Neighbours' dogs barking at us!

desthemoaner

Not sure where on this forum-- if anywhere-- this topic might go, so I'll start here and see where it ends up.

Got new neighbours about eight weeks ago. By and large they seem like decent people, but they have three dogs and they leave them out in their front garden for hours at a time. When we enter and exit our front door they bark furiously at us, and my daughter gets quite frightened. I think there's something in civil law about the "right to enjoyment of your property", and this issue is clearly affecting ours.

I haven't approached the dogs' owners yet but I intend to, and they may be reasonable and see our point of view. However, in the meantime I'd be interested to know what, if any rights we can invoke if they refuse to deal with the problem.

Cheers.

fluffnutter

You need to talk to them first. Make friends with your neighbours if possible. Then worry about 'rights'.

desthemoaner

As stated above, I do intend to speak to them about it.

However, forewarned is forearmed, and I would still be interested to know what rights we have, should they not be prepared to be reasonable about the problem.

good_advice

Hiya, I do not think there is much you can do about dogs barking on their own property.

Our dog does the same in the back garden. We do tell our dog that is enough! but next time a neighbour is out , he barks to say "large dog lives here!".
Some times I bring him in the house and shut the door.
We have also tried squirting water when he barks. From an old washing up liquid bottle.
Our dog is very friendly and always wants to say hello.

desthemoaner

Thanks for casting such a positive and sunny perspective on the problem: I hadn't thought of it in those terms.

If it was just me I would smile and say Hello back, but my daughter is genuinely frightened of the racket made by those wretched tykes.

I'll have a quiet word with the neighbours and if that doesn't work, I'll research my rights to "enjoyment of my property". If there's no hope to be found there, I'll put up a six foot fence and find out how keen they are to say "Hello" over the top of it.

missindecisive

The dogs are just bored and showing pack behaviour. Your best bet is to go over there and get on good speaking terms with your neighbour...maybe take a few dog chews and make a fuss of them..they won't see you as the enemy anymore! if you cant do this than just ignore them and carry on your business, its really not worth getting into a battle with your neighbour over this.

broonbear

Dogs can actually be trained not to bark at anything that moves. It the owners that say to them '' oh stop all that noise your annoying the neighbours'' that makes me laugh. it's not a human it's an animal. Get the 'noise' police from the council round get it nipped in the bud

desthemoaner

Thanks for more good suggestions.

The other problem(which I haven't mentioned yet) is that even before our dog-loving neighbours moved in we were thinking of putting the house on the market. Clearly if we get into a dispute with these people we would have to declare that to any prospective buyer, so it makes sense to try to settle the issue amicably. Not only that but any viewers who approach our door to the sound of snarling beasties would never get over the threshold.

However...it would still be nice to know what legal ammunition is available to us, should the softly-softly approach not work.

Valli

if you are considering putting the house on the market another option would be to do nothing/say nothing about the dogs BUT when prospective buyers come around point out what a good deterrent/alarm the dogs are. The neighbours are fine and you have never had an issue with them;)

desthemoaner

So much good advice...so few brain cells in which to store it.

Thanks again!:)

browneyedbazzi

You do have a right to the 'quiet enjoyment' of your home - but that refers to you not being subject to a statutory nuisance while inside your home and, as far as I know, doesn't offer you any protection when outside your home coming/going.

Your best option is probably to get to know the neighbours and their dogs so that they recognise you/your family and don't feel the need to kick up a fuss every time you pass. Also, if you make friends with the neighbours I'm sure they'd be willing to keep the dogs in when you have viewings planned if you ask nicely