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How much dog barking is considered a nuisance to neighbours?

41 replies

Luelare · 18/10/2021 13:58

No, I'm not the neighbour in question – I'm the owner of the dog! We live in a detached house on a compact estate (i.e. most houses have shared driveways) with only a few meters between houses. We have a 1-year-old young adolescent collie who barks at certain noises coming from outside. We're working on it using counter conditioning and other methods with the help of a trainer, but it's a very very slow progress due to his anxiety and age.

I have no idea if neighbours can hear our dog barking when they are inside their houses (with our windows closed) – these are 8-year-old redrow homes so I guess the sound isolation is "okay".

Anyway, let's say they CAN hear our dog bark (it's a loud bark, though low-pitch) and I'm wondering whether you personally would consider it a 'noise nuisance'? He doesn't bark for long; it's 1 to 15 barks lasting 1-20 seconds. But on "bad" days when there's a lot of triggers, which happens roughly 3-4 days a week, these bark bursts can happen once in 1-2 hours on average. Would you consider that too frequent? Some days are good and he might only utter a single bark all day, and on very good days he doesn't bark at all.

I'm just working hard on trying to get him less afraid of the noises, but the fact I'm also worrying about what our neighbours might think isn't helping me, and when he barks that's sometimes the first thing I think about, and perhaps he senses my tension which certainly doesn't help.

Nobody's complained yet, and unfortunately I'm too shy and generally introverted to knock on their door and ask. Perhaps I will one day if I pass them on the street, but we hardly ever see any of them / everyone keeps to themselves.

OP posts:
Chihuahuacat · 18/10/2021 14:00

Honestly if I could hear it, it would annoy me, but I have a really low tolerance for sound.

Our neighbours dog barks when they’ve hoovering once a week and that annoys me, but not enough to complain

Skinnytailedsquirrel · 18/10/2021 14:02

One of my fears is having a neighbour with a barking dog. It's intrusive and I would find it intolerable.

TooManyAnimals94 · 18/10/2021 14:05

The odd bark is fine. If I had to listen to the prolonged barks of an obviously distressed dog I would find it upsetting and stress but it doesn't sound like that's what your dog does. You won't know unless you ask.

Whattheschitt · 18/10/2021 14:07

Based on what you've described there it wouldn't bother me.

Brollywasntneededafterall · 18/10/2021 14:07

Ime time depending...
6.45am 2 ddogs were fighting on Saturday outside my house...Angry
After 11 pm wouldn't be happy either!!
Rest of the time couldn't care less. We have 4 ddogs and ndn says they never hear them. Ddog1 passed on good habits luckily!!
Ds has a ddog in his culde sac that I swear barks 24/7...no lie. Poor thing mustn't sleep.

coachmylife · 18/10/2021 14:07

We have a dog, and I LOATHE barking. Seems like I loathe it more than the neighbours, which is fortunate, as we live in v close quarters.
I don't think I would ask, if I were you. If they say they hate it, you'll feel even worse. If they say they don't like it but can cope (likeliest?) then you won't feel any better.

SylvanasWindrunner · 18/10/2021 14:08

My dog barks every day when the postman comes or we have a delivery. But then the neighbour on the right likes to hoover his van weirdly often and cut the grass at 9pm, the neighbour on the other side has a child who likes to bounce a football out the front of their house, the guy over the road likes tinkering with his car at weekends ... It's all just neighbourhood noise. As long as it's not prolonged and the dog isn't being left in the garden to bark for a long time, then a few barks during the day isn't really a big deal IMO. It's just the noise of life.

SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 18/10/2021 14:08

Personally I would cope with it. Much more irritating is the nearby dog who maybe suffers some separation anxiety, and barks constantly for half an hour every weekday morning from 8am. I realise the owners will have no idea if no one has mentioned it to them.

SylvanasWindrunner · 18/10/2021 14:10

Also we are in a similar estate, detached fairly new builds, and here you can't hear a dog barking inside a house when you're inside your own house. We don't hear any noise from inside the neighbours' homes at all. Next door also have a dog and I only ever hear it bark when I'm in the garden, never when I'm in my own house.

Mykittensmittens · 18/10/2021 14:10

I moved house because of a neighbours dog who barked a lot. They could see no issue but the consequence was I subsequently then had to deal with ‘BARK’….’stop it Boris’, ‘BARK BARK…..’stop it now Boris’… endlessly.

