Neighbour Complaining about Puppy Barking

FuzzyDF

Dear All,

Just after a bit of advice. I have a 6 month old puppy which attends and is still attending obedience classes. He was crate trained to begin with but the trainer said it is now time to let him out at night (he has a dog flap). I live in a semi rural area which is rife with foxes. The puppy only barks outside at night when there are foxes present in the garden or if people are walking around our property. The barking is not incessant and is only triggered as what he perceives to be 'threats'.

I am a very responsible dog owner, hence the ongoing training and this is my second dog therefore I am not a novice owner.

Today one of my neighbours (opposite) complained quite angrily that the puppy keeps his "teenagers awake at night", that I should "muzzle it" keep it "locked up". Due to him provoking me I retorted somewhat stupidly "would you like me to have him put to sleep". To which he replied "Yes". I walked off to prevent any further conflict. Previously I have spoken to him and had discussions about life, the neighbourhood etc, but when asking around other neighbours I have been informed that he hates animals with a passion and would happily take things further whatever that means (he said it).

I phoned environmental health to see what constitutes as a dog noise nuisance and they pretty much said what I know already. The barking has to be incessant, continuous and reach a certain decibel etc.

I'm not sure if I should approach him again and try to speak to him rationally or if he approaches me again tell him to contact environmental health. I don't like conflict but I don't like bad attitudes either.

Would really appreciate some advice.

tomtontom

How many times a night is it barking? Does it wake you?

catkins

I am quite surprised a dog trainer said at 6 months the puppy is better to be free at night. My dog was put in his crate until he was well over a year old. I felt happy that he could not hurt himself on anything or get into mischief plus he was always happy to go in his crate. In fact he is now 2 but often goes in there during the day or night to have a sleep.


If I had a dog flap I wouldn't be happy about my dog going in and out at night. Again, you can't see what he might be doing plus, as you have found, he barks at noises/foxes. My dog only really barks at the same sort of things and I know if he was allowed in the garden during the night he may well go outside and bark if he heard noise.


Although it may not be constant barking what sort of time is it? I am a light sleeper and if a dog barking (even if it were only for a brief period) say at 2am woke me I wouldn't be happy. Of course if it were a rare occurrence fair enough but if it is most nights I would not like it.


If it's not in the middle of the night but, say, before you go to bed, then there is nothing really the neighbour can do. If it is during the night then I personally would not let the dog have access to the garden during the night. The neighbour does not sound very nice and although it's probably unlikely what if he decided to do something to keep your dog quiet? I wouldn't risk it

cheepskate_2

Its got a dog flap, which i assume, means that at 6 months it is unsupervised in and out when it wants,- barking when it wants.,at anything it wants to

If it is keeping teenagers awake then it must be quite late, I dont know many teenagers who got to bed before 9pm

You lost your temper because he complained about the dog......No doubt this is not the first or second time, the dog has been barking at night.....Being apologetic would have been a start.
As the owner YOU should be letting the dog know when it is appropriate to bark.... ...........Just as aside, We had great guard dogs at one time, who very rarely barked.

As for letting the dog bark when it wants to...At foxes etc, get it into bad habit and it will never stop. ...then it will be some other noise the dogs will bark at and so on and so on.

FuzzyDF

The dog is allowed out (supervised) until 11pm. The garden is puppy proofed (carried out by the trainer). He barks only when a fox jumps over the wall or when people walk by and the barking lasts for no longer than 2 minutes at the moment and it is a rare occurrence. In the past seven nights he has barked twice, that's it.

Cheepskate, I certainly did apologise but he became rude and there was no need for me to listen to his ranting.

I presume by taking things further he means court.

Peter333

Am I reading this correctly? Is the dog seriously just allowed to wander in and out all night, through the 'dog flap?'

We have a few neighbours who have dogs, and there are few issues. But now and again, they leave them out at night from 11pm til 1am, and all you can hear is yap yap yap constantly.

One elderly lady who is quite deaf has started to do this just lately, and we have had to shut our windows when she leaves mutley out between 11pm and 1am.

However, it isn't often enough yet to really complain.

But if your dog is out after 10pm and left to his own devices in the garden, into the wee small hours, then that's wrong imo.

You're in the wrong here, and not your neighbour. It was harsh of him to say put him down though.

dandelionclock30

Take him for a walk instead and then have him in from 10 ish. You cant be having him wandering in and out all night. My friend had this problem with a neighbours dog and someone eventually killed it by throwing a poisoned steak over the fence.
Dont let that happen to yours and dont think something like that wont happen. People do all sorts of things when they get really peed off.

