To message or call neighbour to let them know dogs are barking when they are out?

[pigsmightflyagain]

Please note I'm not anti-dog but the stress of living next door to dogs that bark when they are home alone is awful. My neighbors have 4 or 5 dogs. If they are home we don't hear them much although they bark at us when we are in the garden. A few hours after they go out the barking will begin. We are detached but we can hear it all over the house and there's no escape.

I tried to ignore it for ages. We knocked on the door and told them. I've texted them as well. I feel guilty for messaging them to tell them that it's becoming a nuisance but my child has special needs. It probably happens every week although it could be more often as we of course don't hear it if we are not there. I've actually started spending more time out of the house which leads to spending money and avoiding using some rooms where the barking is more obvious (I know I sound like a nut case but unless you've been there you don't know what it's like)

The barking lasts for hours until someone gets home and has been up to midnight before. The other houses nearby don't really hear it because the sound comes through the side door of the house. I haven't made a noise complaint and would feel terrible if I had to but I have started recording the barking.

We had a massive row about moving house. We've lived here for decades. The house is perfect for us apart from this but sometimes the stress is terrible. They started off with two barking dogs and we spoke to them about the noise when they had two. IN the last few years they've added at least two more dogs that are in the house or garden all of the time.

They’re selfish twats OP. Phone the council and get it sorted that way. Speaking to them won’t change if they’ve already ignored your text.

I don't know there's much you can do, but I agree this is horrible. For the dogs too. Dogs happy to be left alone don't bark for hours on end.

How long are they leaving the dogs alone for?
You say a few hours after they go out, the barking will begin, and that it can go on until midnight! That sounds like a long time for dogs to be left home alone 😔

I don't know what can be done about it tbh. The neighbours have got to go out sometimes, and they can't take 5 dogs with them. Maybe speak to the RSPCA?

every single time it happens message, every hour saying it's been 1/2/3/4 hours now!

But when you've got two barking dogs and neighbours complaining, then why add another three?

I have dogs and would definitely want to know.

I would tell them but in a very kind way. If you go in guns blazing they might react badly and make no effort to change the dogs behaviour.

If you nag them they will simply block your number and never hear from you again. You just need to chill out or move. Try putting music on or something.

I’d want to know if it were my dogs because it is a sign they are unhappy and I don’t want them to be unhappy. I don’t want my neighbours disturbed either and tbh it would drive me mad if my neighbours dogs were a nuisance.

I would start making a log and hand it over to the council OP. Why anyone needs 5 dogs in the first place is beyond me - I have one and may add another one into the mix in a few years time but that’s more than enough for me let alone another 4 of them, especially when it sounds like no-one is hardly home!

I think you need to try to talk to them again, explain how long it goes on for, how loud it is, how it is affecting you. If they have food and water the RSPCA will do nothing. Could they soundproof the door if that is how you hear the noise?

Chill out with five barking dogs next door! You cannot be serious!

Do you have any idea of the cost of moving?

Thankfully there are noise nuisance laws in the UK so we don't have to #bekind and put up with pisstakers and arseholes at obnoxious hours of the night.

OP get in touch with the council and make a noise nuisance complaint to environmental health. A neighbour who gave a crap about how their dogs affected their neighbours would have done something about it by now.

The council will come out and do a noise nuisance assessment - I know because we received a notice about our dogs! I wished my neighbours had spoken to me as I would have put a stop to it immediately, but I certainly made sure it didn't recur when I'd heard from the council.

I think you have already given the neighbours enough feedback and should complain to the council. Hope you get sorted OP

Obviously you are taking the piss. No one is this idiotic.

Sorry that was to random not the OP!

Noise nuisance complaint to your council as soon as. I made the mistake of just letting it go on too long, it is seriously bad for your health to have to listen to dogs barking and howling while left, and in my experience owners who are made aware of it and do nothing are complete fuckwits who only understand the problem when threatened with a £5000 fine. Also, try and see if other neighbours are also affected.

You have my sympathies. Do not go to the council - they won't do anything about barking dogs, you'll royally piss the neighbours off and you may have to reveal dispute when selling your house.

No matter how hard you have to grit your teeth - approach this in the most pleasant and positive way. Take wine/offer tea/do anything you can to befriend them and talk to them face to face - tell them the impact it's having on you and ask them if they've considered leaving the TV/Radio on, asking Alexa to alert them when the dog barks so that they can talk to the dogs and attempt to quieten them (through Alexa). Joined borrow-my-dog, asked a friend, paid a walker/career to come into the dogs at periods through out the day etc.

Try to support the ending of this situation rather than dictating/making it personal/falling out. It's bloody hard, because they are so inconsiderate but you are more likely to get a better outcome this way.

I have 5 years of hellish experience with anti-social neighbours.

Good luck x

*by nothing I mean they will do the minimum - and if the neighbour chooses to ignore it, they do not enforce or at least will not enforce quickly - think years.

I've had to go through this process and it was long and drawn out. My local council made me keep a noise diary with audio proof! For one month..i recorded the barking and uploaded numerous sound clips with date and time of barking to an email and sent it to the noise complaint section of the council. They sent a letter with a warning to my neighbour that repeat noise nuisance will result in a fine or worst case scenario the dogs will be removed. It didn't get to that stage as my neighbour surrendered the dog after the warning and it was rehomed.

She was a lazy twat and didn't deserve that poor dog. Another lockdown puppy that had its world turned upside down when she went back to work full time.

The noise nuisance team at your council have the power to help.

There’s a lot that can be done if the neighbours are willing to put some effort in to dealing with the dogs separation anxiety. Plenty of dogs don’t bark when their owners go out!

This would drive me insane! I have a woofie pup and she gets brought inside when she starts woofing and she's told off when she woofs inside (detached though) to teach her what's acceptable
As others have said, keep texting the owners - they'll need to sort something out

Speak to the council. You are entitled to 'quiet enjoyment' of your home & they are preventing it. They can send you noise monitoring equipment. Make sure you write down dates of how often it's happening.