Dogs barking all day long - how to approach neighbours

[ToClimb]

Our next door but one neighbours garden is a dog leg around our property so their dogs are able to roam on two sides. They are lovely people, but keep themselves very much to themselves. I know from Facebook that her mum died a few weeks ago so I'm wary of not upsetting her too much.

Anyway, about 3 months ago they got a pair of mastiff puppies. They let them in the garden all day everyday and all they do is bark. The bark is really deep and is destroying our own use of our garden as you can't hear yourself think.

They work shifts and sometimes it's 4am and the dogs are off. They bark at every voice they hear, every car that goes past.

Council won't do anything unless we a) talk to them first and b) keep a noise diary. How do you keep a diary for something that is continual.

How do I approach this. I don't want to fall out with them but it's ridiculously ongoing and DH, who is sensitive to noise is about ready to go round all guns blazing.

I wouldn't give a stuff about upsetting them.
They obviously suffer from the selective deafness and selfishness of many dog owners.
Knock their door, calmly tell them it's unacceptable and that you're entitled to the quiet enjoyment of your own property and if it doesn't stop you'll start taking recordings and keeping a diary with a view to making a complaint to the Council.
Absolute arseholes.
Good luck.

I think I might send her a message on Facebook. I've only ever been to their house once so woiluld feel odd knocking. But then I also worry that time can come across wrong on a message. They have, for 7 years been genuinely lovely neighbours and I'd rather not ruin that

Do the diary.. Write in every barking session. Write on times you are in and times you are at work. Make it meticulous for the 2 weeks. Add in if anyone takes it in. Or if they don't. Let Gej council know you mean business and expect results. They do have powers. I know a couple who had to rehome their white savage fuckball. I mean fluffball... Lack of ddog ownership should not impact our lives.
But my council wrote to ndn after my initial call. Haven't had to do the diary. Any recent outbursts have had me hose the yappy fucker through the fence. But very rare now. Not 5 times a day @30 mins each.. I have 3 ddogs and they look bemused at the fence at the daft git... Maybe they mean the owner and not the ddog?

I am surprised the council won't do anything unless you speak to them because if you do have to complain they will instantly know it was you. Surely antisocial behaviour will deal with this? Where I am all you do is fill a form in online and the council write to them. You don't need diaries or to talk to the neighbours yourself.

Don’t be such a walkover.

They don’t give a shit about you or your feelings.

You go round whilst the dogs are barking and tell them that you have now had three months of them non stop barking and they haven’t grown out of it or have adjusted to their surroundings and show no sign of any training g being in place to stop them.

I have six dogs and sometimes have a lot more here, mostly large breeds and they do not bark because they are trained not to.

They are supervised and don’t just get shoved outside and left to their own devices to bark out or boredom’s which sounds the case with your neighbours.

We have spoken to neighbours and also are keeping a diary - only for barking after 9.30pm (as it often goes on till 11-midnight or later).

The problem is the adult daughter who couldn't care less and when her father is away just leaves the doors open until the early hours. The dogs are very nervous, can't be outside without barking and even indoors can be seen up at the front windows barking. We are three doors down so nearer neighbours also complained.

Google pups for sale in your area. Find the breeder and let them know the poor things are being neglected. Because dpuppies shut outside aren't being raised properly imo.
I reported a family last week. A high maintenance dpuppy locked in the bathroom 24/7.. Kept me awake for the 2 nights after I heard until I reported them. Twats.

The barking isn’t continual if voices and cars and people arriving home is setting them off. It may be incredibly frequent, but there are gaps. This is why you need to keep a diary so the council can get a clear picture of what is actually happening.

So even if it is 7:00 barked 3 times, 7:05 barked, 7:20 barked. You need that record.

What is then unreasonable is either 2 or 3 periods of prolonged duration or multiple instances every hour.

Be careful not to exaggerate. The council will then turn up at times you’ve indicated to see for themselves. Also some owners may have a record of noise themselves.

