To feel upset listening to this

[nicslackey]

I have a neighbour with a Yorkshire terrier of about 18 months old. I have been listening to it crying plaintively for 6 hours now and it really upsets me. She leaves it alone for 6 -8 hours every Saturday and it cries the entire time. I know I should just harden my heart but I just think it's so sad and I can't bear to hear him. It's not a noise issue as not barking and probably not cruelty either but I just dread Saturday as I can hear him even with the tv on.😢

Does she know?
Could you have him in yours for the evening?

I don't really know her and I am concerned it will sound like a complaint,, no matter how I phrase it. I would take him as I look after another Yorkie all week for someone but he is at home with his real mum on Saturday night. Quite possibly she is not aware how upset he is. I think I might drop a wee note through the door and then if she chooses to respond it is up to her.

Can you reach the poor dog and take him to yours? I couldn’t listen to a dog crying for hours if I could do something about it to lessen his/her distress. Poor dog ☹️

I think offering to have him while she goes out because you can hear him crying is a lovely offer, not an offensive one.

Oh that's so sad. She maybe doesn't know. Unless she has a camera she may have no idea he's so upset.

I understand your reluctance as I would feel the same, but maybe you could approach her and say you can hear him crying and you have a wee yorkie during the week and would love the company of her pup on a Saturday, maybe word it like she'd be doing you a favour?

It would break my heart too 😢

Thanks, I thought people would think I was being silly. He is in the house, so I can't do anything and it is coming up to 7 hours now, Not sure what his toilet arrangements are.

If it is being left alone for 8 hours that is a cruelty issue.

If my neighbor kindly offered to sit my dog whilst I was out so she wasn't lonely I would just be grateful. He's probably usually sleepy in the evenings so she thinks it's ok to leave him not realizing he misses her. My neighbour told me our dog was upset once when we left her when younger and I was grateful as it meant I knew not to try leaving her so long, and to leave more treats and distractions to keep her busy. I didn't take offence, many good dog owners will just be grateful.

I had this same issue with a neighbour.

I went around and I said I was just really concerned about her dog as he sounded VERY upset (I didn't mention the hours of barking...) and asked if I could do anything at all to help. The key is to NOT sound like you're complaining.

She gave me a key to her house and said yes absolutely if I didn't mind then anytime I heard him upset then could I pop to see him for 5 mins until he was calmer.

I would just go around to hers and bring him home with me and he'd happily sleep! Much better than listening to him incessantly barking himself into a frenzy for hours and hours.

Neighbour kept me well stocked in wine and choc!!

Definitely not being silly OP. It's extremely distressing to listen to and it's very distressing for the dog.

My neighbour's dog barks nonstop, and I mean nonstop, when he's alone, from the moment she leaves the house until she comes home; I can hear him now.

If she's out all day, he will bark literally all day. I actually don't know how he keeps it up tbh.

She's not an unkind person and is fully aware that he barks a lot but feels that there's not much she can do about it.

Offering to look after your neighbours dog would make both yours and the dog's life so much less stressful.

Well, I just called round and was very clear it was absolutely not a complaint but just an offer of help. Her immediate response was that it is not every Saturday (it is) and not for long (usually 6- 8 hours)and yours makes plenty of noise. I apologised and said I was trying to be neighbourly only, to which she said Thanks but no thanks and shut the door. I doubt we will be on close terms going forward. Oh well.

Oh that's a shame.

Sounds like she might be embarrassed and defensive about it.

Well you tried to be a good neighbour and do a nice thing, you can't do more.

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.

Probably embarrassed and ashamed, 8 hrs is too long without a pee break imo.

I suspect she's a bit upset and embarrassed - it's not nice to hear that your dog is creating a nuisance or that they're upset while you're not there.

Hopefully she'll do something to improve things going forward but if not, you can go down the route of an unnecessary noise complaint with the council if you want to.

The RSPCA are unlikely to do anything - it's not illegal to leave your dog home alone for eight hours.

Thanks for your input, I definitely got the sense she was defensive and I have not improved neighbour relations but she was never friendly anyway, so no great loss. My friend who owns the dog I look after whilst she is at work, told me that no dog owner wants to hear criticism no matter how tactfully put and I suppose this is how she has interpreted it. It is really not a noise issue so I probably will not go down that route. Poor wee dog though.

I’m sorry she took it like that. Poor dog too. You’ve done nothing wrong. Don’t feel bad. I hope she reflects a bit and realises it was a nice offer.

Wow, your neighbour is rude. When I was growing up our neighbours had told us that my childhood dog (poodle) was crying the whole time he was left alone. We had no idea! So we made sure he went to my grandparents instead of being left alone. I would have loved a neighbour like you to offer to take care of him.

That's such a shame she's being a dick! Very rude and I'm sure you came cross well.

Poor dog. But you've done everything you can.