Out of control dog disturbing baby in garden - help?!

[soirritating]

I'll keep it as brief as possible. Basically I have a 3 month old baby and we are often out in the garden in the pram in the nice weather. Sometimes she falls asleep whilst out there (obviously I put her in the shade and stay with her just rocking her etc).

My issue is that next door have a small noisy dog which seems to have some sort of motion sensor on it. Literally every time there's any sort of movement, like me standing to rock her from sitting, the dog runs to the fence (I can see through the small slats) and starts yapping very loudly. And it's constant, continual yapping, until the neighbour eventually comes and retrieves it and what I would describe as half heartedly tells it off, eg. "stop it, come inside". Dog ignores her and continues. By this time my baby is wide awake and crying. This is every single time we are in the garden and make any sort of movement. Her "tellings off" are also few and far between - sometimes she just leaves the dog to yap at us through the fence.

As well as waking her sometimes when she's asleep it has also given her a shock and made her cry her on one occasion when we were out in the garden on her playmat - the best shaded area is right by my garden fence so that's where I was sitting with her lying on her mat. Next thing the dogs comes bounding over and is yapping inches from where we are. She startled and cried instantly. I was so upset on this occasion I just went back inside.

I know dogs bark. I get that. But i have owned a dog previously and if it was barking through the fence every single time a neighbour and her small baby were out there I'd be taking it inside. She doesn't seem to do that. So often we just end up back inside so baby isn't upset and can sleep, which I don't think is fair.

I don't expect silence in my garden by any means. But a dog constantly up at the fence, inches from where you know there's a small baby?? I just wouldn't let this continue. I'm starting to feel like I can't use my garden.

AIBU?

This would massively irritate me! No solutions sorry.

@soirritating I can see how some crazy comments on this thread are getting you more upset than helping with the issue. Sorry, I don't think it's OK what you and the poor baby are having to go through while trying to enjoy your garden. But, in my view, the only way to resolve this is to talk to your neighbour. Chances are she is a decent human being who had no idea of the level of upset this is causing you. If I were your neighbour and had not realised there was an issue, I would be absolutely mortified to have been criticised behind my back, without being given a chance to fix the situation. And if she is not a decent human being, then you have taken the first step to getting this resolved through the Council services. I hope you manage to resolve this issue soon and get to enjoy your garden with baby!

@soirritating

It isn't that you are demanding silence so your baby can sleep outdoors, of course a baby is going to be frightened and upset by dogs barking through a fence.

Thank you for understanding

It's not hard is it? Our neighbour has a barks dog that reacts every fucking time we go into our garden snd it's miserable. It barks from 7am to night time and it drives me nuts. If I had a baby that it kept waking up, I'd be pretty pissed off too.

Ignore the ridiculous, holier than though comments op. It's bloody irritating and some on here just seem to like putting the boot in to feel superior. You can get anti barking gadgets from Amazon - that might be worth a look?

@CandyLeBonBon

Sorry you're dealing with the same! It's bloody awful isn't it.

@soirritating you've done well to respond to this bat shit thread.

Dogs barking constantly IS a nuisance. Simple as that. We have someone across the road and she let's her dogs bark for hours. 🙄

I have a dog, sometimes she will sense a bird or something and start barking. She immediately gets brought in.

I'm laughing at the suggestion that you pay for your neighbours dog training.

Think the heat is getting to people.

I've got three dogs and there is no way I'd leave them outside to bark. For so many reasons. For their own welfare as much as yours! There's no reason to leave them outside barking.

However, I think the bit about the dog barking at a child walking past is different as an isolated incident. That's going to happen. It's a dog.

As long as it's not there All Bloody Day! Sounds really annoying OP

Line the fence with a couple of layers of high bamboo so the dog can't see the movement. Cheap and reversible compared to building a whole new fence.

@GenderApostatemk2

Dog whistle app on phone. It worked for next door’s mutt. You might have to try a few different ones.

This is a good idea. Can’t believe the amount of people saying you are being unreasonable. I am a dog owner and would never allow this. If my dog barks in the garden I would investigate why and apologise.

However, I think the bit about the dog barking at a child walking past is different as an isolated incident. That's going to happen. It's a dog.

Not an isolated incident at all - if the dog is in the garden it barks at anyone and everyone walking past. Not a little "woof woof" and then it moves on to something else, it's full on "yap yap yap yap yap yap" ,..., etc continuously while they walk past (following passers by down the fence as they walk), with no attempts from owners to correct the behaviour. Nothing about this is an isolated incident- it is continual poor dog ownership, every day.

The child being frightened and falling over is to my knowledge an isolated incident (that isn't to say it hasn't equally frightened other children as it startles me when I walk past there too and I'm an adult).

And I should add that the fence on the street side is much lower down than the fence that separates my garden from theirs - roughly chest height for me (I'm 5' 8"), meaning that the dog is visible from this side too as well as heard. I can see how this would be startling and upsetting for a child walking past who can also see the dog following them along the fence as they walk.

