I have no idea what to do. We have lived here for 2.6 years and neighbours have never said anything to us about the dogs. Anyway on Saturday landlord rings and asks if she can come round and speak to me.
When she arrives she looks upset, and says she has some bad news. One of the neighbours has been complaining to the agent that the dog has been barking all day long. We have 2 dogs and have never had complaints before, I work out of the home during school hours, but often h or ds1 (17) are home earlier and ds1 is currently only at work 2 days a week.
We live in a semi detached house in quiet residential crescent, its not a through road to anywhere and very little traffic. apparently they believe it to be the Labrador that barks and not the terrier as its a deep loud bark not a yap. In the evening you can hear lots of dogs in the neighbourhood, in their gardens and I have a few times mistakenly old the Labrador to stop barking to realise its not him, he's lying indoors in his basket.
Basically the landlord has given us 4 weeks to sort the problem or the dogs will have to leave! Or at least the Labrador will.
They are both walked for at least an hour before I leave for work, and then walked again when I get home and then h or ds1 take them for a walk before bed. They are left with toys and the tv on very low. We are now experimenting with keeping the blinds closed so that he can't see birds/cats/people walking past. The terrier can't see above the window sill anyway.
What else can we do?
Moving is not an option, we can't afford to, rents have gone up considerably and after a run of landlords selling up on us we feel as secure as you can do in a private rent and the landlord is lovely, carries out repairs quickly and generally just leaves us to it. Also as the agent won't say who has made the complaint, I can't really go knocking on the neighbours doors without looking like im angling for an argument.