To think you don't have 5 barky dogs if you live on a housing estate?

[disturbingthepeace]

Before anyone says anything I love dogs but honestly these ones are driving me potty.

I am currently spending 2 weeks at my dsis house looking after my dneice while dsis and bil are taking a much needed holiday. Dneice has a condition and so me staying at her house is much easier than her staying at mine due to the equipment etc she needs.

So my issue The house is on a typical housing estate. All neighbours are friendly, its a nice place to live. A year ago a new couple moved in a few doors down with a dog. She mentioned to me they go out to work all day and the poor thing barks pretty much constant all day, with the odd half hour where it stops. I've been round and heard it and she wasn't exaggerating. Apparantly after a conversation with them (not about the dog) they mentioned getting another dog to keep it company. Makes sense as the poor thing is on its own all day. And maybe that will stop it barking?

Roll forward to now, dsis did warn me, but oh my god. They actually now have 5 dogs and they ALL bloody bark, pretty much constant all bloody day.

I've been here 4 days and i'm losing the will to live. And they have actually been home most of this time and i've not once heard them tell the dogs to shut up or seem to do anything to try and stop them barking.

I get they have a right to have however many dogs they want, but living in the type of housing area they do, where houses are literally on top of each other, surely you don't have 5 bloody dogs? And let them bark away to their hearts content? I get there will be noise and that dogs bark, kids shout and play and thats part of living in a housing estate, but surely there should be some sort of consideration given also. If dneice is getting overly excited in the garden and shouting/making lots of noise, she is reminded to keep it down and then does so. Likewise the other dc nearby. A couple of girls were c reamng the other morning and I heard their mum shout out to 'settle down a bit now girls, you're getting a bit loud'. Thats normal right?

The dogs were outside this morning at bloody 7am. Yapping and barking!! We can aso hear them when they are in the house as windows are open. I think they maybe shut up for about 10 minutes, then off they go again.

So aibu to have dog for dinner on my bbq tonight? Or is that going too far?

I hate this. I used to live somewhere where you’d walk past a particular house and the dogs would come charging out barking, which would then set every other dog on the surrounding streets off. I used to quite like dogs but it is not an exaggeration to say I really went off them after living there. No idea what the answer is but I know I was jittery and jumpy and irritated from living with this for a while.

No one, anywhere, should have 5 barky dogs.

Selfish people. That would drive me demented. I'd be round telling them they need to sort it out and pronto.

If they didnt listen, I'd have to move house if I was your sister. Doesn't she get driven mad by it too?

When we were looking round houses to buy, I asked if any of the immediate neighbours had dogs. If they did, it didn't matter how nice the house was, it was an immediate no. Discounted many a house this way.

It would drive me nuts and I have 2 dogs.

Exactly. Dogs in a pack wouldn’t bark constantly, it’d attract unwanted attention from predators, the pack leader and disciplinarians ( the pack leader’s henchmen) would shut them down. The dogs behaviour shows they’re stressed, there’s no leader leading them.
Put an anonymous card through their door saying their dogs constant barking shows they are distressed and neglected, you will report to Council, Dog Warden and RSPCA. Might make them take responsibility. Bloody useless dog owners make my blood boil.

I remember when I was a child, someone in my class lived in a small 2 bed terraced council house and had 8 huskies. They lived ourdoors and the entire back garden and back part of the house was transformed into some kind of big giant dog run/area. They must have had constant noise complaints (I didn’t realise at the time as I was a child) but bloody hell it was so noisy. 1 husky is loud enough but 8!

I empathise OP! 2 of my neighbours over the back each have 2 very yappy dogs and they all let them out first thing in the morning and of course they all set each other off, 4 lots of endless bloody yapping. It goes on and on. Same again in the evening. Occasionally 1 of the owners will tell hers to stop or bring them in, but not often. I do have a dog but she'll only bark if someone approaches the house which I don't mind at all as she's protecting of our home and she stops when I tell her. These dogs just bark for seemingly no reason. I'm not sure what you or your dsis can do other than speak to the neighbours in question. They surely must hear it as well though so you'd have thought they'd train their dogs!

Dsis has said its getting to the point of ridiculous and yes they are thinking of moving. But she has joked they'd only be able to show people round the house at midnight.

She can't be the only one, other neighbours have mentioned the barking. Trouble is dsis is not one for confrontation, but I reckon she'll snap soon. If BIL doesn't first. He seethes about them.
I certainly couldn't live here for any length of time, i'd have to say something.

There is at least 2 dogs in houses near where I live. I hear them occasionally. The odd bark here and there and if one starts yapping away excitedly in the garden at something I hear the owner telling them to stop. Thats normal! I don't mind hearing dogs bark - occasionally and for short bursts.
But constantly I just can't understand how they cope with it themselves?
The immediate neighbours must be pulling their hair out.

