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.

Honestly the amount of stress you’ll go through either nagging them or doing more formal complaints to the council - that will likely result in very little change, perhaps they can better sound proof the side door but doubt it will do much - you may as well just move.

Yeah just throw a bit of Fleetwood Mac on, OP, it's obviously a 'you problem'. Music will sort it 👀

That's sarcasm btw - that poster is a head the ball 🤦🏻‍♀️

I have a dog who barks and doesn't like being alone when we go out. Barking dogs are a bloody nuisance and mine does bark. If we're going out for the evening we get a sitter. Dog wants company, we go out he barks. Solution - we pay for dog company. Sorted. Op's neighbours need to do the same. They'd get a babysitter if they had kids so they get a dog sitter as they have dogs. I do realise everyone is not that reasonable though.

Absolutely message them and say ‘Your dogs sound very distressed. Are you going to be long?’ I’d also speak to them and say that the dogs sound very distressed / frantic and that it’s happening often enough for you to worry about them. Maybe the ‘cruel bastards’ angle will work better than the ‘selfish arseholes’ one. YANBU - they are both cruel and selfish. Too lazy to train for separation anxiety and too irresponsible to deal with the dogs they have before adding more.

Message them again, send them a link to some free/cheap resources like Julie Naismith FB group (I think its Sub Threshold Training) or Malena De Martini's book is often on Kindle unlimited (treating separation anxiety in dogs), she also has a FB group.

Let them know there are ways to address this, but leaving the dogs to bark for any length of time is not the solution and if it persists you will have no other option but to take more serious action such as a noise complaint to the local authority.

Ideally, don't piss off your neighbours but as it seems like here the option is to piss them off or listen to dogs barking endlessly... I don't see there is a better choice.

You are joking. Excessive dog barking is considered antisocial and the local council and or police will deal with it. They should not have to move or put up with sound torture. Hate to be your neighbour.