How much barking is too much?

[KeepLosingThings]

One neighbour has a dog that barks in the garden, 4 times a day, about 2 mins each time, between 9am and 9pm.

Bark is very loud.

Houses are detached but close together

Other neighbour has a bit of a go and says this is causing significant mental distress.

Who is being unreasonable?

Will tell you later which neighbour I am, so these are at random:

YANBU - this is an unacceptable level of noise and it was fair to complain

YABU - this is an acceptable level of neighbourhood noise

Only 8 mins in total all day (2 min max at a time). That's OK in my book.

I don’t think it’s totally UNreasonable but it would be annoying and the dog owner should be more proactive in bringing the dog straight indoors at the first woof and keep doing this to train it that barking means back indoors.

It’s fine - nobody is going to care about 8 minutes of barking a day.

As a one off it’s not a problem, but if this is 4 times a day every day I can understand how the neighbour is fed up of it. No one wants to hear a dog barking.

I’d find that amount of barking (or any barking, really) extremely irritating.

I would care. Every day for two minutes, 4 times a day. Nope. If the dog is not barking the rest of the time, then there is no need to allow it to bark during these occasions. Barking dogs do not lead to friendly neighbour relationships.

The noice complaints office are not going to come banging down your door.

However loud dog barking is annoying and two solid minutes of it though doesn’t sound a lot is really when it’s a loud annoying sound.

What takes so long for them to get their dog in if they know it barks they should be with it to correct and bring in the second it starts.

It isn't a massive amount of time. But the pattern makes me think something is triggering it eg dog is let out in garden 4 times a day and barks for 2 mins until owner lets it back in. If that is what is happening then I would be annoyed that owner is not on standby to let it in sooner.

I would. People who let their dogs bark away in the garden are an unutterable pain in the arse and should be rounded up and put on an island hundreds of miles from civilisation.

Even if its "only 8 minutes" you get to the point where you tense up dreading the next episode. If it were at exact times, like exactly 6.22pm, you could relax in between.

Some dogs' barks are like a baby crying: it sounds like they're in real distress and it's so uncomfortable not being able to "help". So it's not because I hate dogs, if anything it's almost the opposite, it's very uncomfortable hearing them "upset" because even if they aren't, that's what it sounds like and there's no way you can concentrate on anything while it's going on.

8 minutes of dog barking a day is 8 minutes too long for me.
I don’t like dogs and don’t have any!
we have a neighbour a couple of doors down with 2 dogs, I maybe hear them once a week for about 10-15 seconds, they go out to the dogs and quieten them down. I don’t mind that, it’s not as irritating as minutes of barking at a time on a regular basis, that’s unacceptable imo!

Is that all?

Anything more than 10 seconds in one go would really piss me off.

I think two minutes of continuous barking is quite a lot. If it was my dog I'd give it thirty seconds and then tell the dog to stop/call it in.

I think 9am is a bit early on the weekend and 9pm is a bit late in the evening as it could wake children sleeping.

As a neighbour I would only complain if it was causing real problems though e.g. waking a child up. I think it's annoying, but low level enough that I wouldn't cause a problem with the neighbours. I'm also aware that I'm not perfect and probably also make noise of a type/at a time that isn't convenient to them (kids playing, for example can be just as annoying and I'm not limiting my kids to 8 mins a day in the garden so....).

There’s no reason for a dog to bark continuously for two minutes. If it’s being let out to toilet, it’s obviously not being supervised unless the owner stands and watches it bark. Let it pee then bring it in.

8 minutes a day doesn't seem to unreasonable.
Depends on the circumstances though, I think. Are the owners of the barking dog doing anything about it? If mine bark in the garden, I go straight out and get them to be quiet or bring them back in. One of the neighbours shuts their dog out in the garden and it's left to cry, whine and bark. I find that annoying, but more because I feel sorry for the dog.

It’s annoying but acceptable neighbourhood noise.

My Nextdoor neighbours dog barks every time it’s in the garden and especially if I have the audacity to be in my own garden at the time. It’s jarring but I just put up with it tbh. And I don’t feel bad if I have drinks in the garden with a friend in the evening and we are out there chatting

I would. Barking is bloody annoying.

That isn't unreasonable. I have a dog across the road from me that barks morning to night. It has to be classed as persistent and consistent for it to be classed as anti social behaviour.

My neighbour locks her dog in a cage and goes out all day every day - it howls nonstop for hours. 8 mins of barking would be bliss in comparison.

Our neighbour's dog barks for 9 hours solid every day he is at work. In fact she barks whenever she is on her own, which is frequent. We live in a row of cottages so it's very loud. I can hear her now. He knows she does it, he even has a camera so he can watch her doing it.

A few minutes I guess is ok, as long as they are called in if it becomes continuous, I’m really not a fan of barking, I moved house once because a neighbour let her dog bark all afternoon and evening everyday, just opening a door or window would set it off.

Any barking is too much for me. But there's a lot worse than 8 minutes a day, so I could live with it.

There are loads of dogs in our village. Mainly labs and spaniels. You never hear them. But there's a terrier that, without fail, every single evening goes batshit with its high pitched yappy barking. It's never taken inside or told to be quiet and it does my nut in.

Unspeakably cruel. Can't you report this? How awful.