@AwFeebs

Honestly it's been quite a challenge to respond to some of this calmly without resorting to wtf?!?! 😂 especially on 3-4 hrs sleep per night with a baby!

The suggestion that I pay for the dog's training was my personal fave.

I think yanbu to want to use your garden without a dog barking.
3 of our close neighbours now have lockdown dogs and we basically cannot use the garden without being barked at by one or another. The last two nights next doors dog has been outside barking up until 11.45pm - we can hear it when we are indoors with doors and windows closes so it disturbs our sleep. I'm so tired of it, I just want to be able to have a meal outside without the contant irritating yapping.

Even without the baby a shitty yapping /barking dog that barked every time i moved in my own garden would piss me off, I would blame their feckless shit owners.

Dogs shouldn't be left outside on their own in a suburban garden for extended periods anyway. Does it have access to water? There may be an animal welfare issue as well as a noise nuisance one.

Does it have access to water?

Not a clue.

@soirritating

Does it have access to water?

Not a clue.

I sincerely hope so.

Hi OP. Sat here with newborn baby. I live in a detached house with a village and I get the set up you describe with the long garden next door so she can't hear her dog like you can.

Next door has a guard dog and has trained it, like I did with my previous dogs, to respond to movements and noises and sound the alarm but then on command to stop barking when told all is OK.

Sat here now in the peace and quiet I'd be so annoyed in your shoes! Even without my baby!

@soirritating The owner can get plenty of free advice at many places online for training their dog.
All it costs is time, but sadly some owners simply don't care enough.

You can pursue a private noise complaint, but if you report to the council environmental health.they will have you go through the process of noise diaries etc - the bar for a statutory noise nuisance is far too high and it might not 'qualify' as that - but if you mention your baby and the stress it's causing you they may send someone to take a look and at least have a word with your neighbour.
I would write to your neighbour first, outlining the issue and polite request to at least attempt to remedy - apologies if you've already tried this.

If you rent you've nothing to lose.

what a pain, that would seriously do my head in. Since your feckless neighbours can't be arsed to train their dog to keep away from the fence and stop barking, you'll have to do it. Apparently, dogs hate the smell of chili and citrus, so you could look into putting something like that along your boundary on the ground and on the fence material. the dog will hopefully soon learn to not snuffle, scrabble and generally stick to that boundary because it smells incredibly nasty. Worth a try, I suppose.

I'd be turning the barking on them. Every time it's quiet, step outside and set it off again. It must wind them up too, hopefully enough to do a something about it .🤷

My dog used to drive me bonkers barking when we moved into a new house. But she was told off every single time and brought inside. She wasnt ever outside on her own anyway so only got a couple of barks in before she was brought inside. Sometimes still at night time she barks. Not sure if it's territorial because she can't see the garden fully? She mostly just goes around the fence sniffing and huffing as she doesn't get away with barking . The thing that helped us was giving her a treat every single time she went outside. She was then focussed on the treat and didn't then bark. Unfortunately your neighbour doesn't seem to realise how frustrating her dog barking is. Do you ever speak to your neighbours? Any polite chit chat? If so, maybe next time you talk you can mention it?

Good job you don't live where I do. My fogs font bark but the toddler next doors screams from about 5am onwards indoors and out. I frequently get woken up by it screaming/shouting in its bedroom (next to mine) or have to bring my dogs in out of the garden as they get anxious when child is in garden screaming/whining. The older child also screams at toddler makes it cry more then squeals with laughter. I have not said anything as they are moving soon but crying children can be just as wearing 🙄 (and yes I have kids but grown up now and not allowed to scream indoors or put unless seriously injured or being chased by zombies)

@smilingontheinside

Good job you don't live where I do. My fogs font bark but the toddler next doors screams from about 5am onwards indoors and out. I frequently get woken up by it screaming/shouting in its bedroom (next to mine) or have to bring my dogs in out of the garden as they get anxious when child is in garden screaming/whining. The older child also screams at toddler makes it cry more then squeals with laughter. I have not said anything as they are moving soon but crying children can be just as wearing 🙄 (and yes I have kids but grown up now and not allowed to scream indoors or put unless seriously injured or being chased by zombies)

Sorry, you lost me when you referred to a human child as "it".

Massive dog lover here. I have two dogs who love the sound of their own woofs but I’m constantly training them, as, despite being a ‘massive dog lover’, I’m a decent member of society and respect my neighbours right to enjoy their garden.

I’m constantly saying ‘No barking’ even when they aren’t barking but I can see they are about to! They totally understand what I’m asking them to do and barking training is actually fairly easy, even with two stubborn breeds like mine.

By the way, as you have discovered, AIBU is mental. It’s sadly popular with the bored and the bitter. A frightening combo