To ask neighbour to change his routine?

[SPUNfan]

We are an end terrace, at the front are gardens and then the road, to the side is a dirt road going down the side of our house providing access to parking at the back. We're semi rural and so have no neighbours except for the terrace we're attached to.

Our neighbours are a retired couple in their 60s. They're friendly enough but beyond saying good morning we usually keep ourselves to ourselves. They have two small dogs, we have three.

Every single morning at 5.30am without fail my neighbour walks his dogs past the front of our house and up the road. Every time the dogs bark from the time they leave his house until they're past our house. Without fail this wakes either me, or one of my children (3 under 5) and therefore me.

I can't wear earplugs as the children still wake in the night but I'm at my wits end - my youngest still wakes several times in the night, the other two do occasionally and so being up for the day at 530 is killing me! I'm absolutely knackered.

Wibu to speak to the neighbour to ask him to change his routine so he doesn't walk his barking dogs past my house every morning at 530?

I think the difference is that my children waking in the night is not a choice I make, and certainly something i don't enjoy. I do everything I can to stop it from happening but unfortunately some kids are bad sleepers. The issue here is someone making a choice to do something that's within their control which has a negative impact on another family.

Besides which the walls here are really thick so we don't really hear much through the walls so it's irrelevant

I’d just be honest with him, OP, and say that you’re being woken up at 5:30. As he’s available to walk them all day, he could definitely adjust his schedule. Fingers crossed that he’s reasonable and does it-I certainly would unless I had a good reason why I needed to walk them at 5:30 ( if they need an early wee, he could let them outside for 5 minutes and walk them for longer later on).

Yep!

Oddly enough we don't hear him through the day - but I think the combination of thin walls, nighttime silence and clumpy bloke (he must weigh 20 stones - easy) and the sharp hearing of spaniels create a perfect storm. I think he might step out of the front door for a pre-bed ciggie at least occasionally as well, as we often hear his front door slam as he goes back in.

Have you spoke to him yet? That is the only sensible thing to do if you don't want woken up tomorrow morning.

We have neighbours just like this - they have two yappy dogs who bark everytime ANYONE walks past there house - everyone is talking about them - but they are too stupid to realise! They NEVER stop the dogs from barking. Its driving us mad - we have spoken to them but they just ignore it. Totally selfish.

The council reckons that it is OK to make a noise after 7am. A dog barking at 5.30am is regarded as anti-social. Please contact your local public health inspector for advice, they will be supportive as you have young children. I'm a great believer in asking for advice so that you know what your rights are. Then have a chat as it could save a lot of grief as your neighbour may not be aware that you are being disturbed by his dog barking.

Weirdly I just found out last night that my noisy dog is actually my neighbours! He never gets walked and I only realised last night when I came home from a night out

so…. Op have you spoken to them yet? I have no filter so will be delegating this to my polite and reasonable husband