To buy my neighbours a voucher and put through letterbox?

[tertrisnblox]

My neighbours are attached to us. They are renting and moved in around 3 months ago. They are two males, I've spoken to one briefly who has introduced himself, the other guy is quieter.

I have two chihuahuas, who honest to god, are really well trained except the fucking barking. It's actually a nightmare, I feel constantly on tenterhooks. They are fine as long as no one else is in their garden, but if they are, so help the neighbourhood.

So full disclosure, I can't afford a trainer at the moment, so I have been trying to train them. I find this very difficult when I just want them to shut up quietly so not to upset the neighbours.

One of the men are really friendly and always smile at them and have mentioned coming over to say hello so they're not too scared of him.

I try and only let them out when no one else is in their garden. However, tonight I didn't see the quiet neighbour sitting in his garden. Let the dogs out and they went MENTAL. The neighbour looked visibly annoyed and quite right. Until he seen me then started smiling, I apologised and he smiled and said it's fine but he was on the phone and immediately went inside and slammed the door.

I feel absolutely awful and honestly don't know what to do. I know they may smile at the dogs but in their head they'll be thinking fuck off noisy dogs (and worse I'm sure).

I have tried the spray from pets at home, I have tried positive reinforcement, I have tried distraction tactics etc.

Would I be unreasonable posting a voucher and an apology letter to the guys? Or will they be thinking, fuck the apology, get it sorted.

I hate the thought of rehoming my dogs. I utterly adore them but I honestly hate the thought of upsetting my neighbours.

What if I went over and knocked their door and asked them how much this was upsetting them with a promise to do something about it? Like they could give them sausages when they see them to make them not scared?

I am literally on the other side of the fence (not yours) with two barkers next door, one of whom is loud but sweet and is usually reassured when I say her name, the other sounds vicious as hell and never shuts up. I absolutely hate it, especially in summer when I want windows and doors open. We are woken up by them every day. The woman has zero control of them and adds to the noise by shouting, but they behave for the man, so it can be done. Sadly, it’s made my children hate dogs, it’s so intrusive and I think I’ll end up having to say something.

Dog owners - when they’re outside barking away, they’re in everyone’s garden not just yours. Spoiling people’s enjoyment of their own homes. Sort it out.

You bought the first dog from a breeder, who then extorted money from you for the second one, which you paid because it was being "maltreated"?! By the breeder?!
This story gets worse.

Agree that your dogs shouldn't be let out in the garden at all until they're properly trained. If they don't get properly trained, they never get to go out there. And tbh if you can't be bothered dealing with this, it'd be better to re-home them both.

@tertrisnblox you sound like the most accountable dog owner I've seen on
Mumsnet
Definitely post over on the dog house , my two sibling dogs are terrier mix and have chi in their breeding. They are super protective and will bark at the door , bark if anyone in the garden bangs about etc , I bring them in as soon as they bark , I mean dogs bark it's what they do but I understand the worry when they are taking it too far too ! I hope you get some
Good recommendations, I follow the Southend dog trainer on instagram , he's brilliant with his training tips :)

Some small dogs can be quite vocal but they're not stupid and will soon learn.

I'd continue to let them in the garden but the second they bark I'd pick them up, only the one barking if it's not both, and put them back inside and close the door. Don't continuously tell them to stop, just one '"A enough" then straight indoors for them.

If you yourself are doing something outside continue to do so and just get on with it don't stay inside with the dog/s

Repetition is key and hopefully they will associate barking means no outside play.

Would love to hear the neighbours' take on this...

AIBU to hate my neighbour's dogs? She has these two little yappy chihuahuas who will not STFU. They bark constantly and it's driving us nuts. She says they're trained, but they really aren't. Today she came over with a Nando's voucher and a suggestion we feed the dogs some sausages. AIBU to think that she is the barking one?

A voucher is a bit odd

A bottle of wine and a card :

We are sorry we are working on it. Promise.

As if getting them to feed them sausages though that really is a bit of a bizarre notion

This has brought back a childhood memory of our NDNs getting a cute little black puppy. And then it got sent to their garden (kennel presumably) and it barked and barked and barked, day and night. It was torture to listen to and it went on for weeks. And then the dog disappeared.

I later heard that it bit Mr NDN and was then PTS. Dog behaviourists weren’t really a thing in the 1970s.

Aversive training methods like this do NOT work and can make dogs fearful and even more barky.

Keep your dogs inside.

Take them out separately on a lead for toilet breaks.

