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?

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

You got that right. I've had an eye opening experience, shall we say. 😂

@MammaSchwifty

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.

Worth a shot, will look into this, thank you.

[quote DoubleTweenQueen]@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.[/quote]

Writing to her in the first instance is a good idea actually and removes the potential for any unpleasantness if she doesn't take kindly to me raising the issue (not something I have the emotional or mental energy for at the moment despite many posters insisting I'm "desperate" for confrontation 🙄).

*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.
*
Thank goodness for dog owners like you.

@TheLeapHome

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 .🤷

Doubtful. They mostly ignore it.

Don’t bother posting on mumsnet, 99% of comments will always be people telling you you’re being unreasonable, when you quite clearly ARE NOT!! Who would want a dog barking at them every time they walk into their garden, let alone if you’ve got a baby with you!!…you’re neighbour is being totally unreasonable, you don’t just let a dog run wild. So many dog owners seem to think they can get a dog and do no training whatsoever!….I like the comment that someone put up about squirting it with water, if that fails feed it something unpleasant through the fence, hope that will keep it quite for a bit! If the owners don’t like it then they should keep an eye on their unruly animal.

I'm a dog owner, and yapping dogs drive me nuts! We've pretty much managed to train ours out of doing it, but as we both work I want her to bark at people near the house as a security thing. Incidentally, she's on full scale alert mode if my dh isn't at home and is definitely worse.

I'm sorry your baby has been startled, but it's just one of those things really. They startle and cry at all sorts of things.

I really don't expect that you'll get much from the owners, but it may be worth having a chat with your local council dog warden. I know ours is really helpful - especially if they have several complaints about the same dog.

I know some people have suggested and extra row of fencing, which is really expensive if you're renting. But what about some bamboo screening fixed to the fencing. It should be enough to block or break up the points at which the dog can see you. Also, do get a parasol so that you can sit exactly where you want in the garden. Really useful as little ones get older, as you can pop it over a paddling pool in the nice weather.

@SEMPA1234567

Don’t bother posting on mumsnet, 99% of comments will always be people telling you you’re being unreasonable, when you quite clearly ARE NOT!! Who would want a dog barking at them every time they walk into their garden, let alone if you’ve got a baby with you!!…you’re neighbour is being totally unreasonable, you don’t just let a dog run wild. So many dog owners seem to think they can get a dog and do no training whatsoever!….I like the comment that someone put up about squirting it with water, if that fails feed it something unpleasant through the fence, hope that will keep it quite for a bit! If the owners don’t like it then they should keep an eye on their unruly animal.

The name ‘mumsnet’ gives this lovely impression of a warm, supportive, helpful website, where women are likely to be encouraging, sympathetic and kind... some parts are like that but perhaps a more fitting name would be ‘contraryfuckersnet’

The name ‘mumsnet’ gives this lovely impression of a warm, supportive, helpful website, where women are likely to be encouraging, sympathetic and kind... some parts are like that but perhaps a more fitting name would be ‘contraryfuckersnet’

😂😂😂

‘contraryfuckersnet’ 🤣🤣🤣 love this! The perfect rebranding for this site! 🤣🤣🤣

It's good for baby to learn to sleep through noise.

@GintyMcGinty

It's good for baby to learn to sleep through noise.

Yes it is, I agree. She sleeps through the noise of hairdryers, hoovers, voices talking, background music, lawnmowers, and even a noisy tractor going past our house the other day.

The one and only noise I've seen her startle and cry at, is this dog.

And, whilst it's good for my baby to learn to sleep through noise, it would be equally "good" for a dog to learn not to bark at every slight movement through a fence. Surely.

@GintyMcGinty

It's good for baby to learn to sleep through noise.

Could you sleep if a dog barked in your ear every time you dropped off?

This place is weird!

I am also a dog owner and lover. There are a number of very sympathetic dog owners here!

A dog bark is quite different to most background noises/sounds as it is sharp, aggressive, loud. It is stress-inducing - fight or flight adrenalin response. I defy most people to sleep through it.
I know people who have barky dogs and although they haven’t addressed it, they still find the noise annoying - they would prefer if their dog didn’t do it.

@Nohomemadecandles Could you sleep if a dog barked in your ear every time you dropped off?

In my ear - no
In the garden next door - yes

It's good for baby to learn to sleep through noise.
I'd be concerned if a baby slept through a dog aggressively barking at them.

@Ratalie

It's good for baby to learn to sleep through noise. I'd be concerned if a baby slept through a dog aggressively barking at them.

So would I.

A dog bark is quite different to most background noises/sounds as it is sharp, aggressive, loud. It is stress-inducing - fight or flight adrenalin response. I defy most people to sleep through it.

Absolutely. This.

[quote GintyMcGinty]**@Nohomemadecandles* Could you sleep if a dog barked in your ear every time you dropped off?*

In my ear - no
In the garden next door - yes[/quote]
But a dog constantly up at the fence, inches from where you know there's a small baby??

If anyone sleeps through that I'd be getting their ears tested.

[quote GintyMcGinty]**@Nohomemadecandles* Could you sleep if a dog barked in your ear every time you dropped off?*

In my ear - no
In the garden next door - yes[/quote]
There have been soooo many people on this thread & many, many noisy neighbours threads who can't sleep for dogs barking late at night/early morning so @soirritating 's baby is definitely not alone.

Bucket o water over the dog

@mrbreezeet1 Over the owner - preferably ice-cold. Might get her attention.

[quote DoubleTweenQueen]@mrbreezeet1 Over the owner - preferably ice-cold. Might get her attention.[/quote]
Yes,

@mrbreezeet1

Bucket o water over the dog

Really don't want to hurt the dog or nothing it does not know any better.

@soirritating

I'm hearing the water pistol idea ..... 😬

But like I said, I don't need a neighbour war on my hands! 🙈

Oh my word!!!!! Don’t do it - my lab loves it 🤣 Along with water (which might result in yeast infections - for the dog). I haven’t read the whole thread, but have you spoken to your neighbours ?