The be angry at neighbour complaint

[leopardsponge]

I have been contacted by the council because one of my neighbours has complained about my dog barking. I don't know which neighbour, but I have a strong feeling who.

My dog goes outside first thing (around 7am) to pee and then is out during the day at various times. The garden backs into a footpath so people do pass and yes he does bark but he's a dog, that's what dogs do.

At least complain to me?

I think a lot of the time people won't complain face to face because they are worried about confrontation or getting a mouthful of abuse. Not saying you would do that, but quite a lot of people do.

At the end of the day if the complaint is not legitimate the council will probably ignore it anyway.

If your dog is causing a public nuisance though probably best to do something about it.

If your dog barks at everyone and you can’t stop it, your neighbour probably doesn’t think there’s any point speaking to you, because you’ll tell her what you’ve said here- that you can’t stop it.

You've had suggestions for training and if training is too expensive for you, you should consider whether it’s a good idea for you to have a dog you can’t manage.

Ugh, we lived next door to a barky dog. Fucking nightmare. They used to let him out at 7am too, waking everyone up with his yapping. We were not the only neighbours to shout out of the window for him to shut up!

We did complain directly too. We actually got on with neighbours ok apart from the dog issue. They were just completely ineffectual dog owners. They’d apologise and say nonsense like they’ve tried training and behaviourists but we could hear how shit they were with the dog over the fence. They babied him, poor thing just thought it was protecting them I think.

Absolutely hated living next door to this noise though and dread it ever happening again.

A barking dog made me suicidal when my daughter was a baby - I was already struggling massively with PND and sleep deprivation and being woken by the dog barking when she I'd finally managed to get some sleep drove me to the brink.

Talking to the owner just got me nowhere - they still chucked the poor thing into the garden in all weather's and left it there. It escaped one day and was collected by the dog warden then never returned.

The day I realised it wasn't coming back was the best feeling ever, and I cried in relief!

I would go mad hearing your dog barking everytime someone walks by.

Why should a neighbour have to put up with it because you chose to have a pet?

You can’t seem to comprehend that no, it’s not ok for you to inflict your dogs barking on people.
So if the complainers had spoken to you directly you would have just gormlessly said ‘dogs bark’. It’s best they did go to an agency that will force you to stop the noise.

Talking to you directly would clearly have achieved nothing. This way you have an authority telling you you need to sort it out because your dog waking people up barking at 7am every day is not acceptable.

Exactly fuck that not happening I would complain and complain they will eventually get a fine and even evicted I would find out if they rent privately ect and get in touch with who ever I need too the council would get an email on a daily too

Possibly. But it's part of the costs incurred when you have a dog (like worming, flea treatment, spaying etc) and you should have considered that when you decided you wanted to be a dog owner.

There’s a Facebook page ran by qualified behaviourists called Dog Training Advice and Support that has hundreds of files at the top of the page, read them, take action.

The fact you haven’t bothered doing anything to stop the dog disturbing everyone and are instead whining that no one told you in person says it all.

What would be the point of complaining directly to you? You know it’s barking and you did nothing. Did you think people were cool with listening to your barking dog every morning? Your dog is a PITA.

My NDN has a little dog like this. He's a rescue. We also live with a path behind and he is reactive to passers by. The second he barks when he's let out, he's taken in. They are very strict with him. He is walked first thing so he doesn't bark in the garden and he can do his business without disturbing anybody else. They are doing a great job and he will settle down in time I'm sure. The fact you are making zero effort to resolve this and just expecting people to live with it is not on. That's why you're in the situation you're in.

If you cant afford it then find another solution but you cant just let him bark because "thats what dogs do"
I let mine out into the garden but if he barks more than once I go and get him as its not fair on our neighbours, plus even I find it annoying

Does that mean your dog wakes everyone up at 7am then I'd be a pissed off neighbour too. Either train your dog or put a muzzle on it. Does it go out and bark late at night too.
A short bark in the daytime isn't as bad but it's still irritating.

Having a pet comes with responsibilities - proper food and medical care being two of them. These things are costly. If you can’t train your dog yourself (have you even tried? It sounds like you haven’t) then you will have to pay for this too.

We have 4 ddogs. Our ndn comments he never hears them. We trained our first ddog years ago not to bark in the garden.
We backed onto a pub carpark.
She trained the rest! Long gone girl but absolutely not forgotten.
Your attitude stinks op.

not extremely, but it's part of being a responsible dog owner. Like feeding him the right food, paying for kennels when you're away, etc. If you cba to train him you shouldn't have had a dog. You need to do something, repeated noise complaints can lead to a much heavier fine than a few sessions of training. You might be able to find free alternatives on youtube.

Seriously how would you like it if you were woken up at 5am every morning by your neighbour playing music or their baby crying or their dog barking?

If you've been letting your dog bark in the garden at 7am it's fair for your neighbours to assume that you're not a reasonable person and there's no point complaining directly to you. How can you not realise that it's unacceptable?

Can see why your neighbour reported it! Seems there was no point in talking to you direct as if you thought there was a problem you would have done something by now!

If it's too expensive for you to have a dog, then you shouldn't have a dog

It would get right on my tits if there was a dog barking every day at 7am. If you can't train him take him for a walk away from houses at 7am so he doesn't disturb anyone.

@leopardsponge Hi. Regarding which neighbour it is, please don't say or do anything. A neighbour of mine who I was fairly friendly with and I had always moaned to about other neighbours was reported for something and she believed it was me and spread it around and never spoke to me again. Likewise my dad was reported and he believed it was a certain neighbour, we then found out they'd died before he was even reported. So you can have your suspicions but it really could have been anybody.

Not if she lives in a council house, they inform you even if its been a one off complaint

If you have been reported because you let you dogs continuously bark that’s your own fault and deserve to be reported

Sounds stressful for everyone, you neighbours, passers by and your dog. You need to contact a behaviourists.