Dog barking complaint - be gentle I’m upset

[Nugg]

Looking for advice as well as letting it out. I received an anonymous letter from a neighbour posted through the Royal mail that basically said my dog barks too much at antisocial hours is left alone outside on its own for too long and I don’t walk enough

None of this is true. I hate barking dogs and the minute she starts I’m out there but there has been the very occasional time where for example I’m on a teams meeting and the back door is open and something has spooked her that she will bark for longer.

I literally say “quietly” which I’ve trained her to realise means do not bark in the garden as I opened the back door, I say “enough” in a very strong voice, which also stops her immediately should she start.

There are triggers to make her bark constantly because we’ve only lived here for a few months. She’s still getting used to the noises and the people outside.- She literally never barked at my old house unless a cat came in the garden or something like that which is to be expected.

So say my neighbour and her son are out and the little boy starts going woof woof talking to my dog she will bark back but I pick her up and we say hello however if her husband walks up and down the garden repeatedly near the fence and doesn’t interact it really frightens her I guess so she’s barking and I bring her in.

I sat and cried when I got the letter because I’m a really really responsible dog owner, my dog is even a therapy pet. If I ever have to work in the office, I have a wonderful dog sitter that either walk her or take her for the day. She doesn’t bark in the house ever and I can check this to make sure she hasn’t started, which I have because I have a camera.

I’m a very quiet responsible neighbour and dog owner and this has really upset me that they didn’t feel they could just knock on the door because I would’ve obviously have apologised for any upset and been even more attentive to her barking if that’s even possible because I really can’t stand barking dogs.

i’ve read the Battersea dogs home training guide on barking and none of it really applies to her. She doesn’t even bark at the front door.

I’ve only told a few people who all know me and my dog well and they have said it’s ridiculous and I should ignore it, But it’s actually made me frightened to let the dog in the garden for example after work yesterday I let her out she ran down the garden did two small woofs I said enough that was it but in that time one of the neighbours shouted shut up at the top of their voice.

I feel quite bullied that one of my neighbours is spying on me every move because they’ve got it all wrong they obviously don’t see when I take my dog out because a lot of the time I put her in the car and take her somewhere for a really good run. People laugh about how pampered my pet is because she is literally spoiled within an inch of her life.

Do those dog Barking colours work, are they unkind? I don’t know anything about it because it’s literally not been an issue but I don’t wanna be an annoying neighbour and it’s really upset me as I said.

Can't tell from your post, is your dog shut in the garden all day?

If it doesn't bark in the house, keep it in until it can be supervised in the garden.

Don't be too upset, the neighbour has given you a chance to sort it, rather than go straight to the council.

We’ve been in this situation. Except they went straight to the council. Ended up moving house and no one in our new house has issues! And no one in our previous house had issues either! So I’ve just put it down to the type of neighbour we had unfortunately.

I just couldn’t take the stress of it all and knowing someone was literally counting every time my dogs barked. And reporting it somewhere, the council said that the complainants didn’t really have enough to go on but they were obliged to send a letter.

One thing in your post though that’s jump out that I’d never do is have a dog that barks in garden on their own. My dog barks at lots of noises so when I work from home dogs are in the same room as me as they don’t bark then.

I don’t let my barking dog outside on her own.

Do not get a barking collar!!! Instead see a proper dog behaviourist that is what we did to learn how to reduce the barking.

You say your dog doesn't bark, then go on to give several examples of the times that it does, including triggers that make her "bark constantly"

I suspect you may be a bit blind (deaf?) to how much she is barking maybe?

If the letter specified unsocial hours, is she going out and barking early/late? We have a guy a few doors up who shuts his dog in the garden at 5am every morning whilst he presumably gets ready for work. And it just barks the whole time 😣

I think the really simple solution is to only allow her in the garden when you can supervise.

Don’t let her in the garden when you’re on a teams meeting. And you’re going to have to go out with her whenever she’s in the garden

I wouldn't feel too bad about it. Your neighbour is probably just a complainer or a dog hater of they're just making things up about your ownership without knowing. Dogs bark and they're allowed to, just not excessively. Supervise her in the garden.

She’s never out before 0730 or after 9pm and never outside alone except on the odd time I’ve been caught on a call and I work upstairs so I’ve been stuck maybe 2-3 times in total

I’m definitely not blind to it what I’m saying are I know the triggers as I’m there so stop it straight away. I’ll bring her inside and use distraction techniques

she’s never ever shut outside ever the door would always be open and I’m close by.

i am supervising 90% of the time but if I’m having toilet break and she darts out mid flow she might then bark if there’s a trigger for the 30 seconds it takes me to leave the loo to get outside - that’s it. I really dislike barking dogs and have worked hard to prevent this.

I’ve read one more thing today about positive interruption which I do try with treats but then other sites say don’t reward with a treat for coming in or stopping barking. Can’t win!

going to contact a behaviour specialist - thanks all

Honestly I think you need to train your dog better. I say this as a previous dog owner! I have lived in my current house for years. I had a dog myself for many of those and more than 50% own dogs nearby. There was no real issue as people would take dogs in when they started barking. It’s a lovely quiet area with lots of wfh people all happily living and working. Lots of small gardens all back on or are side on as it’s a funny cul de sac though so people are close by. Never been an issue! The odd party that’s it but nothing much else.

