To think if you don't like my dogs barking at you get the hell off my drive

[Qantaqa]

I'll start this by saying I am tired and miserable so am in no mood to be reasonable today AT ALL.

I have many dogs. Large dogs. There are dog flaps so they can run in and out as they wish onto the property. I am rural and one of the purposes of the dogs is to alert me to people around, so I aren't bothered by them barking if someone comes to the gate.

The gateway to my drive is set back about 15ft so that I can park the car without having to open the gates and drive in. Its clearly my driveway and separate from the road.

There is this one cyclist who every single time after cycling up the hill stops and pulls into the drive and has a rest. Now he could stop on the other side of the road where there is a public track, or he could cycle for like another 30ft and stop at the entrance to the forest but no he chills in the drive. Every. Single. Time.

The dogs bark at him. He shouts at them to be quite. They obviously ignore him. I used to shout them back in but the last few weeks I haven't bothered because well I'm grumpy.

Today my mum has arrived to visit and the cyclist is yet again in the drive. He's had a bit of a go at her. She's come in mithering at me so I've gone out and told him very rudely that if he doesn't like them barking at him to stop standing on the fucking drive. It got into a bit of a heated discussion before I stormed off. He's going to report me apparently as they are intimidating and its illegal to have a camera and no signs and blah blah blah.

So whilst I might BU to have gone out and created more drama instead of ignoring him AIBU to think if you don't want to be barked at get the fuck off my land?

YANBU , lovely dogs who are clearly in the right .

@Fraaahnces 😻

(trigger warning, dog pic may in fact be CAT, am short-sighted)

@Fraaahnces What a wonderfully Good Boy your childhood dog was 💕

As much as I would WANT to smash this person I would be concerned that it would escalate into a feud where he does something to provoke you and you end up getting into trouble OP.
It's very difficult when you already feel furious and stressed about it 🤬

He’s deliberately winding up the dogs by going up to her car, leaning on it (I’d go mad!) and staying there for some time, thereby winding up the dogs even further. Wanker. He has no right/reason to be on her drive and should not have had a go at her mum. Unbelievable! 🤬

Forget the breed, my spaniels like to have a bark if someone comes to the door. They’re small and definitely not intimidating, but they probably sound quite scary as there are multiple dogs barking.

I work rural. They have ddogs.. A rambler actually reached his arm over a high fence to try and sort of shush shush one of the ddogs! I asked if he was right handed... and possibly not a good idea if he was... He stood looking puzzled. I just went in and left him to it.
Idiots I tell you.

feral much 🤣

You are living my dream life OP.
Rural property, many beautiful dogs.
Our dog was barking at some religious callers who banged on our door the other day and one of them had the cheek to recommend a dog behaviourist 🤣. Why would I want the dog not to bark? He's saying what I'm too polite to.

From what I can see, you are in the right. He doesn’t have to stop outside your house, and he’s clearly provoking them to bark (some people really do look for arguments).

That said, I do think we should take noise pollution more seriously. This is a small, densely populated island. We are so jammed on top of one another that a noisy neighbour can literally ruin lives (I don’t mean you OP). The world generally grows noisier and more crowded all the time. Because of that, there ought to be far stricter laws. This weekend, for example, I have been woken up again and again by selfish little twats in cars with souped up engines and noisy exhausts. I’m sick to death of it. They race round at two in the morning in cars that sound like aeroplanes coming in to land - just endless screeching and exploding sounds. I can’t believe they’re allowed to get away with it. The police do NOTHING.

Off topic but this reminds me of our elderly rescue. I’m pretty sure he had been encouraged not to bark because he rarely did. If he was very excited he’d look at you with his head up and when when he couldn’t hold it it any longer he’d do a quiet “w-w-w” then a single massive WOOF! It was so loud! Bless his heart. I miss him.

They're so lovely!

Tell cyclist man go to get fucked. Soak him with a hose 😆

That would be assault and not very clever, the latter being like your suggestion.

This is ridiculous. I did see a post on here saying that farmers should keep livestock out of their own fields as her dog didn’t like going on a lead.

@JaneyGee He isn’t just stopping outside her house though, he’s actually on her drive leaning on her car.

I agree about nuisance noise but I don’t think dogs in a rural area reacting to an intruder are the problem. My NDN has a dog that barks incessantly whenever he’s let into the garden, including early morning, and isn’t reacting to anything in particular let alone someone entering his owner’s property! I think constant barking multiple times a day next to my house, on a housing estate, is much worse than dogs yelling at someone on their owner’s drive - which only happens when someone comes onto the drive.

Maybe so. But the aggression, especially aimed at an older woman, most certainly is. So I stand by my comment.

@ErrolTheDragon - Mum was quite shaken up but it doesn't take much. She got out the car and he started swearing at her and telling her she was breaking the law as dogs can't be intimidating and she better not open the gate because if they touch him he'll sue and just general idiocy.

Good lord, really?! What do people think farmers have fields for? Do people think farmland is provided for their leisure and dog-walking? Sadly some probably do think that rural land is just a big park.

Over and above the trespassing, this cyclist committed the act of intentional harassment alarm and distress against your mother, according to 4A of the Public Order Act 1986, amended by section 154 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
This is a crime, punishable by fine.

I'm not a crazy dog lover but YANBU it's your private land. He's an entitled cheeky fucker.

@SorePaw
here’s a big soppy woozy dog for you!!

• woofy not woozy🙄

It's a Mumsnet first for sure.

An AIBU with dogs in that is a resounding YANBU to the dogs and owner.

United against male cyclists.

I'm team dog squad and OP - my neighbour has a beautiful German Shepard - ex police dog and he's a softy but when he's alerting to someone near the property he sounds like he means it.

Which is his job because we are semi rural and he's there to guard.

I despair of people like the cyclist. Want the benefits of being in the countryside without the reality of it.

My DP works away for a large part of the week, so I’m here on my own … absolutely no apologies for any barking from the Dog Bod… she lets me know if someone is about round the property and next door neighbour says she loves knowing that DDog is around.
DDog only barks if there’s activity out the back or someone at the front door, she’s not a nuisance barker (was trained as a pup that we don’t do pointless barking)
OP, this man is being deliberately annoying… tell him to Feck Off!

His type of man would never talk to another man like that. Any chance a bloke can go out next time with all dogs on a lead and go stand by him and have a friendly chat. He would shit himself

How DARE you post a pic of your own dog c/o your own account Committee.

😂 That ravening, threatening face is intimidating me & is clearly illegal. I should be able to squat on somebody else's thread about dogs without ... being forced to see dogs. Where is your mother? - I am going to give her a good shouting-at before reporting you to the police. You monster.

@IttyBittyTittyCommittee - mine looked so much like yours! Soooo divine! Big hugs to your woofy dog.
My failed giant assistance breed isn’t a GSD, but a distant cousin who doesn’t understand that family life isn’t always a democracy - especially when there are sausage rolls on the line. This is my woofy, whistly, whiney, dog complaining that her 18y/o sister won’t share. (She had just had a bath so was still a bit damp and scruffy, unlike your handsome beastie!)