I'm just listening to NDN's dogs kicking off for the fourth time this morning, she has 3 large breeds whose main purpose seems to be attempting to kill each other every time they get let out into the garden. One is a serial biter of people (numerous visitors to NDN's house, one of the other neighbours and NDN's 11 month old baby so far that I know of) and yet she still went on to get the other two who are turning out just as bad. I have no idea why any dog owner would keep adding more when the one/ones they have are already problematic but it seems it's common OP!

They are incredibly selfish people. Who wants to listen to that all day?

I'd find out who owns the house and report to housing association / council etc as they are a nuisance. Not sure what you'd do if the occupants are homeowners or privately renting.

They own the house, so not housing association or renters. So no one she can contact really.

I agree, they must be incredibly selfish. If I see them out front I think I am gong to have to say something.

Reckon I should invite the neighbours for a bbq.
I mean 5 dogs is going to feed most of the street.😂

We've got one locally which barks for about 30 minutes at a time, regularly throughout the day. Started at half five this morning. It gets to about midday and it clearly starts to annoy other local dogs (mine included) as they have a bit of a bark back. Funnily enough it's owner then seems to bring it inside until about 6pm when it starts again.

Having a dog with severe separation anxiety I have both every sympathy and every annoyance at owners who leave a barking dog home alone. Dealing with it is HARD and I would not wish it on anyone but I could not live with myself knowing my dog was in distress all day. I would sooner re-home if I couldn't find a work around. The training to build up time home alone is slow, boring and again a massive strain on mental health so I do sympathise, but those poor dogs must be so incredibly stressed.

Say something. Then report to the council and record the barking. Barking dogs in a housing estate must be akin to torture.

This. 5 dogs is ridiculous.

I think you should try and record the barking every time it happens over the space of a few days. This will give you evidence if you do want to complain to them or anyone else, alternatively you might find they aren't barking quite as much as you think or that there's a specific situation that leads to the barking ( cars, bin men etc)
To be honest I don't find dogs barking half as annoying as endless garden machinery or hammering and sadly that's just part of living with neighbours.
The dogs probably aren't distressed in any way, they've probably just learned to bark for attention and do it all the time now.

OOOH I hate owners who leave their dogs to bark. Barking to say hello, to warn or to alert, fine. Constant boredom barking is unfair on the dogs and the people who live nearby. The council would be interested in hearing about them (barking for longer than five minutes at a time constitues a noise nuisance iirc).

MrsSkylerWhite · Today 10:01
No one, anywhere, should have 5 barky dogs.

100%

If they're barking a lot - something's not right.

So selfish to keep animals when you can't meet their needs. Personally I would love to keep ducks and geese, but I haven't got a pond or much of a garden.

Wouldn't stop some people though.

Maybe call the RSPCA for advice

I would definitely report them. That’s completely unreasonable. Those poor dogs, they’re not happy

Report to the council yourself. Don't wait for SIL to return.

It should be illegal to leave dogs in house all day when you're out at work. Anyone who does this is despicable. Its the norm now. Get together with someone , get a dog and leave it in house all day and they wonder why it has behavioural issues. Its the same in my area but they start barking after 4am because of shift workers and it continues till back of 1 am. I am going mad. Its literal sound torture. I hate dogs now. They should be banned from housing estates now wether private or council. Along with public transport and cafes shops and restaurants. Should not be getting skin allegeries or flea bites because you sat on a bus or train. Happens regularly its sickening how many peoples lives are ruined because of idiotic owners.

Report to environmental health at council.
They will send them warnings. If that doesn't improve then they will record the noise. At that point you can decide to let the council take the family to court on your behalf which can result in the family being told to move or give up their dogs.

I had to do this about a family over the road. By the time they got a letter informing them they were going to be taken to court the barking stopped and only happens occasionally now.

For about 5 years now, 3 dogs next door (through the wall) bark all day, at least 3 days a week when their owner is at work. When she goes out at the weekend they bark all night until she comes home. They bark when she's home but not as much. When outside, They go for the post man, delivery drivers, my daughter when she was getting her ball which caused her to try to jump the fence and broke her arm. And of course they all yap in unison when outside. The dog on the other side of me barks every time the wind blows. Every time someone comes into the street. If anyone walks up my pathway it goes crazy. It's constant. Someone across the road got a dog last month. It barks all day long. Someone over the back has a couple of yappy dogs that go on for ages. My blood absolutely boils everyday. I have complained about the 3 next door. It did nothing. I suggested to the neighbour on the other side to put a muzzle on her dog when she's out in the garden so she stops barking at everyone. I was firmly told no and spoken to as of I'd just suggested she kill her dog. I can't take it anymore. We're trying to move but there is nothing in our price range in the areas we want to move to. I love dogs. I had one up until a few years ago. She never barked. Once in a blue moon and it was literally one bark. It's extremely depressing.