To speak to neighbours?

[SpeedbirdSquawker]

I live in a terrace with a small back garden.

I have had to speak to my next door neighbours three times now as their dog is left barking loudly and continually. Sometimes it's 20 minutes while it's out in the garden, sometimes they go upstairs and leave it shut downstairs where it barks for an hour or more. Sometimes when they go out the dog barks for hours and hours. It's been a nightmare and taken it's toll on my mental health. They thought nothing of letting it out to wee at 6am or 11pm and it barking for 20 minutes without being told to stop or brought in the house.

Each time I speak to them, they are apologetic and it goes quiet for a while. This time we were doing really well and each time the dog barked, they shut it up within a few minutes. All had been well for the past few months.

Now they've got a new puppy. A husky by the looks of it and it howls. A lot.

This morning I was woken up by the puppy howling at 5.30am. I went to sleep in a different room and again was woken up 4 more times until I finally admitted defeat and got up.

Today has been a nightmare. Half of the day has been barking and howling by the puppy.

I know the puppy has to be trained (they obviously didn't train their older dog not to bark) and so I was wondering would I be being unreasonable if I went round and asked them what they were doing to minimise the howling and barking?

The puppy has been with them a week.

Don't back down op. That dpuppy will also be grateful when they have to either meet it's needs or rehome..

Go and tell them that this has to be tackled and dealt with or your next call will be to Environmental Health, RSPCA etc

Stop putting up with it. Use your anger.

Stopping dogs barking tends to mean:

Identify why - bored, barking at noises that startle or wind up, lonely, distressed.

Address that - so bored - leave them with something to do/don't leave them. Noises - counter condition ie pair noises with food until noises = good stuff which results in no barking. Distress/lonely - don't leave them, build confidence and security, teach independence when ready.

Shouting at the dogs and then ignoring them is not addressing barking in any way.

Thank you for your advice.

Today has been relentless barking and howling. When it started again, I was in the bathroom and knew she was in her bedroom which shares a wall with my bathroom and I really let it all out and said that the dog has been fucking howling and barking all day and to sort it out instead of leaving it. It did shut up a few minutes later as she went down and opened the back door for it.

I'm just about done with this bullshit and will be reporting to the council.

I still can't believe that they got another dog after them both preferring to sit in their rooms while it barks for hours. Absolute dicks.

Things with the neighbour have become awkward.

We used to say hello and sometimes engage in small talk about our gardens, work or the weather as you do, but for the past few days, the neighbour has completely blanked me when I have gone into my garden.

I'm not sure whether it's because the puppy howls every morning without fail before 6am and she has to get up with it or I make a lot of noise in the bathroom. Last weekend she left it howling and crying for two hours from 6am.

Perhaps it's because the other evening I was working from home and both dogs were going mad barking and she was shutting them up in a timely manner, but as I was presenting a meeting and the sixth time they started barking whilst I was presenting, it sounded like they were in the room with me and she didn't shut them up that time, I tapped on the wall, just a slight tap, just two taps.

Or maybe, just maybe, some other neighbours have put in a complaint to the council. I'm surprised it hasn't happened before as we back on to retirement properties who will hear the dogs all day and also along our row there's a few people that wouldn't take shit and would want to enjoy their gardens in peace.

I'm not sure what has happened, but it's awkward.

Having been through similar I highly recommend eggz earplugs. They are more expensive than the foam ones but they work really well - I can hear my alarm but for sounds further away they totally block them. Also get yourself some good noise cancelling earphones for during the day. I know you shouldn't have to, but do try to preserve your sanity while you keep reporting the dogs - it's soul destroying

Hello @onlymyselftoanswerto1, thank you for the recommendation. Something has to give.

The puppy howls every morning, usually around 6am, but this morning it woke me at 5.15am. They went out with the dogs luckily, but I know when they're home as the dogs never shut up. I mean, the neighbour does tell them to shut up, but then a few minutes later they're off again and it's like this all bloody day. I am so fed up.

Plus there's no real training going on there, apart from her shouting the dogs name every time they bark. That's why the 10 year old dog used to bark constantly for hours sometimes. Sometimes they'd even lock it downstairs while they were upstairs and just let it bark.

Last summer when it was over 30 degrees, the dog had been barking non-stop for about an hour in the evening. I spotted the neighbour on the deckchair in the garden and asked her why the dog was barking. Her reply was that she couldn't have it outside with her as it was too hot and that the dog has seperation issues. I was absolutely spitting feathers and my face must have said it all, but rather than sit inside with the dog to stop it barking, she opened the back door for it so it would sit with her in the 30+ degree heat. Twat.

So I complained and her reply was that she hasn't got time to train the new puppy. I said I would be going to the council.