Massively inconvenient for you, but that's the price you pay for choosing to buy yappy untrained dogs - you wear the inconvenience yourself rather than passing it onto everyone else.

And please ignore those who advocate sprays, anti bark collars and other devices as these are cruel. A PP said they taught their dogs to speak and be quiet - this is simple and effective and can be done without cruelty and ignorance of the way that dogs learn.

They bark, they go back in the house every time. They quickly learn

We lived next door to a family that had two dreadful barking Jack Russells, they’d leave them out in the garden to bark and bark. When they went out they’d bark the entire time. It made our lives absolutely miserable, especially with a new baby that they woke up everyday.

On the very rare occasion our dog barks, only really ever if there is a cat on the fence, he comes in immediately. If they can’t go out without barking you should be taking them on short walks multiple times a day until they are trained. We do this with our dog because he won’t use the garden for the toilet, it’s not that much extra effort.

Different species, but I trained my cat not to jump on the worktops by putting it outside, every time.

I've not watched this particular video but KikoPup is a brilliant, positive trainer. Whatever she advises in this is certain to work as long as you are consistent.

Aversive (collars, shaking a bottle, spraying things, etc) methods have been proven to only not be as effective as positive training but to also cause more issues than it fixes.

People are angry here, aren’t they? The op is looking for help and everyone is acting like she’s living next door to them😅😅😅 I’d agree to move it to the doghouse section but if it helps I just googled your breed and it says highly intelligent and easy to train x Also we have a neighbour with two dogs that bark at everything and while obviously we’d take peace, it’s not as annoying to me as people expect so hopefully in the interim they don’t hate you (if my neighbour posted a voucher I’d be thrilled 😅) Best of luck op!

Assuming they are trained in other things when they start barking go out and start running them through ‘drills’. I would do this with mine if she started barking at the neighbors (rare but it happened, usually when they had guests she didn’t know).

I’d go out and we’d ‘sit’, ‘down’, ‘give paw’, ‘high 5’, ‘down’, ‘sit’, etc for awhile I’d change it up so she’d have to pay attention. It distracted her, calmed her down, and re-established listening ears. If she went back to barking she came inside.

99% of the time I could leave her to it after that with no barking.

You don’t need an expensive trainer to fix this.

this Breed has been bred to be highly anxious, protective, and reactive. It’s such a tricky breed. I honestly don’t know if you can train it out of them, it’s so ingrained.

Don't be silly. Chihuahuas are not naturally anxious dogs. Most of them believe they are Pitbulls in disguise. They're also smart as buttons and easy to train as long as you are consistent.

Sorry not read full thread but join Dog Training Advice and Support group on Facebook, they have lots of guides and content to help and you can ask a question when you’ve tried the guides. Make sure you get the correct group that is run by the dog trainers, it says ‘established 2012, not a discussion group’ on. Good luck

chihuahuas are a particularly barky breed and will be difficult to retrain if it is now a habit. You need to keep them in, or take them out supervised on a lead only, so you can correct quickly, if they are going to disturb your neighbours and until you can resolve the issue.

Your ndn feeding them sausage is a ridiculous idea, they are not scared of your ndns, and this shows you really do need professional advice, you need to stop all. opportunities for them to bark until you can afford training and find other ways for them to work off all their pent up energy.

You don't need thousands of pounds for a trainer, you seemed to have resigned yourself to, it's either that or nothing. There is tonnes of research online, books you can buy that top trainers have written....it won't be easy for you, but it's definitely doable without a trainer.

Ok sadist.

We have a big dog who can sometimes be barky, always in response to the neighbour's yappy dog that seems to get left outside all the time.

What's worked best for us is first of all, to keep him well exercised. In addition to that, we take him for about four 10-minute lead walks per day, so he isn't using the garden for toileting. Garden time is an extra, so if he barks, we bring him in right away. Since we know he doesn't need to toilet, we're not stressed about that. As soon as he's quiet and calm, he gets a treat. If he remains quiet and calm, he gets another chance in the garden.

It's tedious at first, as you have to keep doing it consistently, but they get it pretty quickly.

You sound like the neighbour from hell. There is nothing worse than constantly yapping and barking dogs. If you are unable to train them properly or cannot afford to get them trained then you really shouldn’t be a dog owner. A voucher ffs !

Neighbours have the right to peace, the OP doesn’t have the right to have dogs that piss everyone off.

If the only way to restore peace is to rehome, then that’s what has to be done.