next door dogs spooking mine

suse*

I have had a dog for about 2 years now. She is a rescue that lived in kennels for 5 years before I got her. She is normally very calm, and has never barked back at other dogs she could hear when out in the garden.

Two jack russle monsters moved in next door these dogs just seem to bark constantly, both in the garden and in the house. If they are in certain parts of their house you can still hear them in my house, even though the houses are detached.

It stresses my dog out though so she paces up and down and whines etc if she can hear them out there, or she barks back if she is out in the garden when they are.

Now with the weather getting warmer their dogs are going outside more. I don't know how to deal with this though to try and stop my dog getting so stressed.

Should I try and talk to this new neighbour about their dogs barking so much and the impact it has on my dog? It isn't like if I just try and keep my dog inside when they are out helps, as she can still hear them outside.

Any other dogs in other gardens nearby have never bothered her. I think it is just because they are next door she thinks they are trying to get into her territory so to speak.

krlyr

I would use a two-pronged attack.

Firstly, I would try to stop the dogs from barking. Whether this is by speaking to the owners, or raising a noise disturbance issue through the Environmental Health team is up to you, you'll know if your neighbours are likely to be helpful on this matter or not. Excessive barking is a noise nuisance though, so the Council would be the people to deal with this if you had no luck with the neighbour direct.

Secondly, training with your own dog will help her learn to ignore it. Giving her treats when the dogs bark will create a positive association with the barking. I would start by scattering a handful of really yummy treats by your dog when the barking begins, but you can work up to getting your dog to come for you to the treat. After a while, the association will become bark = go to you for a treat, rather than her current spooked behaviour.

I did the above with mine, who weren't particularly happy when we moved to a terraced house next to someone with two dogs, and especially not when they soon got a third quite yappy Terrier, but they were easily trained to ignore it.