Complaint made to council regarding our dog barking

[BexLW]

Hi All

First time for me posting, so please bare with me.

We have a 2.5 yr old lab x spaniel. Moved in to our current home in February 2010 and have no problems till now. It is a quiet cul de sac with 11 houses with the majority of them being privatey owned now, there are only about 3 that our council including ours.

We went away the weekend and my best friend dog sat all was okay. Came home Monday and our elderly neighbour came round as soon as we were back as poppy had been barking during the morning and he was worried something had happened as she does not usually bark.

We thanked him for letting us know and told him all was okay and unsure why she was barking.

Today though I get a letter from environmental health advising to call them. I called them immediately to be advised they had recieved a complaint from a neighbour (I don't think it would be our elderly neighbour) at 3.50pm on Monday complaining about the dog barking excessively. They confirmed thay have never recieved any other complaints this was the first.

I was so angry as I felt whoever has done this could have approached us as soon as we were home there was no need to go straight to council.

The trouble is I am now panicking as I honestly did not think my girl was a barker, don't know if this was a one off or has been a constant thing but my elderly neighbour advised it wasn't regular.

So why would you do that if not a regular thing and also what do I do for future if we want/need to go out as a family and whoever it was continues to complain. I can't afford to lose my home or pay fines.

Just sad the neighbour just didn't come and speak to me, I could have apologised and established if regular thing but if regular why not reported before we have been here over a year and a half now.

Sorry long one but so worked up and panicking about any future barking. Any advice on barking would be greatly appreciated, we leave her with toys and meat filled bones to keep her entertained. Like I said this has come out blue and don't know if onging or just a neighbour who was having a bad day!! :-(

Sorry forgot to say, the other funny thing was at 3.50pm when the complaint was made we were actually at home and definately no barking at that time.

We returned from weekend away at 12.30pm lunchtime.

Can't your best friend who dog sat enlighten you? Surely she stayed with the dog?

Maybe that was just when they rang them? Have you asked your friend if your dog was very upset?

Spoke to my friend who has dog sat her before plus the cat and never any problems.

Friend took her out for her walks and out to new places and said she was her usual good girl self.

She does suffer seperation anxiety but this is usually displayed though destroying items in house and chewing. We took advice on this and vet recommended a very large cage for her which we have. She has always seemed happy going in this when we go out to the point on school days as soon as ds has his pac a mac on she goes and sits next to cage door waiting to go in with her toys and bones.

Previously I have been sneaky and pretended to go out, stood to one side outside by front door and have not heard anything, have done about 20-30 minutes of listening.

Just being paranoid and panicky now as don't want anymore complaints and want to make sure my girl is okay.

My friend left at 8am on the Monday morning and we returned by 12.30pm.

My friend is really good with Poppy and takes her everywhere with her when she stays to dog sit for us.

I can only think it was a one off and something either spooked her or she could hear something. The elderley neighbour thought someone had broken in as he could hear banging as well. All rather strange and definately no break in etc.

Think will have to do more sneaky listenings at door again.

Like I said just sad really that a neighbour would do that rather than talk to me.

Have been here since Feb 2010 and nothing like this before.

It seems a bit odd that someone would make a complaint if it was just a one-off, could understand if it was every day. Does she normally get left during the day and are you sure she isn't barking then?

Also - if your neighbour thought someone was breaking in, surely they'd call the police, not the council/environmental health? I don't understand that at all.

Can you have a chat with the neighbour, apologise if they were annoyed, and try to understand what's going on?

I've read something similar before about a neighbour complaining about a dog barking but the owner being unaware of the situation.
The owner was advised to keep a log of when the dog was left home alone and also any times when the dog was out of the house.

If someone complains again, you will have your own notes of times to compare to the times given on the complaints and will hopefully be able to find out if there really is a problem of your dog barking or if someone is just trying to cause trouble (as was the case in the one I read about)