It made sitting in my garden unemployable (opening my door would set him off), gardening (that set him off), having any dialogue on my doorstep greeting or waving a visitor off (that set him off), anyone next door or opposite having a delivery (that set him off), planes, lawnmowers, motorbikes, (they all set him off) but it was ‘okay’ as they were training him. For years.

Your neighbours don’t have a dog so they shouldn’t have to listen to someone else’s dog noise. It’s really intrusive.

Mykittensmittens · 18/10/2021 14:11

Unemployable? Unenjoyable 🙄

Brollywasntneededafterall · 18/10/2021 14:12

What methods have you tried op?

Luelare · 18/10/2021 14:15

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yeah, just to clarify, he doens't bark when excited, when playing, when he wants something, or when left alone. He doesn't bark when with me in the garden. He also doesn't bark during the night, except maybe once every two months when some unusual sound startles him. During daytime it's just the noises from outside, whenever he's inside, which trigger him and which is why it's unpredictable and can vary a lot from day to day.

I don't think I would ask, if I were you. If they say they hate it, you'll >feel even worse. If they say they don't like it but can cope (likeliest?) >then you won't feel any better.
I think you might be right. Probably better not knowing so I can focus on just improving the situation, without feeling even more bad than I already do.

OP posts:
Etonmessisyum · 18/10/2021 14:18

I had a barky retriever - sometimes he still has a woof at our cat abs he’s loud but our house is terraced however the neighbours both said they’ve not heard him.

Things we did

Spot distractions before him
Have a cue word
Treat
Then he associates those things with us/the cue word - getting a treat which is a toy for him as he’s not food driven
Reward nothing - so when he is settled and calm I use cue word and reward all nice and calmly. I also ignore barking or redirect if I can’t ignore it giving him attention made it worse.

Have you gone outside to see if you can hear him?

Luelare · 18/10/2021 14:20

@SylvanasWindrunner

Also we are in a similar estate, detached fairly new builds, and here you can't hear a dog barking inside a house when you're inside your own house. We don't hear any noise from inside the neighbours' homes at all. Next door also have a dog and I only ever hear it bark when I'm in the garden, never when I'm in my own house.
That's actually very relieving to hear! It's true that I have never heard any noises/music coming from any of our neighbours' houses, unless they have multiple windows open. There's a few other dogs on the estate a few houses away from us, and I've only ever heard them bark when they are out in the gardens. But obviously none of them are right next to us, so I haven't been able to compare.
OP posts:
icedcoffees · 18/10/2021 14:34

I agree with PP who said that if you ask, you're likely to be upset if someone says "yes", even if the barking isn't actually excessive, if that makes sense.

I have a beagle and he can be quite...gobby at times, lol. However our neighbours have never once complained and we live in a terrace. He mostly barks for his dinner (around 1pm) and when DH gets home from work around 5pm, plus whenever anyone knocks, which isn't often as we get parcels delivered elsewhere as we're out at work all day. He's also never left home alone to cause a nuisance.

In all honesty, I like the fact that he barks to alert us to the door so that's not something I want to train him out of. If I'm upstairs I can't always hear the door so it's good that he can alert me to it.

Barking (in small doses) is, IMO, a normal neighbourhood noise - like shouting kids in gardens, lawn mowers, the occasional bit of DIY, car doors slamming etc. You can't live in close proximity to people and expect silence. Barking for 20 seconds every couple of hours is really no big deal.

PermanentlyDizzy · 18/10/2021 14:35

We had a dog with separation anxiety which manifested by barking and howling when I left. I had to do two ten minute school runs a day and found out he was barking when my attached neighbour told me. I immediately apologised and told them we would do something about it. I started on a SA desensitisation programme and kept them informed and they were fine with that, as long as they knew we were addressing the problem. On a couple of occasions, when we had an emergency and I had no choice but to leave the dog home alone (eg a&e with one of the dcs) I either popped round to explain or if they weren’t home, dropped a note through the door apologising. Ironically, they now have a dog that barks quite a lot, but it doesn’t bother me at all

If no-one has complained I would assume it’s not bothering them. You are doing what you can to address the issue, it’s not like you don’t care and expect others to just put up with it. When we had a detached new build you could only just hear my dogs bark if you were standing right outside our front door. I think outside barking is generally a much bigger problem in residential areas, unless you live in a semi or terraced property.

Potterurotter · 18/10/2021 14:41

I have a small dog (pug) and he rarely barks. However we have an undesirable neighbour next door who has a dog that can bark relentlessly which ruins being in the conservatory or the garden at times. Dog doesn’t go out and really shouldn’t be kept as clearly not well cared for, never taken out told to shut up etc small garden is a jungle which I’m thinking also has rats as I’ve seen two in ours which I believe came from there! So, could be worse op

Luelare · 18/10/2021 14:44

@Etonmessisyum

I had a barky retriever - sometimes he still has a woof at our cat abs he’s loud but our house is terraced however the neighbours both said they’ve not heard him.

