Dogs barking/howling next door

[thepatchworkcat]

Hi all. I’m not a dog person and have never had one so would be grateful for some insight.

Next door neighbours have a couple of little yappy dogs (not sure what they are). One is quite old I think, the other seems quite new/young. Recently they’ve been barking/yapping/howling a lot, I’m assuming when the owners are out. They sound lonely! And it’s driving me slightly nuts.

Is this normal? Will it pass as the new one gets used to being left? Should I just put up with it or say something?

Thanks!

I would ask if they know it's happening. I'd be mortified if my dog was doing that. In fact the first few times we left her, I told my neighbours we were going out and asked them to tell me if there was any noise so I could put measures in place.

It's absolutely not something you should be putting up with. Do you have a reasonable relationship with your neighbours in general?

Thanks Flip. We’re perfectly civil and polite with the neighbours, take in parcels etc, but not friends. I wouldn’t want to make too much of a big deal about noise because we have a four year old who has almost certainly disturbed them at various points in his life so far! I might mention it though in case they don’t realise the dogs are unhappy.

Please mention it as kindly as you can. Don't just put a note through the door - go and have a chat.

No dog owner WANTS their dogs to be distressed, and no reasonable person wants their neighbours to be distressed. But making sure the neighbours know the training might take a while is really important- if both the people and the dogs are stressed, it's awful. So a kind conversation is totally the way forward, for both the people and the dogs.

Are your neighbours out for long/at predictable times?