What is classed as excessive barking?

Jules22

Barking for more than Half an hour at a time is classed as a nuisance.

i've had problems with my neighbours dog who barks at everything for 4 hours or more whilst she is in the garden!
i spoke to her about this and got abuse thrown at me. so be careful!

keep a record just in case she does go to the council.

Frugalista

We had similar problems with a "compaining neighbour" :mad: in our previous house and can only repeat the advice to keep a diary. We kept scrupulous notes on when our dogs barked and why eg: 11.00 am - 3 barks - postman/milkman/dustbins, etc. We also noted if any other dogs in the vicinity barked and for how long.

We even went as far as getting different friends to sit in our next door neighbours house on random days if we went out to keep the notes going. They also gave signed statements to say the dogs had been quiet on the days they were there. Visitors to our home were asked to fill in a sheet saying how long they had been there (times & date) and if the dogs had barked or created any other disturbance.

Tell your friend to try to cover all angles and have an answer for every accusation the neighbour throws at her. Take the dogs out at different times so the neighbour never knows whether they are in or out, and make sure someone else can confirm they were not at home. We would sometimes take ours to the shop or to get petrol, etc.

We also canvassed around the other neighbours asking if "dogs kept at Number 16 had ever caused them a noise (or other nuisance)". We got 27 signatures - many neighbours stating they didn't even know we had dogs :rotfl:. Our "complaining neighbour" only got one person to support him - a virtually deaf lady who live over the back of us (apparently he used to cut her lawn for her). Luckily, one of the other neighbours was a home help and wrote a statement to the council confirming that this lady had minimal hearing and had never mentioned the dogs .

The council finally told our neighbour that they were satisfied that there was no case to answer when he complained that our dogs had been "barking for hours on end" and "it sounded like a zoo" :eek:. Thing was, that particular weekend we were away (with all our dogs) at a dog show and were able to produce about 50 witness statements, including that of the judge and the show secretary :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:. He totally lost all credibility after that :D:D.

HTH and tell your friend Good Luck .

gettingready

Frugalista - some brillinat advice in yoru post....some I noted for myself just in case the little old lady or that one lot of neighbours got any issues again....

callywally

Thanks for all your replys and advice. my friend is keeping a log of when they bark and what for etc and will also take them out at differant times etc. hpoefully nothing will come of it. thanks again.
The dogs rarely bark for half a miniute certainly no where near half an hour.

callywally

Just a update, in the last three days there have been six barks none before 7 am or after 10pm.
Would this be a problem to anyone living in the real world?
my friend is going to speak to some of he neighbours when she can.

Sunnyday

callywally wrote: »

Just a update, in the last three days there have been six barks none before 7 am or after 10pm.
Would this be a problem to anyone living in the real world?
my friend is going to speak to some of he neighbours when she can.

Nope not a problem at all, i`m guessing that there is definitely another issue with the complaining neighbour or most likely your friends dogs are getting the blame for someone elses dogs barking.

Tell her to stop worrying and if the complaints carry on tell her to complain about something back!

Keep us posted and good luck.

SD

callywally

The dogs have barked for an average of twice a day for seconds at a time during the last week. none at unreasonable hours.
my friend has a lady from the council coming to see her next week. the next door neighbour on the other side has no problem with the dogs.
my friend is still worried what the council will say but at least she now has a record of how much the dogs bark and I dont see how that can be classed as excessive.

Sunnyday

It sounds like your friend has nothing at all to worry about Cally, just make sure that she points out that there are other dogs in the vicinity that are barking and that you think that yours are getting the blame for them.

Also let the lady know that there may be other issues between her and the person complaining. Good luck and let us know how the visit goes.

SD

callywally

Thanks, I dont think anyone could say it was excessive. my friend has to put up with more noise from children playing, babies crying, neighbour with wooden floors, music from neighbours etc etc. she has always taken the view of live and let live however it seems that others dont! there are at least three other dogs in the road which also bark. she is keeping a log and waiting for the vist from the council. will let you know how it goes.

RuthnJasper

Hi Cally,

It sounds like your friend is an extremely responsible, conscientious dog owner and a good neighbour.

I moved into a little Housing Association property with my dog Jasper a year ago, after leaving my parents' house. The first thing my new next-door neighbour said on meeting me for the first time was "I don't like dogs." Which was nice of him.

Jasper is not a 'barker' although he does make a few 'comments' now and then in the garden; nothing excessive.

Anyway - this neighbour constantly complains about the local children playing in the street (they are all lovely little kids, no swearing or scrapping, just kids being kids. He had a go at them when they were outside, pretending to be pirates, in the summer). I have made a point of saying to him occasionally how lovely it is to see children playing such innocent games out of doors and enjoying themselves, hehe...

He complains about local cats; other neighbours; he deliberately parks his car across two parking spaces; he had a real ding-dong in the street with a lady because her Jack Russell was barking and he proudly told me that he was having "a four-year battle with Southern Water", though goodness knows why. The fact that this hero plays his electric guitar at a loud volume throughout the day and night is, of course, besides the point. Ahh... there is nothing quite like the hits of Dolly Parton played on an electric guitar coming through the wall when you're trying to have a nice relaxing bath before bed...!

I don't give this guy any excuse to complain about me (he has complained about other neighbours' dogs - but as soon as they retaliated by mentioning the guitar-playing, he dropped the complaint and became as nice as pie). However, I heard him not long ago shouting at a little nipper of @5yrs old who was playing in the street, and he told the child to "F**k off." To me and Jasper, using that sort of language to a child is absolutely inexcusable. But I'm straying off the point.

I think what your friend is possibly facing is someone like this guy - a Serial Complainer. The dogs haven't done anything (by the sound of it) other than what is normal. I work for the county council and, by law, we have to follow-up these complaints. Otherwise, the complainer can take action because we haven't responded to his complaint, no matter how trivial.

I'd be willing to bet that your friend's council have a long record of complaints from this individual and they are merely following up the complaint because they have to. I honestly don't believe that your friend has anything to worry about.

She is taking exactly the right steps in the situation, and I'm sure the council will look kindly on her. Why don't you (if you are able) offer her a print-out of this Forum thread as well for her meeting? That might help to show that she is taking the concerns seriously, as well as the diary.

To my mind, "excessive barking" is barking that goes on constantly, for hours at a time, making life literally unbearable for neighbours. In all you have said, I cannot see ANYTHING that could be deemed unacceptable behaviour on the part of your friend or her dogs.

I am sorry that your friend is being made so unhappy; she sounds like a good, responsible person. I know how she feels though - I love Jasper dearly, and if someone has a go about him, it feels like a personal insult to me and I feel hurt by it.

Please keep us posted on the outcome of this situation. Your friend and her dogs are lucky to have a nice, caring friend like you. I really think that everything is going to be OK.

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