Please help..All you kind doggy people

[EasyToEatTiger]

Today my dogs were in the front garden barking along the boundary. I know this isn't great. They can't get out and we've been here several years, near a school and it's been ok, apart from annoying mostly for us. Today a neighbour went ballistic, waving his arms around and shouting at the dogs and running up and down the railing. My dd was terrified and saw from an upstairs window, and my husband heard the shouting but didn't see anything. The shouty man later came to the door, saying my dogs are all mad and our cockerel keeps him awake at night. Sometimes. We lived in London with dogs without complaint. I have despatched 3 cockerels, so now the noise is considerably less. I tried to placate this man, but I feel violated. I am deeply upset that someone should wind up my animals, and then blame me. I am not sure what to do or how to react. I am well trained in looking after dogs. I am still only an owner and not a professional. The boundary running is tiresome and something I am dealing with. It is not often that the dogs have access to the front garden. Do I simply gaffa tape everyone's mouths up?

The dogs are generally not allowed in the front garden. They are not allowed because I can't stand the boundary running. I really feel for people walking past. They also ruin my plants. The cockerel does not crow all the time and he is put in a brick extension on the house overnight. My direct neighbour says she doesn't hear him any longer. I do not like on the recieving end of barely controlled rage. I do not like being threatened. I never leave the dogs out in the garden and if they are barking I call them in. The cockerel has been with us for 2.5 years, and I have not had previous complaints. I never intended to have one, but she turned out to be a he. I said that I would certainly look at rehoming him if he is a nuisance. The man said it was rare. I actually prefer to sort things out on a friendly basis, and I do what I can.
I am shaken and upset to be the subject of overt aggression over something which can easily be solved without it. There are lots of really lovely people here on MN. I really hope I don't flame people, especially in the Doghouse, when they are having problems. It is so easy to do. And the Doghouse is notorious.

You have dogs that bark and a cockerel (that does not crow ALL the time!) plus a very irate neighbour who has either reached the end of his tether or is totally unhinged/unreasonable. Come on - think about it.

For what it's worth I had a neighbour who got cockerels, they drove everyone in the small hamlet insane but the neighbour was such a nice person no one had the heart to tell her. A new couple moved in and lasted three days before they banged on her door in the early hours in tears of frustration. We were all secretly grateful that the cockerels were rehomed. They are very difficult animals to keep if you have any neighbours.

Thank you Booboo for words of kindness and acknowledgement. I never intended to keep a cockerel, and I have already said I will try to re-home him. I do not expect to be raged at. I do not expect for my children to be afraid. It is not nice to be threatened in your own home. I think this man has anger issues and I feel sorry for his wife. He did not come round to resolve a resolveable problem. He came to start a fight.
I don't like dogs barking. However I am not going to beat the bark out of them. One of our dogs came to us mute. He had had the bark literally beaten out of him. The sound of a dog crying with frustration/fear/dread is awful.

He sounds like an aggressive dickhead and shouting and waving his arms about near your dogs would be extremely unlikely to have the desired effect of making them stop barking, so he is a thick dickhead too.
Carry on with your hedge growing and your training and ignore his pathetic attempt to bully you. If he does it again take dogs inside, film him on your mobile and tell him the footage will be going to the police if he doesn't stop being aggressive toward you.

If your dogs are barking outside, the considerate thing is to immediately bring them indoors. Your husband should have done so if you weren't around. It's VERY annoying to hear constant barking and I'm not surprised he had lost his temper, you sound like an anti-social neighbour with the cockerel as well
I'm a dog owner but luckily he's not a barker. My neighbour has 3 very yappy JRTs - but if they ever start up while in the garden she brings them IN so it's not an issue. Please do the same OP!!

OP does do the same, she has said so.

Well as I did say before he should not have shouted at either you or the dogs...although I am beginning to see why in his frustration he might have done so!

Tiger I think you've had a hard time on this thread. You came on to vent and ask for help and unfortunately I think some of the non-doggy crowd have jumped in. Obviously you've done all you can and your neighbour is being a bit unreasonable. There is no excuse for his behaviour. He could have come and spoke to you like an adult. If one of my neighbours screamed over the fence I'd be bloody cross too. I don't care what he felt compelled to do in his frustration, he was an arsehole.

I think some of the non-doggy crowd have jumped in - there'll be a lot of those on the Doghouse .......

I'm a huge dog lover - have two of my own. But I have enough awareness to consider how they might impact on other people. As to the cockerel ........

I did ask for Kind Doggy People. There have been a few and a big Thank You to those who have said kind things. I asked for support, not judgement. I think I am big enough to make my own decisions. Again I asked for kindness. Frankly I need it at the moment.

So kind doggy people think it's OK for their dogs to annoy other people? Right. Not my definition, but good luck. There are plenty of people who will agree with you.

We had neighbours with a dog who would frequently (and at all hours) bark his head off in the garden. They would call him in. Eventually he would stop.
It tried my last nerve.

Well I think I'm a kind doggy person whatever that is.
.
But I still bring my dogs in if they bark. Makes me a kind neighbour as well I think.

Um, I think some of you need to read the Op's posts again. Particularly the bits where she says the dogs aren't often in the front garden and that she never leaves the dogs out in the garden and that if they bark she calls them in. Then perhaps come back with your advice.

Cockerels. Fucking hell. This isn't about the dogs....

I'm going to jump in, I'm a non-doggy person

He's new to the area, he's going to bloody love living near a school the sound of school children screaming at break time gets on my nerves more than dogs.

(And the School traffc will pop a blood vessel for him)

Dogs Bark
Dogs want to protect their territory. Not the best plan to run shouting at dogs who are protecting their boundary fence.

My NDN has a dog , I was this close > < to storming round to ask them to shut it up quieten it, but I didn't.
I wouldn't go there all guns blazing though.

Cockeral, hmm.
One of my distant neighbours keeps a weird schreechy bird , no idea what. I could ring it's neck myself.

Probably a peacock, 70. They make the most unearthly noises.

You are right I reckon Tarty I remember DS as a toddler trying to find a peacock tail feather ( one of those butterfly farms had some) and they had the same evil noise.

Not ideal in a suburban garden .

OP, with respect, I suspect that if the neighbour could have his say on here, the story may be slightly different. Yes, his actions were wrong, but he does very much sound driven to it, probably after an extended period of -suffering- time.
In all honesty, had you experienced any other problems with him, or was this an isolated incident?
I hope the issue resolves itself soon for all concerned, as stressful all round.

But in this little anecdote, nobody had called the dogs in from barking... I highly doubt the neighbour sprang out of nowhere ninja style at first 'woof' flailing his arms madly. I also highly doubt this was the first instance either, but that's all conjecture. I'm going to hide this thread now, because, as someone whose life is made an absolute bloody misery by people not taking responsibility for their dogs, it's winding me right up her playing the victim of someone losing their shit over it. And I say that as a dog owner.

I guess it's fortunate I haven't got geese at the front as a burglar alarm. The dogs are NEVER left alone barking. They are NEVER left alone outside. I know the person from the council who deals with these things. I do what I can to keep noise down. I have never lived amongst such sanctimonious ghastly people. There are some fantastic people in the village. There are a few bad eggs. The kind of people who hate the sound of church bells, complain about the combine harvester, the tractors... My dd was terrified. I only wished she had filmed what happened. I think she was too shocked. The man DID spring out of nowhere, ninja style from what I understand. I shudder to think what he is like behind closed doors. I see his children with a dog. I see no joy. This man threatened me on my own property about things I was not aware of. If he comes onto my property again, I will not hesitate to report him.

If the dogs are never alone in the garden why were they running the boundary and barking?