Are we being absurd?

[aryto]

So our neighbours are tearing down their hedges and replacing them with a fence (hedges runs down the entire bottom side of garden). Our three-year-old dog who is often complimented on his manners on walks and has called "lovely" multiple times on his medical records is really not happy! He is pretty territorial of his house and garden and will bark incessantly if he sees a stranger in close proximity, he can only be distracted momentarily. We had a behaviorist booked for Friday (who is charging an eye-watering £250-is this normal?!) to address this but have rescheduled.

The gardeners/builders are really taking their time, they've been here for almost a week and all they've seemingly managed to achieve is digging one enormous trench at the bottom of our garden. I often see them just sitting around smoking and laughing in the sun. In the meantime, the garden is totally out of bounds and we've had to build makeshift walls to prevent the dog reaching the bottom of the rooms which look out on to the garden (and builders). Floor to ceiling windows with no curtains are not helping matters. Our boy also has to be driven to the local park for toilet breaks due to the heat, it's already reached 31 C here in Norfolk! Are we acting crazy? Feels like it but I' not sure what else we can do.

That sounds like a complete pain in the rear end! Are the neighbours aware of the impact this is having? Non-dog people, or people who assume your dog is lovely in all situations, may not realise!

If you're friendly with them, I'd be asking for a schedule of (a) when the builders are due to be there (so DDog can go out in the garden on a lead for loo breaks when they aren't there) and (b) when the works are due to finish. Are they out of the house during the day? They may be unaware of the extended breaktimes of their builders.

Rescheduling the behaviourist sounds like a good idea - it's best for them to come during a time when everything is fairly normal, so they can get a good grasp of the situation. Good behaviourists are expensive. Any idiot can call themselves a behaviourist (or trainer like my next door neighbour who decided to switch from call centre work), and some of those will make things irretrievably worse, so I would always advocate getting someone who is CCAB or APBC accredited, as then you get a guarantee of quality.

The good news about behaviourists is that most people only need 1-2 sessions, so it's not an ongoing cost! For us, one session with a behaviourist did the world of good - she taught me what to do with DDog to help him, and taking her advice, with consistency and over time, we've made massive progress.

OP not being absurd at all, we had screening erected inside our fencing so that dogs would be enclosed at all times and not affected by neighbours' whims, but have lived in houses where neighbours' allowed fencing to fall down and didn't replace it.

Who is the behaviourist? That sounds a lot for an initial consultation.

Thanks for the replies, we rarely speak to these particular neighbors due to the fact they technically live on a different close, we are on waving/smiling terms, however. They failed to inform us that our garden will be without a partition for this long. The problem is also exacerbated that my boy is even able to see my neighbours next neighbours garden (and their sunbathing cat), It is a bit unthoughtful as they must hear us distracting our dog (mostly with a game of tug) when he becomes barky. It doesn't sit quite right considering that as soon as our dog becomes territorial he will be taken inside if we fail (which to be fair is rare) to distract him. We wouldn't like the idea of preventing people from enjoying their gardens.

The cost for a behaviourst sounds about right but I'm not sure why you've gone straight to that level - did your vet refer you? (If not, I would have some suspsicions about behaviourists who don't at least require a vet all clear first).

Surely a good pivate dog trainer could help you for much less?

It's certainly where I would sart...

I work at a long established dog training school in our area. Our behaviourist charges £200 but that includes a full written report and 12 months back up by phone. He is very experienced and qualified, but I am aware some charge a lot more than £250 even. The main thing is you feel like they understand you and your dog and the ongoing support is good. But I'm in agreement with missbattenburg I'm not sure the issue you are describing warrants a behaviourist before trying some training methods first.

Teaching your dog to "speak" and then how to stop barking for one. Or some desensitization and counter- conditioning. Getting him used to people around your back garden (can be done on a long line) and teaching him to cope with it or give him an alternative behaviour instead. Without seeing you, your house or the dog its difficult to be precise but there might be an easier cheaper fix. Either way it'll need a bit of work from you. Sadly there are no quick fixes