Neighbours barking dogs

lindens

Our neighbour has always had dogs, they were both quite old dogs and one by one died, the last one nearly 2 years ago. They never barked, ever and you wouldn't know they were there. When the last one went, our neighbour said they weren't getting another as they hadn't had a holiday in 20 years.
4 months later, October 2011, I suddenly saw them walking 3 puppies and when chatting, it was apparent they had acquired 3 sibling terriers. That's when the trouble started. At the time we had a flimsy wire fence between the two houses-they continuously got through the holes in the wire and into my garden, often came through my cat flap and once ran up my stairs trailing mud! Whenever they were outside they continuously barked, whether out walking or in the garden. my 3 cats were afraid to use our garden as the dogs barking frightened them through the fence. In Feb last year we paid £1000 for a wooden fence between us, which generally stopped them barking when one of us or the cats went into the garden, but they still barked all the time they were outside. Luckily we never had much sun last year as sitting outside in the garden was spoilt by those dogs.

So now they must be getting on for 2 years old, and the barking hasn't changed a bit. They bark from the first time they are let out at 6.30am until the last time at 10.30pm and all times in between. They get walked in the woods behind the estate and you can still hear them ,it sounds like the hunt!

There is no point speaking to them as they are obviously doing nothing about it. the husband is home as he is retired and his wife works full time, so they are hardly left alone.
we both live in 2 bedroomed end of terrace houses, but we are not joined on we are both on the end IYSWIM. they have obviously taken on too much but wont admit it.
I just don't know what to do about it, I don't want to fall out but I do want to sit in my garden or have the windows open without hearing them yapping all the time.
I was going to report them to the RSPCA or the police community officer??

unholyangel

Have you told your neighbour that the noise is a problem for you? If the barking doesnt bother them, they might not realise that it bothers anyone else.

How are the dogs behaved in other aspects? Sometimes something as simple as having a kennel/crate can stop other behaviour problems such as barking (depending on the reason for barking).

Are they barking at people passing? each other? to be let back inside? sudden noises?

nat_85

We have a Scottie and she does bark, mostly at our neighbour who keeps leaving excessive amounts of bread on her lawn

However as soon as I hear her i bring her in, as I wouldn't like to listen to it.

i would even pop a letter through the door, but I know i would rather my neighbours mentioned it to me in the first instance

It could be they just do not know what to do about it and may need that push!

krlyr

If you want to go down the official route, then your local council/environmental health's noise abatement team would be the way forward. If the barking was excessive, and/or at unsociable hours, they may well be given an order to stop the barking or rehome the dogs.
https://www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes/overview

lindens

I like the idea of a letter through their door, it means i can clearly explain my concerns without anyone getting upset or heated.

lindens

So I haven't got around to the letter yet, however it has got to me so much in the past weeks with the doors and windows open etc, this is the letter. Probably some of it is flippant (because I am!) What do you think?

I apologise in advance for this being a letter but I wanted to state the facts without getting into a heated discussion.

The reason for the letter is the incessant barking of your 3 dogs. It is spoiling my own quiet enjoyment of my property. This is without the. fact that it is without a doubt upsetting the neighbours-not only in <streetname> but in neighbouring streets as well. I have been approached by people living in neighbouring streets asking me how I put up with the constant noise from your dogs.

As you know we put up a fence at great expense to ourselves to lessen the noise. I think the noise lessened by about 5%. The barking is from 6.30am to 10.30pm 7 days a week. I am a good sleeper as others have said they hear them at 1am.
They bark -
when I make a noise inside my house which they can hear through an open door or window
when I go into my garden
when the cats go into my garden
when someone makes a noise out the front of our houses
when you are walking them in the woods-I can still hear them! they sound like the Hunt is at large
when you go out
seemingly-they bark just because

I am now at the end of my tether and no longer want to live here, I just want to move away from your dogs. In fact I now want to move away from anyone’s dogs because I hate them so much.

I am giving you this opportunity to fix this problem. You are experienced dogs owners so I fail to see how you have not noticed this problem and have not trained them properly - you can easily train a dog not to bark. When you are home and they bark for 5-10 minutes you don’t seem to stop them barking.

krlyr

IMO the letter is a bit personal and may be likely to make the owner defensive. If you don't mind it having that 'tone', go ahead - it's not rude, just very honest.

It might perhaps get a better reaction from the owner if you toned down the opinion and focused more on the fact, e.g. the noise is constant, you're happy to give them a chance before going to the council who may do X, Y and Z, etc.

You know your neighbour better than me, if you think they're likely to be defensive and then not solve the issue (or cause other problems) out of petty-ness, be careful with that kind of letter.

notanewuser

Personally I can't believe you've done nothing about it in the last 3+ months since starting this thread.

FWIW I think your letter is passive aggressive and extremely unlikely to make them want to do anything. Telling them you want to move away from their dogs is likely to get a "do it then" response.

You get more bees with honey than vinegar. Go and talk to them and tell them how difficult you're finding the situation. Offer to help them if you can.

elsien

I think some of it, probably due to your frustration, is likely to get their backs up which is not a good starting point. I'd take out some of the more emotive stuff if you genuinely want a discussion about it.

I apologise in advance for this being a letter but I wanted to state the facts without getting into a heated discussion. I like this bit.

The reason for the letter is the incessant barking of your 3 dogs. It is spoiling my own quiet enjoyment of my property. This is without the. fact that it is without a doubt upsetting the neighbours-not only in <streetname> but in neighbouring streets as well. I have been approached by people living in neighbouring streets asking me how I put up with the constant noise from your dogs. I'd leave the quiet enjoyment of property in but change the rest to something like "other neighbours in *street* and the surrounding area have also commented to me that they are finding the noise intrusive due to the length of time it goes on for"
As you know we put up a fence at great expense to ourselves to lessen the noise. I think the noise lessened by about 5%. Leave out out the fence, not really relevant as it was more to keep the dogs out which is a different issue. The barking is from 6.30am to 10.30pm 7 days a week. I am a good sleeper as others have said they hear them at 1am.
They bark -
when I make a noise inside my house which they can hear through an open door or window
when I go into my garden
when the cats go into my garden
when someone makes a noise out the front of our houses
when you are walking them in the woods-I can still hear them! they sound like the Hunt is at large lose the hunt comment - funny but probably not entirely helpful.
when you go out
seemingly-they bark just because

I am now at the end of my tether and no longer want to live here, I just want to move away from your dogs. In fact I now want to move away from anyone’s dogs because I hate them so much. Too emotive - they'll probably think sod off and move then. Change it to e.g. - I do not feel it is reasonable to have to continue to live in this way as I am unable to have my windows and doors open due to the noise and cannot enjoy my garden in peace. I would prefer to be able to find a way to resolve this without having to approach the statutory authorities so am letting you know how much of a problem this is becoming so that you can take steps to address it for yourselves.

I am giving you this opportunity to fix this problem. You are experienced dogs owners so I fail to see how you have not noticed this problem and have not trained them properly - you can easily train a dog not to bark. Actually it can be pretty difficult - I had 3 months of a foster dog and progress was extremely slow. No you can't, not always. When you are home and they bark for 5-10 minutes you don’t seem to stop them barking. Lose this whole paragraph - maybe they're deaf or oblivious!


You might also want to bear in mind that if you raise a complaint, you'd have to declare it as and when you sell the house. Amicable resolutions if at all possible. You could always call round for a discussion but use this to keep the conversation on track and remind you of the points you want to make. if you think you can do that without losing your temper with them, of course.

Another point - are the dogs getting enough exercise, mental and physical as that can trigger barking as well, for stimulation which then becomes a habit.