To think I have no choice but to report the neighbours?

[Carlie97]

They have three dogs, one of which barks throughout the day without a break of more than half an hour. It's especially barky in the morning, but can go on anything to 11pm at night. Their reaction to it barking is to shout at it to shut up or to ignore it, both of which prolong the barking.

I've been off for a week and the barking is really getting to me. I have pets of my own and realised that the barking must get to them too. I do work from home sometimes too and the barking interrupts my working day, including meetings etc.

The neighbours are aware of how the barking affects me but still haven't taken effective measures to stop it. I must admit to have shouted through the walls a few times in sheer frustration. It feels like I live with them most of the time because when the dogs not barking, they argue and shout at each other. This is usually evening around 11pm or later. I'm certain that they can make the dog be quiet because when I've shouted previously (not something I am proud of but I was in an important work meeting and trying to present) I've not heard another peep all day.

I spoke to the council recently and they said I may have a case. The next steps would be for the council to send a letter to the neighbours and then if the noise continued, to install noise recording equipment. In the interests of good neighbour relations, I don't want to go to the council, but feel I have no choice.

I'm off at the moment on annual leave and cannot enjoy my break. I had grand plans to go out and do things but I've felt quite depressed and I think the noise is the reason why.

I really do feel for you OP, I have been woken up every morning for 2 1/2 weeks now, by whining puppies next door. Our neighbours apparently breed them, but seem to leave them outside for long periods, and obviously the pups are unhappy about it. We had several run ins with the woman who lives there when we first moved in, so she sent her husband round to 'deal with us', lol. We basically laughed in his face and told him what SHE had been doing. The next day we went on holiday for a week, and when we came back there was a note through the door with a grovelly apology from her, saying how they like to be good neighbours, etc. We are REALLY considerate neighbours, and try never to annoy or upset anyone, to the degree that when my DH heard the neighbour talking to people outside a few weeks ago, when the weather was lovely, he actually took the trouble to ask if he'd be disturbing them if he put the garden shredder on, she said no, so that was fine, but we ALWAYS check. However, we have shouted out, and asked for them to take the dogs indoors or make them shut up, and have been completely ignored, so now the gloves are off!! Next time they sit outside, they will find out that being good neighbours is not something you can take for granted, and when they're forced to go indoors due to noise, a smoky garden fire, or BBQ, perhaps then they'll think before being so bloody unreasonable as to allow the dogs to disturb other people.

Oh gosh. Some people are so inconsiderate and they expect the world in return. Fuck them, I say and make as much noise as you want!

I leave for work at 6am and don't tone down the noise of my 5.15am early bath. I'm not purposely noisy neither but if my neighbours were more considerate then I'd have a very quick and quiet shower instead.

Take a note, retrospectively of the times the barking has taken place. Dates and times as much as you can remember.
Is their landlord the same person as is your landlord? Report them to their landlord.

You can do a property search as yo the owner on an official website. You may have to pay a small fee.

If they are frail and elderly the can get a dog walker to walk said dogs. Oh no, this will cost drinking money.

You owe it to the poor frustrated dogs to help them ( the dogs).

@Quine0nline They own their home. Been here for 40 years I believe.

One thing I have noticed is that my neighbours manage to keep the dog quiet from when they get up (around 6am) to when it starts barking without ten minutes going by before it starts it's next session. It can also bark in the evening but is generally quiet from around 8pm until I go to bed at 11pm. I have been woken up by it in the evenings before but that's a few times. Just how do they keep it quiet then but all madness breaks loose the rest of the time?

Have you spoken to them yet?

Maybe speak to your local RSPCA? They might be able to engage with your neighbours and help them address the issue with the younger dog. And/or gentle offer to rehome it.

I expect if they are old and frail then having a younger barky dog might be getting them down too. I think that you should talk to them about it or report it and suggest kindly that they've taken on too much and should rehome the loud one to somewhere without close neighbours or somewhere less busy.

I say this as someone with 3 dogs, one of whom who loves the sound of her own voice.
I've also lived next door to other people's noisy dogs and had to talk to them about it.

I think it's largely how you approach it. I think most people don't want to make life miserable for their neighbours, but obviously they will love their dog even if it's a prick. They might need to face facts though if the dog is not happy and on high alert all the time

It so unfair. Any excessive noise, whether from.pets or people is anti social.

I had two neighbours ( not at the same time thankfully) with barking dogs .

Neither were walked ( there are other dogs in the street I see going out for walks so it's not that I don't see this ) , both dogs let into the gardens to run about , bark etc.

My DD was driven mad , she was >< this close to storming round at 4am to tell the adult son to stop his f*cking dog's noise . ( He was left at home and just turfed it out early morning )

Other annoying dog was similar , turfed out and the music went on next door to drown it .

One of the most "Eh?" suggestions I got on MN was to offer to walk it . Erm ...no. There were four adults with perfectly usable legs who could do this .

Sometimes , resorting to "Rover Shut Up " loudly would stem the barking (mainly because this was the language the dog was used to ) would bring the neighbour out to see to the dog .

And I bought a whistle , proper not silent . Couple of blasts would stop it .

They moved ( both sets of neighbours ) and thankfully the dogs went too.

I am not a dog hater , there are other dogs in the street ( at least three large breeds ) but the annoying ones were small with shrill , incessant whining barking . Probably not trained

My neighbours two dogs bark everytime I go into a certain part of the garden. She just shouts at them - that winds them up even more.

I saw an interesting programme that explained why some dogs bark. Some dogs see themselves as the ‘gatekeepers of the pack’. Their bark is saying ‘Hey, there’s someone out there’ and it’s just to let everyone in the pack know, and to let the ‘intruder’ know they’ve been spotted. It could be someone in the garden or just everytime someone walks past the house. Everyday they bark at the Postman and everyday the postman goes away when he/she hears them barking - so the dogs thinks it works.

The other thing I learnt is that when we shout at a highly roused dog that is barking, they think the human is joining in the barking.

The more noise that gets generated, the more energy there is and the more noise there will be. This explains why there is no barking when they are out. You say the neighbours are shouting a lot at each other - high energy - which means that the dogs need to bark and warn the pack there’s people out there, or they think the humans are barking in response to a threat - and they are just joining in, because a lot of noise will warn off any outsiders. It what packs of wild dogs do.

So sorry, long story short - you have every right to inform the council- but your neighbours probably don’t know how to control the problem.