done down the road, a few cars, some music... it's just life!

Wow! We have 3 terrier type dogs who bark constantly (despite our best efforts to stop them!) and Eve never had any neighbours complain about it, and we live on a terrace street!

I get it can be annoying when they're not your dogs but people need to be more understanding that dogs, like kids, make noise! And unless you choose to live in a specific dog or kid free area, other people may have the and they may make noise.

You are definitely not being unreasonable to let your dog into her own garden!

Next time your neighbor starts talking outside, just tell your dog 'someone needs to throttle that woman!' 😂

@Mommabear20

Wow! We have 3 terrier type dogs who bark constantly (despite our best efforts to stop them!) and Eve never had any neighbours complain about it, and we live on a terrace street!

I get it can be annoying when they're not your dogs but people need to be more understanding that dogs, like kids, make noise! And unless you choose to live in a specific dog or kid free area, other people may have the and they may make noise.

You are definitely not being unreasonable to let your dog into her own garden!

Next time your neighbor starts talking outside, just tell your dog 'someone needs to throttle that woman!' 😂

Perhaps all your neighbours have moved out due to the constant barking.

Wow! We have 3 terrier type dogs who bark constantly (despite our best efforts to stop them!)

Time to look for a new trainer then and stop being such a selfish idiot. No dog should be barking constantly, just like no music should be played constantly, no child should be screaming constantly, no-one should be drilling constantly etc etc etc.