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. 😭

@neilyoungismyhero

Yes, you’re right, the owners of the howling dog should pay for NC headphones or earplugs not OP. But this should be a temporary measure while they sort out the problem properly along the lines others have suggested (training, dog sitter or re-homing).

Record it and play it at the party wall when they are in bed !!!

You can get medication for anxious dogs. They probably don’t realise how bad he is when their out.

I would be reluctant to go through the expense and inconvenience of moving because of a dog, because problem dogs are EVERYWHERE now.

Most people I know and most places I've stayed have an annoyingly barky dog within earshot these days. I've lived in my home for 13 years, barky neighbourhood dogs have come and gone over that time but there's always at least 2 around.

It's been like this since covid when every idiot and their uncle bought a puppy with absolutely no idea how to socialise and train one, or any understanding of good dog owner etiquette.

I would try the council and environmental health but my experience is that they are pretty rubbish and the only thing to do is ring 101 to lodge noise complaints as evidence as the council will require this to actually take any action. I think you should speak to them first though

My dog a bit anxious over fireworks etc and we started playing Mozart for her and the response is amazing-also use calming classical.

Wonder if they could try some classical music?

In an ideal world a solution is the best outcome for both of you.

Might be a useless idea but if you tell them how much it upsets you perhaps you can talk about possible solutions. Perhaps mention that if you have to go to environmental health it will be recorded and could affect both home owners when selling.

Yes, record the dog howls.
Confront your owners. Insist that you and the neighbours have sound proofed etc as best you can and now could they please always take their dog with them.
Present them with a travel cage, lead and dog car seat belt.
If thet is met with a NO, give them details of a collar that is run on batteries that very barky doge wear. When they bark they receive an electric shock. I have seen this on one occasion, used by a woman who had had a stroke and whose dog howled out the neighbourhood. It was very successful, for when she was at medical appointments.
Otherwise ask them to remove the dog to live on a remote farm.
As a final resort ask the council tocapture it and have it euthanized.

There are some people who wouldn’t be bothered. Us for example - he’s deaf and I’d just stick AirPods in. Our dogs are yappy little buggers anyway.

I had this issue (also dog lover) it was horrendous. You have to advertise the dog for sale repeatedly and everywhere - signs up in the local shops/facebook pages etc etc... 'Lovely dog but needs a forever home where it will always have human company' describe the issue as nicely as you can. Put their name and number on it. Just keep re-advertising it until they sell their dog. Good luck

YABU to move home because you 'dislike confrontation' and are therefore incredibly avoidant of holding these cheeky fuckers to account. You'd upend yours and your kids lives because you can't manage enforcing a boundary?
I'd be going next door and telling them they're 'what can we attitude' is unacceptable. If give give them 2 weeks to find a solution and warn them that after that a) you will report to environmental health b) For every hour they leave their dog to howl you will make sure that when they are home they are subjected to the reciprocal number of hours of noise intrusion. Either playing back at volume the howling against their living room and kids bedrooms or creating other noise polution at a time that suits you but they might not want .

Can't you just report them to the RSPCA?

If a dog is that unhappy for so many hours a day, that's neglect AFAIC.

Don't know if the RSPCA would agree with me?

RSPCA
that dog is being abused.
if it’s crying all day, then it’s suffering

we had one on our street, me, my neighbors couldn’t figure out what door & flat but it’s mournful cries went all day. Like a slow painful death every day for months

The RSPCA will not do anything in this situation.

Keep a diary of when the noise starts and stops, every time, over the course of a couple of weeks. Record a ten-minute session on your phone. Then ask politely for a meeting with them, play the recording and show them the diary (presumably they’ll be able to see that it matches times they were out).

Tell them it’s making your life a misery. Maybe they really don’t know what the dog is like when they’re not there. I’m not sure what the solution is, but it’s their responsibility to find one.

Have you played them recordings? My dog was howling and my neighbour told me and I had to make arrangements for her to not be alone until I could help her out of it. They can’t just leave the dog doing that. You need to record noise, write down times and contact environmental health. I would also write to them formally setting out the issue and impact.