Things we did

Spot distractions before him
Have a cue word
Treat
Then he associates those things with us/the cue word - getting a treat which is a toy for him as he’s not food driven
Reward nothing - so when he is settled and calm I use cue word and reward all nice and calmly. I also ignore barking or redirect if I can’t ignore it giving him attention made it worse.

Have you gone outside to see if you can hear him?

Thanks! Yeah, this is roughly what we are doing too. I always have a jar of treats right next to me, and if I can hear the 'scary noise' the same time he hears it, and I can see him lifting his head and put his ears back (sign he's nervous about something), I say 'yes!' and rapidly chuck treats to him. This works well when I can predict the sound, but oftentimes I can't. As you also mentioned, my breeder told me to ignore him if barking (pretend nothing is out there) rather than make a big deal out of it and give him attention, though if he simply won't stop then I should say something like "yeah yeah, nothing there" in a bored tone of voice. That's what I've been doing for many months and it's maybe improved a little bit, but not much.

In what ways do you redirect if your dog has already started barking (if/when ignoring doesn't work)? Without accidentally rewarding barking, that is.

Sorry, this went a bit off topic, but it's a topic that's (obviously) very relevant to me right now, haha.

Yes, I can hear him outside the house when e.g. on the driveway.

OP posts:
ReeseWitherfork · 18/10/2021 14:46

I can often hear neighbours dogs barking and it doesn't remotely bother me. My own dog barking drives me bananas. He gets a stern telling off and dragged back inside if he does it. I once checked with the neighbours (4 houses worth) if he barks a lot when we are out and they were all very polite and said if he did then they didn't hear.

There is a small orchestra of dogs when the postman is nearby. Or someone gets a food shop delivered.

ReeseWitherfork · 18/10/2021 14:47

OP, I had a bark collar for a while with my dog and it worked beautifully. It didn't feel cruel which I thought it would.

icedcoffees · 18/10/2021 14:51

Do not use a bark collar. They are illegal in many places for good reason - you risk the dog associating what they're barking at with the vibration/shock/spray of the collar, which can very easily lead to, say, a dog barking at a noisy child becoming scared of children, and therefore aggressive toward them.

Luelare · 18/10/2021 14:52

@ReeseWitherfork

OP, I had a bark collar for a while with my dog and it worked beautifully. It didn't feel cruel which I thought it would.
Sorry, not my kind of thing :) I rather it take longer to train as long as it's pain/aversive free. If it gets to the point neighbours complain and we can't improve it fast enough, then we'll move.
OP posts:
Luelare · 18/10/2021 14:52

@icedcoffees

Do not use a bark collar. They are illegal in many places for good reason - you risk the dog associating what they're barking at with the vibration/shock/spray of the collar, which can very easily lead to, say, a dog barking at a noisy child becoming scared of children, and therefore aggressive toward them.
100% agree.
OP posts:
AlternativePerspective · 18/10/2021 14:53

Dogs bark. It’s what they do.

Obviously no-one wants to hear an insessently barking dog, and quite why anyone would want to even own one that barked at that level amazes me, but on the whole for a dog to bark a couple of times a day, at the door, maybe at a toy, maybe even in response to another dog barking outside is perfectly normal.

I have two dogs. The older one is starting to exhibit a bit of separation anxiety and will bark a few times when he wants his humans to be with him. I wouldn’t want to listen to it endlessly so I wouldn’t subject my neighbours to it, so when he barks I either go into the room and stay with him for a bit, or if I’m e.g. eating i will bring him into the kitchen to lie with me. I have no control over exactly when these barks will occur, but I silence them fairly quickly.

My other dog barks if someone comes to the door, given I’m home on my own the majority of the time that’s not a behaviour I am going to be discouraging. But fortunately I have very few visitors.

My next door neighbours have a toddler who as a baby screamed and screamed 24/7 and now that he’s older has the most almighty tantrums. The reality is that babies cry, it’s what they do. But the reality also is that most people don’t want to hear a constantly screaming baby any more than they want to hear a barking dog.

My neighbours on the other side play their piano (badly) until as late as 11 PM. And they have recently started playing the violin. 😱.

Unless you live in a mansion in the country it’s impossible to avoid noise from neighbours.