Barking mad hound and grumpy old neighbour

[mum47]

Our lovely dog barks when she first gets outside, not much and not for long but as she is a hound it is quite a "distinctive" howl. She is not the sort that barks constantly. We have an elderly gentleman as a neighbour who is ill,but also he is - and always has been - very grumpy. He has in the past shouted at my children when they have been playing in the garden, he used to throw stones at our neighbours dog's kennel when she barked, he even shouts at birds on his bird table. He has really taken against our dog. Every time I go out our door, he seems to be there glaring at us and muttering. Yesterday the dog was let out about 7.30 by my husband, which I appreciate is early, and she did bark a bit so we took her in. Later on my neighbour had a real go at me saying we had no respect for our neighbours etc. I suspect the dog barking may have woken him and I do understand why he would be annoyed at that. I did apologise but he did get my back up the way he spoke to me. I also pointed out that we have for years tolerated the constant noise of engines and power tools from his garage and garden and never complained (which I do appreciate is different but it is sometimes constant and as I work from home a lot sometimes is bloody annoying). He didn't take that point on, and kept on having a go at me and I said I didn't want to continue the conversation and left it at that. It is really stressing me out, as I feel because he is elderly and (I think terminaly) ill, I cannot be too harsh on him. I feel like he is watching my every move. You know what it is like when something has annoyed you, you are just waiting for it to happen again, and that is what I think is the case with him. He is so wound up about it that he will pick up on the smallest thing.. What annoys me the most is that I think - no know - that he will be complaining to everyone about us which I do feel is dispropportionate and unfair. He is known locally as being difficult but I still feel cross about the whole thing. Since yesterday I have taken the dog outside on her lead when she has needed out, and am trying to stop her barking, but she is a dog so that is never going to happen! Any suggestions?

I don't have any specific dog advice but I have had a problem neighbour. I reported them to the council who advised us to make a diary of the disturbances, etc. It might be worth making a note of when he shouts at the dog/kids/birds, when he is causing a racket in his shed as well as instances of your dog barking so if he makes some sort of complaint, you can explain that in the grand scheme of things, you are doing very little to disturb the neighbourhood and the men in white coats can come and pick him up

It sounds a little unfair to restrict your dog over what sounds like a small matter and personally, he sounds like he wouldn't be happy even if the Flanders lived next door.

One of the problems with noise complaints is that people do become genuinely over sensitised to the trigger noise - if he has other health problems as well this really may be the last straw for him.

I am very far from being knowledgeable about dog training but you can train your dog not to bark. Minimu has written about it before on here, using a clicker. I think the principle is that you teach your dog to bark on command and can then work from there on teaching the dog to stop barking on command.

Also, is the inference from your post that your husband lets the dog out and the dog stays out in the garden? If this is happening then your neighbour is probably understandably cross.

Have a chat with your local Environmental Health department - it's very likely your neighbour could make a complaint about you - if this goes all the way to a legal hearing then you will be forced to take action. If you are in social housing, noise problems can be dealt with as Anti Social Behaviour and can ultimately lead to tenancies being lost if not resolved satisfactorily, so it's worth trying to get this situation sorted out.

I read your post and can more than relate to it. I to have a very grumpy old man living next door to us for 15 years we have lived here. He has banged on our walls when my boys have been playing over the years. He also has a garage from which lots of noise comes from. I have and DH has had many a cross word with him over many things. Our name for him now is Mr Victer Meldrew. Late last year I recieved a letter from envirement health re my dogs barking. I rang them up about it straight away as I knew who had done this anyway I spoke with a lovely lady who said they (meldrew) would have to log every time they barked for a 2week timescale then send it to them. They would then look at it as see if there was infact a problem or weather it was normal dog behavoir. I also logged any barking also if any reason was behind the barks. Anyway I was to ring back in a fortnight to see if any further action was going to be taken. When I rang back the complanent had not sent thier log sheet back CASE CLOSED this time :) However they can do it again.
Please dont worry about it IGNORE him totally your not alone he is a grumpy old man :)

We had some success with lessening the amount our dogs barked outside.

Everytime they barked, they were told to come straight back into the house. It meant that we had to be out with them all the time to start with, but quite quickly it stopped the mad barking which they did the second they were let out. The rest was harder as they were usually barking at a noise (usually from the neighbours) and so felt they had to "guard" us.

I never solved it but did make it manageable.

Good luck

I'd be hugely pissed off if my neighbour let their dog out to bark at 0730. It's really bloody inconsiderate. Yabu. Train your dog.

Sorry I've just seen this isn't actually in aibu . (But if it were you would be U)

Personally, I think one-off (or two or three-off) barks are normal and fine, and if you live in a town (I live in London) you are going to hear barks, car doors, engines, and all sorts of things at 7.30am.

Sympathies, we have elderly neighbours and one of them was very difficult when we had some building work done - very difficult indeed! - and its harder to deal with when one is worrying about their vulnerabilities. Also understandable being grumpy, if one is terminally ill and elderly, I suppose - but doesn't mean you have to take it on board.

I would reassure myself that it is mostly his problem (unless your dog barks consistently, in which case its a training issue) and try and just let go of it, tbh. It does 'go in' when people are so angry/blaming, I think you might need other people to listen to your dog and tell you that you're not being unreasonable - validate your reality! Or not, I suppose, but just going by what you say....7.30 on a week day for a bark or two sounds normal.

I can sympathise too - hounds don't bark a lot but when they do you can really hear them. Like MrsZoidberg, I've been strict about 'one bark and you're back in!' to stop mine standing at the gate barking at passers-by. I don't actually want to stop them altogether, as it's quite useful, but they know they can't do it recreationally. Much as they'd like to.

Everyone where I live has dogs so there's a fair bit of tolerance about noise, but if your neighbour is fixated on it, it sounds as if one of you will just have to go out with her and make sure she knows that if she makes a fuss, she'll go straight back in. What's she barking at? Is there something that sets her off or is she just excited to be outside?

Thanks for all your posts. I have been taking her into the garden on her lead with "no barking" commands, and treating her if she does not, and taking her in if she does. She really doesn't bark that much - as you say wildfig, hounds don't bark constantly, but their bark is distinctive. I think when she gets out she likes to "announce herself" to the world, and then she may have the odd bark at a bird or something but it is not constant - which I appreciate would be really annoying. We are just going to have to be really strict and be seen by the neighbour to be dealing with her, but it is getting wearing everytime I go out the door to see him glowering at me and muttering to himself. He seems to appear out of the blue like Mr Benn...

What kind of hound is she? [houndfan face]

She is a three year old beagle. She is gorgeous and boy does she know it!! :)

We has a Westie and a pain in the butt neighbour, we also live in London.
I love my dog, hate my neighbour.....

I have dogs , they have never barked , one bark and in they come , its not hard to establish and they soon learn . My neighbours dog woke me every day for years despite polite requests to sort something out .

Its not a great inconvenience to take your dog out on its lead until it learns not to bark .