A new neighbour moves in… they seem totally oblivious to dog barking. It barks a lot. I have not complained as that just isn’t me but I heard another neighbour with dog say in a loud voice once when they were in back garden (back gardens that back on to each other) ‘oh for fs sack you think they’d tell that dog off can they not hear it!’
I quietly chuckled to myself. The dog does bark a bit less now! As no it’s not ok to let your dog run into garden barking at kids, birds, leaves whatever. X

Your posts are contradictory and confusing for example:

i am supervising 90% of the time but if I’m having toilet break and she darts out mid flow

This would indicate that the dog has free rein to go outside whenever they want as you keep the back door open, so you therefore don’t supervise her “90% of the time”. Else the door to outside would only be opened when you manually bring the dog outside. If that door is always left open whilst you independently live/work, then the dog isn’t supervised when outside and could easily be barking.

OP. Allowing her to be inside is not the same as shutting her inside. You need to do the latter.

Clearly being outside is her preference- she finds fun things out there that she can bark at!

Control your dog.

She’s never out before 0730 or after 9pm and never outside alone except on the odd time I’ve been caught on a call and I work upstairs so I’ve been stuck maybe 2-3 times in total

I suspect it's actually a lot more frequent than you think. If it truly was only 2-3 times total it would have been hard to remember the specific examples.

Even the few posts you've written seem to contradict each other. The sensible and logical solution is to only have the door open when you're supervising her and be with her in the garden.

Your dog is ether barking and annoying people or not all this other long story is irrelvant, so you need to focus on is it a problem or are they making it up

shes adjusting to a new space so you may need to go back to basics and keep her inside when you’re on meetings. I would recommended only letting her in the garden when you can be with her (as in actually physically in the garden the entire time) then when she settles and stops being reactive gradually start allowing her out for short periods unsupervised. It sounds like she needs to be trained to settle in a new home. You could try approaching the neighbours and having a friendly conversation about your efforts to try and improve things. Not everyone likes dogs and barking can be annoying but if people see you making an effort then that should help. Good luck! Xx

I would add that by writing anonymously it sounds like they are trying to bring it to your attention without confrontation, and also not going to the council is a good sign that they aren’t unreasonable and giving you an opportunity to make it better for everyone. Try not to be upset, this is an opportunity to be a good neighbour 😊

Also if you’re leaving the back door open all the time, then your neighbours are going to hear the dog barking when the dog is inside too.

Op, I suggest you get a camera with sound to record your garden 24/7. Dogs bark and they are in fact allowed to. The law doesn’t state that dogs need to be silent, to be classed as a nuisance and require any kind of intervention, barking needs to be “prolonged and persistent”.
We had a similar complaint through the post. I knew it was rubbish, so I proactively contacted the council, explained what had happened and sent a random sample of 5 days of footage from my garden which showed, very clearly, my dogs don’t bark a lot. Maybe twice a day for 5-10 seconds? Council agreed no anti social dog behaviour at all and logged it in case anyone complains. I keep all footage on the cloud for eternity, just in case, because people can be twats.

A new neighbour moves in… they seem totally oblivious to dog barking. It barks a lot. I have not complained as that just isn’t me but I heard another neighbour with dog say in a loud voice once when they were in back garden (back gardens that back on to each other) ‘oh for fs sack you think they’d tell that dog off can they not hear it!’

Sadly I think some dog owners do become oblivious to it. Next door has a dog and we hear it barking a lot. At the weekend it was barking at us from an upstairs window for half an hour while we were in the garden. We're paying thousands later this summer for a six foot fence at the end of our long garden to stop the back neighbours' dog from spotting us every time we go into the garden and barking and sticking its nose through the bushes and wire fence. That neighbour has absolutely no awareness of the racket that dog makes. A friend knows them and says it is utterly untrained. Sadly we hear that every blessed day.

I’d be tempted to fbd who sent it by knocking on doors, and then invite to cup of tea to discuss. Anonymous complaints are the pits.

We have a barky dog - we’ve tried training her not to be and it doesn’t work. She barks at flies and birds (it’s actually with pleasure, so not aggressive, but that doesn’t make any difference to the annoyance factor). So we keep the door to the back garden closed and only allow her out when we are around to supervise and keep her under control. That’s the only solution you have.

I also think that 730am is way too early to let her bark outside, and 9pm too late. That would annoy me and I have a dog.

We don’t know if she’s being OTT and your dog rarely barks or if you’re in denial. So some advice would be, if you’re on a teams meeting then bring it in so it can’t bark outside. I agree with a pp, the neighbour could have gone straight to council but they haven’t so use the opportunity to be aware.

This. It’s clearly annoying someone else.

I'd probably be inclined to keep the door closed and just let her out when you're downstairs.
We have a Samoyed who are notorious barkers so if ever she's in the garden and starts barking, I go out and bring her in. I always talk to her and say things like come in you're not barking like that it upsets the neighbours so neighbours can hear me intervening
Some people really are intolerant - if a dog is shut out incessantly barking, fair enough but short bursts that are stopped be bringing the dog in are fine

If a dog was barking at 730am. I’d find it annoying.
no dogs bark here at that time.
in fact. I never hear dogs barking. And there are two near me.

this
i cant think why more people dont do this

Every time I step in my back garden the dog behind barks. It only barks a few times and stops. It's still intensely irritating. It may not be classed as a nuisance legally, but I hate it. I don't want to be greeted by that every time I step outside.
So it can be irritating even if not legally a nuisance.