I have complained about the noise of my neighbour's dog. Is it going to get worse?

[Chefpig]

My next door neighbours are an elderly couple, but fucking hell, they're noisy.

They have two dogs. One of the dogs barks at intervals of twenty minutes. There's always at least one of the couple in the house when the dog barks and so they're very much aware of the barking and they regularly shout at it. Barking is throughout the day and up until gone 11pm, when it wakes me up. It's just been barking for half an hour non stop now. Doing anything relaxing, eg reading, having a bath, etc. is bound to get interrupted and working from home is a nightmare. I know meetings will get interrupted by the constant sound of barking and them shouting the dogs name or 'for fucks sake' at the dog.

I won't go round as they're very much aware of the barking and I've shouted through the walls numerous times. Today, all through my breakfast it was barking with the woman home and apart from the odd shout of the dogs name, it was not shutting up.

I've finally flipped and submitted a noise complaint through the council. I'm in rented accommodation. Has anyone ever done this? What was the outcome and was the any retribution from the neighbours? I love my house so much I do not want to move.

Did you keep a noise diary for a fortnight? That's normally what council require. A friend's experience of this situation was that the barking stopped and no kickback because council don't reveal who complained. Almost certainly they will be annoying more than just you, so just play dumb in the unlikely event they challenge you.

This is the main reason I don't like dogs. Their yapping and barking is so annoying.

I live in a semi detached so they can probably guess it's me.

I didn't keep a noise diary. I will see what the council come back with.

I agree at how annoying it is, but it isn't hard to train a dog not to bark all the time. Shouting at them is useless - they just think you're joining the bark-in.

I sympathise, OP, even though I'm a total dog lover.

Someone did it to me once. The council told me it was considered low level and they were just making me aware. They didn’t actually do anything. The complainant however, who they slipped up and identified just happened to be dealing drugs. So I returned returned the favour and told them. Guess which one of us got evicted?

Why on earth would you not go round first and try to have a calm conversation with them.? Shouting through the wall is just silly. It doesn’t need to be a confrontation . I dont think the complaint will go anywhere as you have hardly any background info and they will ask what you have done to raise the problem with them . “ I shouted through the wall” is going to look a bit lame.

Im not saying a single conversation will sort it but its the starting point.

Ime they wrote to the ndn.

I genuinely think he had become deaf to the poor fucker. Locked out 4 times a day for at least 30 mins (to an hour) of constant barking...last one at 10pm.. He wasn't having a jolly mooch around his grounds..
It did improve.
Unlike when I reported building works all weekend the other side...apparently that's tough shit..

They know it's barking though and they haven't done anything. They know it bothers me and yet they haven't taken action. They should be coming round to me to apologise if anything.

No it doesn’t work like that . If you want people to understand how you are feeling you actually have to have a conversation with them. You need to explain your position and give them chance to explain. They might think they are doing enough, you need to explain why its not working.

Come on OP be an Adult and GO ROUND AND TALK TO THEM!!!

If they know it bothers you, then how many times have you been round in person to ask them if they can stop the dogs barking?

Some people are oblivious to how annoying dogs constantly barking are. You'll need to just keep going round to "complain" (politely ask if their dogs are ok due to their constant barking).

You need to start keeping a diary documenting how often they bark, then record the barking.

They know the dogs are bothering me as I shout enough through the walls. I'm not up for any confrontation.

Shouting through the walls is SO rude!

You don't have to confront them. Just knock on the door and say you're just checking if everything is OK as the dogs keep barking and you're trying to read/sleep. Then politely ask if they could possibly stop them barking so much.

Shouting through the walls is aggressive and ridiculous. A calm and reasonable discussion should’ve been your first approach.

You’ve set the ball rolling with your ‘last resort’ now. You may as well keep a noise diary (as that is what the council ask you to do) and take it from there.

Shouting through the walls actually makes you look worse than them in my opinion.

Dogs barking is annoying but natural. Someone yelling through the walls is just disrespectful and disorderly behaviour, by a person that knows better. Speak to them like a grown up.

If they ask if it was you who reported them, deny it, but tell them how upsetting the noise is! They may not be fully aware of how bad it really is and think you are the unreasonable one for banging and shouting through the wall.

Shouting through the wall IS confrontational!

YABU. Shouting through the wall is not appropriate. Perhaps once in frustration is understandable, but shouting "enough" for them to know it's bothering you is not reasonable behaviour.

I said it DOESNT need to be a confrontation. And yes they might know it bothers you but you have to explain in more detail e.g. it’s affecting your sleep etc.And you can do this by having a confrontation, face to face like adults.

Can you edit your post to remove the offensive use of the word “ cretin” ? This is disabilist language

Do the dogs get walked?

I'm assuming they don't. Happy walked dogs would not bark excessive like you describe.

There are neighbours round near me, never ever walk there barky dogs. It's sad really some people don't deserve them.

I used "cretin" to mean an exceptionally stupid person. Have just googled it, and find that its ARCHAIC/HISTORICAL meaning is someone whose intellectual development has been impeded by fetal thyroid deficiency. I would be interested to know how many people actually know this meaning in order to be offended by it. I respect your desire to use non- disablist language but genuinely think objecting to this use of a word is a bit of a stretch, given that I am pretty old now, and have never heard of this meaning.
In any case I can't edit the post now.

It’s okay I’ve asked for it to be removed

Hope you never use stupid or idiot either as they're both considered ableist too. I do, but I hope you don't as you seem to consider yourself the language police. .