It's so fucking tedious though isn't it. Why the hell should I have to keep a diary, they should be made to prove that the bloody things aren't a nuisance!!

Try speaking to them in person first.

Just be bold but also mature, we’re all people, unless you fear they may harm you, just ring the door bell and talk to them - sending messages on social media apps or making anonymous complaints should be a last resort.

Since they are puppies I would approach this as a question about their training rather than all out complaining straight away.
Go over and simply ask if the dogs are currently getting trained to stop barking. And if they are not, ask for it to happen as the noise is disturbing you.
Mastiffs are guard/alert dogs by nature so they have to be trained out of barking at everything generally.

This in spades. They don't give a shit about upsetting their neighbours, so don't afford them the same grace.

It's pretty much continual as cars drive past at least every 2 mins and they bark for 30 seconds minimum each time.

They're probably not aware of the barking. So you could start with that caveat. Poor bloody dogs though. Leaving 2 puppies for hours at a time is very, very irresponsible and cruel. No wonder they are barking, they're probably bored shitless.

Of this next door but one, do next door have anything to say about it

🤷🏻‍♀️ just advice on how best to keep a diary and get the complaint taken seriously. Just put pretty much continual if you want, and see how far that gets you with the council.

Come on OP be a grown up and go round there AND TALK TO THEM.

Tedious yes, but you may get a result sooner than you think.
My elderly mother's life was made a misery by her neighbour's barking dog, but luckily they were local authority tenants and received a very stiff letter threatening eviction only a couple of weeks after the first complaint. Glorious silence has reigned since.

I had a similar situation with a barking rescue spaniel two doors down. In between neighbour was very upset about the barking but didn’t feel able to go round.
I rang the bell and just said I’m here about the dog barking, neighbour said oh is she still barking. - Yes, pretty much constantly (she wanted to go indoors). Neighbour said does she sound distressed? I said yes she does - head tilt and smile.
The situation massively improved.
If you don’t get this sorted OP the behaviour will become entrenched and neighbours either unaware, don’t care, they tune it out and if you don’t tell them otherwise they will think it doesn’t bother you.

I have also been contemplating a thread about barking dogs driving me bonkers so no advice but sympathy OP.

There is a man THREE doors down from me who has four dogs is a tiny terraced house and he lets them all out and they go berserk - this then sets off the one that has just moved in two doors down and another one god knows where on the estate. It’s exhausting but in our case we want to sell soon so just dealing with it until we can escape because we don’t want any issues selling from complaining.

Dealing with it and fantasising about bringing home some wild garlic from my parent’s garden and accidentally dropping some on the way in…

People have had success with barking dogs by using one of those electronic device that emit a buzz at a freqency that only the dogs can hear. This would be a hand held version of the device people use to keep cats off their property.

@Flossflower do they really work? I downloaded an app on my phone but I don’t think it does anything apart from make me feel better to press the big red button. Don’t mind buying something but don’t want to spend £60+ on something that won’t do anything

I use a handheld device, and it does work but you have to point it at the dog and press a button.

I see your point. It's just exhausting. I work from home so having to document barking every few mins feels onerous!

So when the dogs do their 4am barking are the owners in? Are they going out to work and let the dogs out ? Or coming hme ?

I lived next door to a barky twat of a dog , sometimes it went on till the early hours ,

Knocking on the door , even at 2am , when it is going off on one is the only way they;ll twig that they are noise nuisances .
Saying 3pm "Oh your dogs were loud this morning" .Maybe they are numb to it .
At 3am when the dogs are in full throttle - they cannot deny .
Bonus points if they've just got into bed . Disturb them like they disturb you .

got a pair of mastiff puppies are they litter mates ? If so they are even bigger idiots as any advice on puppies will advice against this (Littermate syndrome)

I;m not ant-dog , my old NDN had 4 and the only time they made a noise was when the man came home to take them off out for a walk .