To move over a dog?

[Renovationhell]

I literally can’t stand it any more. NDN have a dog with separation anxiety. It howls every second that they leave it. It starts as they drive away and continues till they return. If they go out for tea or whatever I can’t go to bed until they get back, my life is ruled by what time they are in the house.

I live in an old Victorian semi. I love this house and will loose money on it. If I sell tomorrow it’s not finished so I won’t get a good price. I have no money to finish it either so will have to sell as a project. I love the location. But I’m being driven insane and driven from my home by a fucking dog. I’m a dog lover and have dogs myself but this is something else.

Neighbors are sympathetic but can’t do anything to change it. Apparently they have tried many times. They have to leave the house and it does nothing but scream like a posessed wolf until they come back. They know it does it and don’t care.

Soundproofing is too expensive. I have no money and the party wall has 4 shared fireplaces so apparently it will be next to impossible.

So moving is my only option isn’t it? Has anyone else made this decision and regretted it? It’s a young dog so waiting it out isn’t an option I think I’ll have lost my shit by then. 😭

Where I live there’s an animal welfare officer at the council who deals with situations like this. See if you have one at your council.

As I understand it it is not barking but howling in distress.

Viewers will hear the dog and you will have to declare it as part of the conveyancing process.

Have you put in a noise complaint with the council?

Definately complain to your local council, as this dog is creating noise that is a nuisance, as well as the dog being in distress.

The council can take action, these people sound like crappy dog owners so will hopefully surrender the dog rather than deal with the hassle of council enforcement officers repeatedly turning up on their doorstep.

No because my boss advised if I move not to have an official complaint. I also wanted to be nice and give them a chance to sort it but they haven’t done a thing.

It sounds a nightmare OP. It would totally set my nerves on edge and drive me mad.
I would say though, if you do move, you should tell the potential buyers as it would be very unfair to inflict the problem on them - it’s the right thing to do.

This.

I feel for them but it's ultimately their issue to solve not yours.

My sister has a dog like this. Her neighbours have mentioned it. She now never leaves the dog alone and either takes him out with her or drops him off at someone’s house (often mine, unfortunately).

He’s a complete pain in the arse, but at least she’s not inflicting the howling on her neighbours.

You keep saying that they seem nice but they are incredibly selfish.

YABU to move because there is a department in the council specifically to deal with noise complaints - Environmental Health - so follow their procedures and they will resolve it for you.

Record the dog. Pick a night and take your kids to your mother's or a friend for the night. Before you leave turn the recording on at full volume next to their party wall and leave it on repeat all night.

Tell them this will happen regularly unless they sort out their dog - he should be going with them or going to daycare or having someone paid to stay in the house with him.

Noise cancelling headphones or really good earplugs as a temporary solution?

I don't think detached will solve your problem. I lived next to two horrendous barkers. Loved the sound of their own voices and barked non stop, even with their owners home. Owners did nothing. I hated those dogs and still do. I moved from a "quiet" cul de sac to a four lane, busy road and the peace and quiet is blissful.

I rehomed a dog from work who apparently howled when I went out. I leave the radio on and the neighbours say she's fine now. My neighbours are lovely and I always ask them to let me know if there's any issues. I actually deal with the issues though, so you know, there's that.

Maybe suggest they try leaving the radio or tv on when they're out.

I have a dog with seperation anxiety & it does the same so guess what.. I don't leave it alone! I'm lucky in that there is someone always in the house & if there isn't I have built up a network of people who will dogsit (and love to do it) through friends, neighbours & using borrow my doggy. I also pay for dog sitters. I think it's disgusting that people leave dogs in this much distress. It's inhumane. There are also specialist dog trainers for separation anxiety (perhaps advise them to look up Julie Naismith & her training programme)
The dog needs proper training & until then they need to minimise its anxiety properly or rehome it to someone that can.

Yes you’re right. I meant they are always chatty, say hello that type of thing. I didn’t want to have some sort of neighbourly feud going on, who has time in a busy life for that!

The dog sounds really upset and distressed. It’s not barking at something. I don’t think this is something easily trained or solved. I’m not sure how anyone can commit to never going out again so it feels hopeless? I will grow a pair and speak to them though.

I’ve been doing some calculations and can afford to move to the detached, just. It would depend on valuations. I wouldn’t want to declare it to a new buyer or I would never sell and be stuck here forever (or until it dies at which point I may have lost it!)

Please don’t move because of this OP, the cost of moving alone is so expensive - and that’s before you get into the whole negative equity / sale prices thing. Plus it sounds like you really don’t want to!

It might be that the neighbours actually don’t know how bad the noise is - after all, they’re out when it happens! So I think the idea of recording it and sharing it with them / keeping a noise diary is a good idea.

What might make it easier to talk to them about it is if you can say something specific that you want them to do. Like ask them to take the dog with them / get a sitter / drop the dog with family if they’re going out after 6pm, or another time that’s inconvenient to your work hours.

Specific requests are easier to follow than general “can you sort this out please” requests too. Plus dog training takes time - but dog sitting is immediate.

Then if they still do nothing you could report them. Thats how I’d play it I think (fellow dog lover so have empathy!)

So you couldn't live with the 'conflict' of escalating this calmly and properly through the channels that exist for this exact reason, but you can live with the knowledge that you're secretly inflicting this horrendous existence on the poor new buyers? Would you not feel at all guilty...?

Yes of course I would. But at the same time I didn’t deserve this shit either. I didn’t decide to get a dog and let it scream daily ruining someone else’s life 🙁 I didn’t decide to buy a semi detached house knowing I had a dog with separation anxiety.

Let’s face it nobody would buy it. And I’ll be stuck here forever till the dog finally dies.

You would need to declare this on your Seller's Information Form if you sell house - that you have problem with neighbour / complained to neighbour- so you need to fix problem about dog or buyer of your house may give you a bigger problem.

I wouldn’t let having to declare a complaint put you off.

I used to live next to a HA property and everyone was fine until the last tenants who smoked weed, drank loads and had numerous DV incidents in the house, garden and street.

I declared the complaints as you are supposed to and sold it without issue to a landlord who planned to turn it into a HMO. Didn’t affect ability to sell or value.

All that being said, what would I do in your shoes? I’d pay someone to complete the work to a very basic finish and then move without declaring. Only because I don’t think noise complaints would make any difference to the owners of the dog and it sounds like you are at the end of your tether.

so deal with the problem through official channels then.

Tricking someone else into taking the problems off your hands is so underhand, you haven't even tried to resolve the issue.

Before I went down the official route I would have a chat, tell them how stressed this is making you and tell them that you will have to report if things don’t improve. Record the noise so they have an idea what you’re dealing with and how long it goes on for.

In the meantime I’d ask them to join the FB dog training group “Dog training advice and support” and seek advice there, as well as seeing a behavioural vet and/or trainer, and suggest that they take the dog with them when they go out or get a dog sitter in.

If they don’t take immediate steps to improve things I would be straight on the phone to the council. They should be doing everything they possibly can to resolve this, and if they don’t I’d have no problem reporting them.

They are the ones who should be paying for soundproofing, not you. Your first step is the contact the environmental health team at your local authority.

Are you the only neighbour affected by this dog?

So the OP and her children are expected to buy expensive nc equipment to accommodate her crappy neighbours, I should co co.