Separation Anxiety - barking

tizerbelle

I have a neighbour like that! There's nothing you can/need to do. She can report you to the council for noise pollution but the onus would be on her to prove it was your dog barking and then it would have to be barking constantly on several occassions when the noise team call. Even if you tape your dog all the time he is out there, she isn't going to believe you that it's a true recording of your dog.

Fortunately with my nutty neighbour, it's not a barking issue - would just laugh in her face if she started that one - little dog is deaf and doesn't bark - ever and big dog only barks if I'm stood at the front door too long or if the window cleaner is about and then it's only two double wuffs to alert someone to possible danger and then she goes back to bed. My neighbours problem is the dogs peeing in the back street near her car - she wants me to train the dogs to pee over a drain - they are 14 and 15 years old and what do they do when they are on the field where there are no drains, if they have been trained to pee over drains only!! Apparently it's not nice if she steps in pee and then gets in her car - I agree probably not, but as I explained, if it's wet, don't stand in it, if it's dried, there's not a problem - didn't go down well!!

CFC

Tizerbelle then don't let your dogs wee near her car. Honestly, are you not mindful at all of being a good neighbour after someone has explained their problem to you, or do you just let your dogs wander around wherever they are/off lead on the street??

OP I think you will be fine as your other neighbours are giving a different story. Potentially there is another dog barking in the neighbourhood/

tizerbelle

CFC wrote: »

Tizerbelle then don't let your dogs wee near her car. Honestly, are you not mindful at all of being a good neighbour after someone has explained their problem to you, or do you just let your dogs wander around wherever they are/off lead on the street??

I won't take offence at your comment because you are fortunate enough not to have to know / have dealings with this neighbour - believe me she is a harridan of the highest order and has been this way for years. She is the same with other neighbours many of whom have known her for decades. Her direct neighbours apparently switch the lights on in their house too loudly at night and there are many many other outlandish / outrageous complaints she makes about everyone in the block. Pretty much everyone round here has been reported to the council / police for some nonsense or other at least once.

The back street is as much my back street as hers, it is not an offence for a dog to pee in a street (all solids are cleaned as soon as they occur) but big dog will not toilet in the back yard so she will pee as soon as we leave the back yard and as she parks her car right next to my gate and it's on a slope there's nothing I can do - I am not dragging the dog somewhere else when she is desperate to go or in mid pee. It's not as if I'm taking my dogs onto her land / drive and saying go pee there. She could choose to park her car elsewhere. No one else that shares the back street has a problem with the dogs (and it's not just her car that gets peed near) and have all taken time to check that I am okay and that harridan is not bullying me and not to let her get to me.

As for being a good neighbour, if it hasn't rained for a while, I will go out and hose the area down to avoid any malingering smells and if there's a hose pipe ban I have been known to use buckets of water - oh yes and guess what, she reported me for that to the water board! When it's snowed, I have cleared everyone's paths - 6 houses in our terrace, hers included - guess what - she wanted to get me done for trespass! The reaction from others in the block was thank you and that it was nice to know someone was looking out for them. I am a good neighbour but there is no pleasing some people so don't assume that just because I didn't write this whole essay to start with it means I am some unconsiderate, irresponsible dog-owning chav.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

Tizerbelle - sod your neighbour - you come and live next to me m'darling

I clearned neighbours path too when it snowed - didnt get a Thank you either. might chuck water down so it icies over this year (or is that too evil? lol)

tizerbelle

mommyme, perhaps I could do a house-swap with neighbour D. I'm sure she and harridan would get on like a house on fire!

jenhug

do you have a video camera?

kittykarate

My neighbour had a similar complaint against her - the trouble is that there are 3 doggy houses quite close by. So when Casey (neighbours dog) is out in his garden during the day he barks a little when sees cats, but not much else, during the night, he sleeps on his owners bed. One of the other doggy houses keeps their dog out at night and in during the day and it barks at lights/cats/aliens - but because Casey is visible during the day, he was copping the flack for the other dog's barking.

tbourner

tizerbelle wrote: »

The back street is as much my back street as hers, it is not an offence for a dog to pee in a street (all solids are cleaned as soon as they occur) but big dog will not toilet in the back yard so she will pee as soon as we leave the back yard and as she parks her car right next to my gate and it's on a slope there's nothing I can do - I am not dragging the dog somewhere else when she is desperate to go or in mid pee.

We have a bloke down the road who had a go at me for letting my dog poo on the (public) grass outside his house, whilst I was picking it up in a poobag!!! He said his kids play there and couldn't I drag my dog into the gutter when he starts pooing (Malamute BTW, not gonna happen). I walk on the other side of the road now to avoid confrontation, no idea what I'd do in your position with no choice where to go!

wageslave

I received a telephone call from a nice woman from the council about my middle aged labrador. It seems she is barking at passers-by whilst I am at work and one of the neighbours has complained.

I work office hours, Monday to Friday and (this is going to horrify you city dwellers) I leave the back door open for the dog to come and go in the garden. I have did this since she was a pup.

I have been keeping her indoors since the complaint and paying a dog walker to take her out in the afternoons but (apart from the expense) I honestly don't see how I can continue doing so indefinitely.

She likes the garden.

TBH one of the reasons I got a bliddy dog in the first place is because I had a large(ish) garden and now, from the dogs point of view, we might as well be living in a high rise flat.

I have researched various collars (citronella, sonic etc) and am perfectly willing to try them.

What I need to know is what is a reasonable and acceptable level of barking from a dog. I am perfectly happy to keep her in until lunchtime but I really don't want her locked up in the house all day. It is making her unhappy.

In a nutshell, can the council force me to keep my barking bliddy dog shut up weekday afternoons?

Raksha

In my experience, these problems are easily blown out of all proportion. When it happened to us, we moved the dog to a back room (could you restrict the dogs access to the passers by - shut living room door perhaps?) We also set a tape recorder up to record how much your dog does bark (it's often over estimated by people who are complaining) and are they sure it's your dog doing the barking?
To prevent her barking by using a sonic or citronella collar could lead to her developing other less desirable behaviours. If she's barking because she is bored, could you leave her a Kong type toy stuffed with food?