Reported for dogs barking!

[Luckz66]

I have two terrier dogs who have just turned two and today I received a letter from the council about their nuisance barking.
I leave for work around 8am and I’m back around 4 and they are left inside and do not bark (I have a ring camera as proof!)
When they are outside which is no later than 7pm, the one does sometimes bark but only if next doors dog is out and is scratching at the fence or whimpering by the back door as it is left out for long periods.
I think the letter is malicious and from my next door neighbour as she is in council accommodation and desperately wants to move out. She has been reported herself from residents in the street for smoking illegal substances, prostitution and worries about her young child.
I just wanted more information really about what I can do as I am genuinely shocked!

The council won't do anything about noise if it hasn't been proven to be an issue. What does their letter suggest next steps are? Mediation?

Leaving your dogs for 8hrs is a bit much? However if you have proof via the ring camera then you have nothing to worry about

Do your dogs get out during the day? 8 hours is a long time to leave a dog. Is your camera inside as perhaps your ring doorbell is t picking up the dogs barking.

I normally pop back on my lunch if I can and they are left with plenty of food and water. Even worried about them with the heat that they have three fans left on for them and brought the ring camera so I check they’re ok.
Like I said previously the smaller one does bark sometimes and gets excited when my children play fetch with him but it’s not during anti social hours.

The letter states that a complaint has been made and if it continues then it will be investigated.
I have read on my councils webpage and states that whoever made the complaint should have come to speak to me first, but obviously they haven’t!
Really quite stunned by it all

Yes, the camera is in the kitchen and pick up noise from inside the house.

The dog downstairs is left all day and howls and barks intermittently, thankfully not all day. My neighbours would probably confidently say that their dog doesn't bark. It doesn't when they are there...

I think you can't be sure and should get a dog walker in or something as it's a long time to leave a dog.

Fridays is my day off so I take them on a walk first thing and then if the weather is nice they do spend time in the garden. They are not left alone out there while I am at home and if they do bark they are told to stop and it’s not during anti social hours.

How can you be sure they don't bark non-stop for the eight hours you're not there? It's such a long time to leave them.

Well she’s not going to get a move because your dogs bark that’s not how council housing works so that isn’t the reason 🙄

Like I say… I pop back during my lunch and the camera inside the house shows that they do not cause any nuisance noise when I am not in. They normally only bak if they get excited playing ball

Because I have a ring cameras in the house, so I can keep an eye on them whilst I’m not there!

She used other factors… she’s reported children for playing outside the side of her house saying she’s scared and cannot go out in the garden! She has reported other people in the street for other various things too, guess it was just my turn!

Where do they wee in the day? That's a really long time to leave them.

You can hear every noise clearly in every room?

Still such a long time to leave dogs in the house alone.

They have pads down but I pop home for lunch and let them out! They such good dogs and never really have accidents!

Yes!

I had this and it went nowhere. It depends on whether your dogs barking are creating a statutory nuisance or are just barking. A dog being left all day to bark is a nuisance. A dog barking at someone knocking on the door isn't.

In my case my neighbours objected to hearing anything, ever. They wanted us to creep around in absolute silence. My dogs weren't nuisance barkers. I knew this as they were with me 24/7 and being autistic, I couldn't tolerate it. Whenever they did bark they would be silenced immediately by being picked up. The only exception to that was bonfire night when the little one would go absolutely nuts until the fireworks stopped. I was honest and told the council person that but she wasn't interested as even that was in the 'normal dog barking' box.

I understand that but like I say, I pop back and let them out and is for three days in the week as I do not work Fridays or weekends and my sister pops in on Mondays for me.

The one dog will bark a lot if next doors dog is scratching at the fence and digging under through to mine as it’s left out unsupervised for very long periods.

What do you mean by you have ring cameras in the house? Ring cameras only pick up certain noises/movements and only record in short bursts once they’re triggered. A ring camera can miss all sorts of stuff. You neighbour cannot force the council to move her because your dogs are being a nuisance so that’s not why she’s reported you. I’m wondering if she’s feeling sorry for your dogs being left 8 hours a day so has tried to instigate an investigation.

The council will worst case scenario put a noise recording device in next door - if the neighbour wants to take it that far, that is.
So if you are sure that they're not barking out of the ordinary then that will show it so you'll be ok.
But I know it puts you on edge.
My neighbour harassed us for a year and part of that was complaining about our 'noise' (not dogs) so they got a noise recording device put in for a fair while. Thankfully it came back normal household noise but I was still worried about it the whole time

My dogs are left because I’m at work… her dog is left out all day without food and water… scratches at the fence and barks because it’s locked outside while they are inside and ignores it!

I think you’re misunderstanding the guidelines which say dogs should not be left more than a maximum of 4 hours at a time. It’s not acceptable to leave them for the maximum 4 hours, and then a whole other 4 hours because you or your sister have managed to ‘pop’ into the house at some point in between. Terriers are high drive working dogs. Yours are very young and I very much believe they may be barking in frustration at the situation you’ve got them in. You seem to be looking down at the neighbour who lets her dog in the garden unsupervised for long periods when you’re doing far worse imo

Every time one of the dogs move it triggers the ring camera off which then records and because they move around it records a lot! Not one of those videos show my dogs barking!