Classical music and lights on if dark is really useful with my dog

This sounds absolutely awful and would drive me up the wall. You're not being ridiculous. I would definitely do as PP have advised and invite them round to see how bad it is - if it's a semi rather than a terrace, is there a side of the house that isn't a shared wall that they could shut the dogs in? The issue of stress to the dog seems moot given it's clearly suffering already.

There are absolutely dog sitting apps like Rover where you can hire someone to come round and sit with a dog for a few hours - you can get someone to stay overnight! They obviously don't want to pay because they can get away with not paying. I used to look after a similarly howly dog for free on BorrowMyDoggy, for an old lady who couldn't leave it anywhere - she'd drop her off on her way to medical appointments etc.

I can see what you mean about not starting a dispute but I would keep insistently making it a problem for them - not necessarily an official complaint, just not taking their 'eh, what can we do' as an answer. They chose to have the dog and they choose to leave it in the house, with those consequences. It needs to become enough of a problem for them to incentivise them to do something about it.

You don’t have to have confrontation. You should be able to discuss things with neighbours without it being confrontational.

Be very friendly, but ask them what they plan to do to solve the problem. Let them know it’s tortuous to you. It’s unreasonable for them to cause such a nuisance, as it disturbs your quiet enjoyment (legal term) of your home. It’s their problem to solve.

Follow up with a friendly email, confirming what’s been said/agreed. If they refuse to offer a solution, then I’d talk to environmental health and explain you don’t want anything to come up in searches if you end up having to sell. They should be able to advise.

Or look into whether civil proceedings would show up. Reliable source: https://www.hja.net/expert-comments/blog/housing-help/what-action-can-i-take-against-a-noise-complaint/. A letter before action by a solicitor is likely to be a cheaper way to solve it than moving home.

Gather as much evidence as possible. Keep a diary and record the noise each time.

I lost my shit at the next door neighbour the other day over an almost identical situation.

In our case though, the sound insulation helps a lot, but the neighbours just lock the dog outside for hours and hours (even when they're home!!!) and all it does is yap!!! It drives me insane and my baby can't nap (terraced houses, the back patios are all under our bedrooms). At least when the dog is inside, the sound is muffled quite a bit.

It's like a form of torture. I totally lost it. After months and months of it, I went next door and yelled and cursed and wouldn't leave until they put their dog inside. I was possessed.

I was quite ashamed of myself at that moment BUT they haven't done it since! And I've seen them actually take the dog for a walk which they never did before. So that poor dog benefits too.

So I'd recommend being less sympathetic. Your current approach hasn't achieved anything. And it's not like they have any interest in being good neighbours.

We’ve been in your situation, EH & council won’t do anything as it’s between the hours of 7am & 11pm, our neighbour has 4 dogs and around 11 cats at the last count!
they let them have the run of the house and garden, back door left open a majority of the time and they’re upstairs out the way as they told other neighbours it’s too cold for them downstairs when the door is open!

Agree. I am in similar situation and we have to do “mediation “ first (ffs) but it’s on the right path…

I’m sorry you’re going through this, I know it’s really stressful. Our neighbours dog used to bark for long periods, sometimes on and off from 6.45am - 11pm. They also felt nothing could be done even though their poor dog was a reactive border collie cooped up in their house and small garden all day in a built up area ☹️

Your neighbours absolutely can do something about it, they just don’t want to and their selfish inaction isn’t fair on you or their dog. As others have said, environmental health can help with dogs barking if it’s nuisance noise but you will have to declare this dispute when you come to sell if it isn’t resolved.

Personally, I think that risk is better than losing thousands by selling up - your neighbours should be the ones putting their hands in their pockets to sort it and the law agrees.

I had this issue was awful and driving me to despair, barking late at night and early too. 18 months of hell. I wrote letters to the neighbour and eventually they did something about it. Be persistent, contact them, write to them, take video of the dog barking even for just the audio, keep a diary of the noise, go to council and if they are not helping then go to your MP. It's not fair you deserve peace on your own home.