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?

My parents dog barks when it’s let out first thing morning and last thing night. We take her out in the back garden on a lead to avoid her barking antisocial hours, it works for her. People shouldn’t have to listen to your dog barking so early.

Honestly @leopardsponge how often does he bark and do you pull him back inside to stop him? Every time?

Are you my old neighbour because she was a cunt too,

You need to train him I'm afraid OP.

If he's a food oriented dog, go out with him, taking some treats and each time you think he's going to bark, tell him no and when he doesn't bark, give him a treat.

He'll soon associate not barking with getting a treat and then you can gradually stop giving him treats at all and he'll have just learned not to bark.

We had a neighbour with a dog that barked and woke us up - it's absolutely awful and is something that can definitely be fixed.

I tried complaining in person to our neighbour and they stopped it for 2 days before obviously deciding that the dog was too noisy barking in the house so they chucked him in the garden again, so I complained to the council and I don't apologise for it.

Does he really need to go out at 7 am? My dog can hold his morning wee until 9 ish sometimes. He comes out of his crate aans gets into bed with us. Then eventually asks to be let outside. Not sure they 'need' do go out at 7. My dog has a bell on the door he rings when he needs the toilet so fairly sure he is fine with this arrangement

You've made it obvious you would be defensive and aggressive about someone complaining to you.

So they'd probably assumed that. And they're right.

I've had this with two neighbours.

First neighbour I could tell was concerned about her dog's welfare. As soon as said her dog was doing x or y, she would immediately attempt to remedy it.

Second neighbour wasn't. So after telling them once I went to the council. I suspect I wasn't the only one who pointed out issues with their small dog as after the council got involved once their were no issues. It was odd as they had an extremely well trained and well behaved large dog, but they allowed their small dog to be a menace.

Maybe the OP can get up and take her dog for a walk first thing in the morning, like plenty of dog owners I know and have bumped into over the years.

Get a friend to go along the back while you go into the garden with your dog. Give him a treat when he's quiet and take him immediately in wordlessly and shut him in the house. Try again a couple of minutes later. Over and over again until he learns what is expected of him.

Take him in if he barks, I mean!

You could keep him inside! They probably haven’t complained to you directly because you obviously don’t see it as a problem you need to solve or you wouldn’t be letting it happen.

It’s like vet bills, food, dog walkers, cosy blankets, dog toys, warm jackets, diamanté collars, boarding kennels, grooming parlours etc etc etc all part and parcel of the expenses you take on when you have a dog. Some dogs need all of the above, other dogs don’t, but you pay out for what YOUR dog needs, in this case help from people who can help you to train your dog not to react to people walking by.

Try not leaving your dog unaccompanied in the garden so you can prevent it from barking.

I complained to my neighbour who just made excuses, said there was nothing they could do, complained to the council who sent them a letter. Dog miraculously stopped barking since they got the letter from council so it is definitely a pro-active way to go about these situations. You need to train your dog OP. You really dont understand how frustrating it is having to listen to that all day.

You need to find out how to stop him barking. Find training. Consult professionals. It's your dog so it's your responsibility. And 7am barking is unreasonable and unneighbourly. If you were saying 8am I would think you were our neighbour who also has not worked out how to train her dog but just keeps calling the wretched dog's name to no effect whatsoever. He's the only dog in the area who's a menace as the others are lovely with just the occasional bark or howl and as we're quite a dog-filled area I suspect there is a way of training dogs and not just a case of being lucky/not-lucky.

Essentially you are saying your dog is outside and barks unpredictably a lot throughout the day thus disturbing your neighbours.

Of course YABU.

I have neighbours with dogs - I rarely hear them. Your dog must be very loud and therefore disruptive.

I live along a canal and we have regular passers-by all day every day. My dog will bark at them too, which is why I never just leave her in the garden. As soon as she barks she's swiftly brought back in to the house. But she really only goes out there once or twice a day anyway, as we both spend time walking her every single day come rain or shine.
Deal with your dog and stop it barking, or expect more complaints and more neighbourhood animosity!

Focus on the real issue, which is that your dog is a nuisance to the neighbours. What are you doing about it when he wrecks people's peace and quiet? Why do you think others should have to tolerate incessant barking?

It's never nice to be complained about but given how your dog is behaving I don't really blame them for complaining and I say that as someone with 2 dogs of my own.

My dogs very rarely bark in the garden but if they do I tell them to stop and bring them straight back into the house. It's annoying for me to listen to so why would other people want to listen to it?

On my regular walking route there is a dog that's always outside and it barks and jumps up at the fence every time someone walks past, it would drive me nuts if I was their neighbour.

Take him out into the garden on a short lead and QUIETLY correct him every time he barks, reward him when he doesn't. Do not let him off the lead in the garden until he responds to training.

Why can't they just tell me instead of making it formal?

You know your dog barks at 7am every morning, you know people are in bed sleeping at this time. You know loud noise wakes people. You know people do not like being woken by neighbours unsociable noise at unsociable times.

What part did you need to be told?

Animals are expensive to keep. Telling a dog to be quit is like pissing in the wind.
Do the right thing and get some proper training for you and the dog. Why be the dog owner that gives other dog owners a bad name
If it costs, tough; your pet

Anyone whose first reaction is “they should have complained to me” just confirms that the complainer did the right thing to not go direct 😂

Not necessarily. For me it was one batshit neighbour, however the second time they did it I lost my shit and had some polite on both sides, but very firm on mine, conversations with the council department involved and also with the police. At the time the council's policy was to contact the person complained about as a first step, ie on receipt of the complaint. After I went to (polite) war, they now no longer contact the person complained about until the complaInants have done a diary, made recordings AND the council have checked things out for themselves. I would advise the OP to find out what their council's process is as they all differ.

'I don't know what else I can do other than tell him to stop it!'

That reminds me of when we lived next door in a semi to 3 small barking dogs and every time they set off barking, (regularly as soon as they heard anything outside) the owner would shout 'Pack it in! Pack it in!' even louder than their barking. Fortunately we could leave after 6 months as we were renting.

People that don't have dogs are much more sensitive to the noise of barking and yapping
No, it's not just people who don't have dogs? Why assume everyone with dogs either has a barking arsehole of a dog themselves or doesn't mind listening to other dogs raising the neighbourhood at ungodly hours?