Reporting my neighbour?

[Disillusionedthesedays]

I live next door to a barking dog. It's driving me nuts. It's certainly not all day. But at least 7 to 10 times a day, it gets set off and barks almost constantly for between 5 and 15 minutes.

I used to brush it off, but recently it's been annoying me more and more. I think the reason I'm increasingly annoyed by it is because of the dog's situation. My neighbour lives in a small flat, with a small yard. She has 3 large dogs, including a rescue doberman (doing the barking). She works out of the home during the day, and sometimes lives away from home for several days to help manage the family business. Last month she was living at the bedsit for 2 weeks while her family were away, before going on holiday herself for a week.

When she is out of the house, she has a family friend come over and sit with the dogs. He is an old man whose only counter is to shout "stop barking!" To which the dog invariably shouts back. I understand she takes him to dog training once a week but he is upset by any outdoor noise.

I don't see her walk the dogs and as far as i know they are walked rarely, and left to run in circles round the small yard (barking). We walk our cockapoo 4-5 times a day so know most of the local walkers and don't see our neighbours out walking.

So while the noise is annoying, I'm also annoyed by the dogs' situation, which I suspect worries me more. The trouble is I actually really like my neighbour. She is very sweet, with various health issues herself. She has no kids and has told me that her dogs are her babies and she seems to love them lots.

We've discussed the barking. She asks me to let her know when they bark, but I would be literally messaging her several times every day. And when I do message her, she just calls the old man and he squirts water at the dog or takes him inside. I tend to call her when it's been going on for more than 10 minutes or if it is after 10pm when it wakes my kids. It often starts early, before 7am and last week he was barking c. midnight.

So my question is - should i be taking action? Reporting her or forcing the issue, even if it affects our good relationship? Or should I let (barking) sleeping dogs lie?

It's interesting that you say we walk our dog too much. It's only a 10 minute route that we do 4 to 5 times a day because she doesn't use the garden much for toilet so we try to take her out when she looks desperate. But maybe a longer walk and less often might be better for her?

Ah I thought you meant you walked her for longer periods 4 - 5 times per day where she was running around which would be way too much. Yes I'd say one or two longer walks, less frequently, in different (varied) areas would be better and more enriching for her. You can always do a utility walk up and down the road outside of this if she won't toilet in the garden.

I'm just stunned that your dog manages to go for a walk 4-5 times per day 😳 We have a dog roughly the same size as yours and he'd collapse if he went for a walk that many times per day. Even when he was a puppy. He gets a 1 hour walk once per day and sleeps for 3 hours afterwards every single time. Fit as a fiddle

Your neighbour may say she loves the dogs like they were her babies, that doesn't make her sweet. Thank goodness she doesn't have actual babies if that's how she treats dogs. She's in over her head and clearly shouldn't have the dogs as she has no notion how to look after them.

One thing I would say, however, is that reporting your neighbour will not help the dogs, as the RSPCA will do nothing at all.

Yes report it, I'm going through the same thing with my neighbour's dog scream barking from 8am to 10am every day (I'm SAHM) and it drives me mental. They'll probably send you a link to a noise recording app, and you record it for a week and then they will send a letter. After sending a letter if it doesn't change, they'll come out to listen to it themselves with two people, and then issue a noise abatement order. Barking for longer than 20 minutes at a time is considered a noise nuisance, and they can go to court if they breach the abatement order. Don't put up with this, it's not fair. They used audio of rabbits screaming in war to get people to surrender, repeated noise is torture and you don't have to put up with it.

Who did you report it to? The RSPCA or local council?

I think you are disgusting. Sorry but if an old woman was my neighbour and she didn't have any family just her dogs i would work with her not against her. I think her company is more important than you and your peace and quiet. Don't pull me apart it's my opinion but she seems to want to work with you not against you. 😑

The council, the RSPCA are useless even when a dog is being neglected. Council have been great, dog noise is taken more seriously than it used to be as it should be.

You walk a cockerpoo 5 times a day wtf for it's a cockerpoo

My sil has a cockerpoo and it's one of the most high energy dog I've ever met. Both cocker spaniels and poodles were bred as working dogs, they have plenty of energy and stamina.

5 times a day though when is it learning to just be calm

Hey yes I had a simialr situation (not sure where you live) but I lived at the time in south london, you report to your council and animal cruelty services it comes through completely anonymous and they will send someone around to asses whether it’s suitable or not. Poor dogs!