FuzzyDF

He's not left to wander, supervised at ALL times. He goes back in the house at 11pm but the neighbour is complaining about barking before that time. I re-iterate he is always supervised and is exercised 4-5 times a day.

Perhaps I shouldn't have asked for advice. I'll just leave it.

dandelionclock30

If hes supervised at all times how come hes got a dog flap? I thought flaps were so that pets could come and go as they pleased. How do you watch him at all times if theres a flap, do you go through it with him or observe from the window?

chris_n_tj

firstly what breed is your Puppy? What sex is it? Our Dog is still in his crate and he is now 2 years old. The crate is "HIS" space and will always be used as such.
Lol my dog isnt supervised at all time I can tell you that much. I do not go and stand outside everytime Ollie goes outside. (Our garden has a 6 ft fence all the way round so he cant escape) I have better things to do to be honest.
Now you say you go to puppy training? Within weeks of going to a trainer your puppy should have learnt the basic's IE: to stop barking when you command and to come when called. Iwould change trainers if I were you.
Bedtime at ours is, Ollie goes out and on command does "weewee's" this is the only time these words are used to he knows its bedtime. He then has a couple of minutes sniff around then he looks at me and takes himself to his crate.
Night night Ollie and we dont hear a peep until morning. This has been the case since the day we brought him home. I wouldnt let my dog have free range outside at nigth, but thats just me. Anything could happen including dognapping. Night time os for sleeping and a 6 month old puppy needs as much sleep as a baby.
Can I ask why you have a dog flap if as you say you supervise him when outdoors? Seems a bit daft to be honest.
I would go back to using the crate and get a bedtime sorted to start with, maybe putting a cover over his crate at night will stop the barking, its worth a try. Ollie does bark if there is some one around during the night, and if he does bark we go and take a look outside.
I really would start back to basic's with your puppy. x

krlyr

From a legal POV, yes, it's unlikely to constitute a noise nuisance, or that the council/police would do anything about it.

However, from a practical POV, there are several points here.

Firstly - if you own your house, consider the risk of a neighbour dispute affecting a future sale. If you rent, would your landlord be happy to hear neighbours stirring up trouble for you? If he felt he was getting nowhere with official channels, he may decide to cause trouble for you in other ways.

Secondly, even if he's the grumpy neighbour that always complains, he is not making up the barking. It may not be excessive, but a dog's bark can be quite a piercing noise. I say that as a dog owner myself, and someone who works with dogs all day - I love dogs, but once you notice a bark, it can drive you crazy! If he finds it annoying, other neighbours may do to a point - and one day you may need to ask a favour of them.
I've been recording my dogs because one of them has suffered separation anxiety, and this has exhibited as barking when home alone. 2 minutes of barking on the video seems far, far longer when you dislike the behaviour!

Thirdly, for the dog, a dog flap can really hinder toilet training. The dog struggles to learn to hold it, finds it harder to distinguish between inside and out because the line blurs, and this could cause you problems in the future should you be somewhere without a dog flap (for example, staying in a holiday cottage or at a relative's house - the last thing you want is him having accidents because he's not grasped the concept of holding it in overnight)

There's also the safety aspect. If he's a small dog, a fox may not have a problem having a scrap with him, and he may come out worse. Or even a larger dog could get injuries from a scrap with a fox, hurt itself chomping on a hedgehog, get bitten by a rat, mouse or squirrel - if you live somewhere with wildlife, there are those kinds of risks.

Another risk I faced, living semi rurally, was neighbours who put down rat poison. At one point, I was having to go and 'rat pick' the garden before letting the dog out, as they were dying in the middle of the garden, and the dog was far too interested in the bodies. If you're not there to supervise, who knows what your dog is eating. And, as mentioned, there's the risk of intentional poisoning - it does happen, and you seem to have quite a petty neighbour with a grudge specifically against the dog.

Personally, I would be ditching the dog flap idea. Whether you keep him in a crate overnight or not is a separate issue - he may still need a couple of loo breaks in the night if he's having to adjust to losing the flap, but at 6 months it shouldn't take him long to get the hang of it.

You may also want to look into teaching a 'quiet' command, so that you can interupt any barking quickly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vtn8NhofOw