She is now letting the dogs bark constantly after my complaining.

What's the point in getting a puppy if you haven't got time to train it?

I do feel sorry for all these dogs that are left at home for hours, barking and howling. NDN does it from 5am-5/6pm. The dog is clearly distressed and lonely.

The dogs bark every 20 minutes or so all day, every day. Although she shuts them up, they're never going to learn not to bark. Last week I was unwell (I have a chronic condition) and I tried to sleep three times but each time as I was floating I was disturbed by barks. Now i'm getting woken up by howling between 5.15am and 6.00pm. It's really not fair. I work very hard and deserve a bit of peace and quiet. I've even stopped working from home because I know meeting after meeting will be disturbed by barking and howling.

Her reaction now is just to let the dogs bark. Maybe they'll learn that no one will pay attention to them when they do and that might be a silver lining?

I was really reluctant to involve the council, but looks like I will have to do now. I hate confrontation.

Since the neighbours got home at 7.30pm, the dogs have barked a total of 11 times. It's crazy.

I've put the noise complaint in now. Dreading them getting a letter or something from the council. I hate confrontation, but my life is dogs barking, howling or crying, then shutting up after 30 seconds by her whiny voice saying the dogs name, and then less than ten minutes later, this on repeat. This lasts for hours, sometimes all day if it's the weekend. I don't want to listen to anyone's dogs. Not even for 30 seconds on repeat. I can imagine her and her next door neighbours stares and silences when I use my back garden.

Keep a detailed diary op.

Well now you’ve complained she will have to do something or face huge fines. The amount of barking and howling even if she does a shhh dos won’t go anywhere in her favour if they are back at it 5 minutes later.

Poor puppy. If she has no time to train it, she should never have got it.

Maybe they'll learn that no one will pay attention to them when they do and that might be a silver lining?
It won't work that way. Just by her coming at some point during the barking means they will bark until that happens. I think the only dogs that don't continue barking after a long time are ones who no one comes to.

I hope the council are able to help. Do keep a noise diary as that will help. I wonder if recording it would help?

I've kept a noise diary for the last 18 months as before she got this dog she used to let her older one bark and bark for ages. Sometimes she'd be up in her room for hours and the dog would bark non stop downstairs as it has separation issues. Each time I reach breaking point I go round for a chat and it quietens down for a while but since the puppy arrived it's been absolute hell. I don't get through a whole TV programme without hearing one or both dogs barking.

It's got to the point where I dread the weekends as I know there'll be near constant barking with her calling the dogs names each time. I can't read a book in peace or have a nap. I tried that one and was woken up every ten minutes.

I feel like me telling her isn't enough. It's got to the point where there's got to be external consequences (intervention from the council) or it'll continue and continue. She doesn't think they're doing anything wrong and the dogs are just doing what dogs do - bark.

Absolutely contact the Environmental Health Department. Start a diary of all the incidents which you have mentioned in your post. Be persistent, but polite if they try to fob you off.

@Redbone I will. I feel like I'm the issue sometimes though the way she add the other neighbour moan about me.

The other neighbour who she's friendly with live next door to her and her and her partner have two young children who are always loud. Screaming, crying. If they're out in the garden the kids are screaming non stop, so the dogs barking won't be bothering her at all.

I do appreciate her shutting the dogs up almost everytime they bark but it's the frequency that's bothering me greatly.

I don't know much about dogs, but is there a possibility she can train the dogs not to bark at every single thing? Sometimes they even bark at nothing.

I have huge amounts of sympathy for you OP , unfortunately some people are just selfish (and deaf!) when it comes to their “fur babies.” I had a similar situation several years ago and eventually the EH inspector helped me to reduce the noise and eventually my neighbours moved!

Hope it does the job . You are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of your own home . Hate selfish people 😑

OP I really feel for you. We have neighbour with a small dog that howls when they go out and sometimes they're out for a while. Yesterday it was 3 hours straight of barking and howling. They then proceeded to come home and chat to someone outside while their dog was crying. I've mentioned this to them in a nice way and in a not so nice way. They apologise and say they don't know what to do and then it repeats itself again. They clearly do not care at all. I have 2 dogs who only bark when they see a cat or someone is at the door and I don't hear and even then it's 1 or 2 barks at most and I always tell them quiet. I got annoyed so much I trained my younger dog to 'speak'. So when they do allow their dog to bark too much I then take my girl outside and ask her to speak. They soon come running out to get their dog in when they have a taste of what it sounds like. My neighbours are selfish and think it's ok for them to make whatever noise they want but if we do something back they hate it and even make a point of asking what the noise was. I am a respectful neighbour, it's how I was brought up and my kids but what's the point in respecting someone who clearly can't respect anyone else. It really annoys me.