Recently purchased house, barking dog.

ED2

Davesnave wrote: »

I don't have any 'pre-formed' idea about dog owners who let their dogs bark outside for 4 hours or more, disrupting the peace that neighbours should be able to to enjoy on their own property; it's just anti-social behaviour.

I have a neighbour who fits the stereotype well, although in his case there is also a degree of f e c k lessness; there being no concept of how a dog might be trained, or what sort of breed might cope better with being abandoned in a cage with nothing to do.

Fortunately for me, but not the dog, my neighbour came into money a few years ago. So now, instead of going out to work and leaving the dog barking, he or his wife are usually at home, doing whatever those with money and little imagination do. As a result, there is silence, because the dog's locked-away in a dark shed. After all, they don't want to listen to it, do they?

The dog comes out forthe odd 20 minute bark now and again, and very occasionally, it gets the run of the garden, when it never barks, because it's not then fearful or bored.

Now, all this is quite different from another neighbour, whose dog cannot bear separation. It sounds like your dog, in that it cries and howls inconsolably until she returns; a proper drama queen! For that reason, its owner never leaves it for more than about an hour, and all of us nearby understand what's happening when it kicks-off.

So, I'm sure most of us get it that there's not just one kind of barking dog or dog owner, and it's pretty straightforward to determine when the noise becomes so frequent and long-term that it's unreasonable.

The problem is, too often, there's is little that can be done about it, or about the sort of mistreatment I have described.

I would thoroughly agree that it is anti social behavior. And unfortunately, little can be done other than hope the neighbors resolve the problem when spoken to.

During the 80's the amount of dog crap in parts of London was disgusting. It would be on your street, in the parks where the kids played. As with this situation, you'd have to hope people all of a sudden had a bright spark inside of their brain, and recognized that they were leaving faeces on a public street and that just might be disgusting for other people.
And if you are willingly leaving faeces on a street, I would suggest that to be an indication of mental imbalance.

It was only in the 90's when an act was passed, that it started to reduce and dog fouling is still a problem in some areas.

As a society, we were slow to recognize that there was a problem with dog c#ap on the street, and we're still slow to recognize the sound pollution caused by dogs, and its distressing effect on other people.

BTW, if they are locking their dog up in an enclosed space for long periods, that does constitute animal abuse and you could report them for it.

Red-Squirrel_2

ED2 wrote: »

BTW, if they are locking their dog up in an enclosed space for long periods, that does constitute animal abuse and you could report them for it.

Actually, this wouldn't be illegal.

The legal standards for acceptable treatment of pets is woefully low. As long as they are fed, watered and not denied veterinary care if they need it, that's pretty much all that is required. How do you think puppy farms manage to operate legally?

ED2

Depends on the size of the shed, how long the dog is locked away for. You can't just lock a dog away in a small shed indefinitely where the animal can't have access to sunlight or move if that is indeed the case.
Whether anything would be done about it is debatable, but would be worth reporting for the animals sake.

Red-Squirrel_2

ED2 wrote: »

Depends on the size of the shed, how long the dog is locked away for. You can't just lock a dog away in a small shed indefinitely where the animal can't have access to sunlight or move if that is indeed the case.
Whether anything would be done about it is debatable, but would be worth reporting for the animals sake.

That is exactly what puppy farmers do, sadly.

The RSPCA might privately prosecute, but if there is food and water, and the dog is cleaned up after and can move around even a bit, I very much doubt it, they'd probably just try and convince the owner to hand the dog over to them.

Pupnik

ED2 wrote: »

Depends on the size of the shed, how long the dog is locked away for. You can't just lock a dog away in a small shed indefinitely where the animal can't have access to sunlight or move if that is indeed the case.
Whether anything would be done about it is debatable, but would be worth reporting for the animals sake.

Unfortunately you can. I contacted the RSPCA when my neighbours moved out and left their dog behind for 2 months. The dog didn't go out during that entire time, the only contact he had was someone feeding him every other day. The RSPCA said as long as he had food and shelter it was legal, there is not legal requirement for a dog to go outside or be socialised.

teddysmum

I agree with the posts above, re the RSPCA.


Some years ago, our next door neighbours left their dog outside, chained to a coal bunker (never used for coal but these houses, as newbuilds came with them). He was fed and watered and had shelter from wind and rain, at least. He didn't bark but cried a lot.


The other side neighbours said they'd reported to the RSPCA, but got the same response as above, but luckily the dog was soon rehomed; the reason for his exclusion from the house was that their son was allergic to the dog.


They had a dog, a few years later (she was well treated), as the son seemed to have grown out of his allergy (OK with our dog), but his doctor also suspected that the 'allergy' was connected to family relationships.

Davesnave

ED2 wrote: »

BTW, if they are locking their dog up in an enclosed space for long periods, that does constitute animal abuse and you could report them for it.

While I agree it's not humane, to be fair, I might need to report a few farmers too. The info given by the appropriately-named Pupnik is accurate. Been there, anonymously.

And regarding the length of time a dog can bark; in excess of four hours is possible and wasn't unusual here when we had the problem. There used to be two, who'd set each other off. One is now "in a better place."

teddysmum

I may have future problems with neighbours, though we have been OK for ages, as the other half of our semi has been vacant and is now being slowly renovated (builder has other projects to deal with).


The problem is not that we are demented, but our elder little dog (14+) has the start of dementia and we have found that he now barks or cries when left, even with his companion (though having been upstairs when he thought I'd gone away, I found that he only carries on foe about 5 minutes before going back to sleep).


I rarely go out, shopping being done mainly at the weekend when my husband is home, but I have to go out for emergency supplies and medical appointments, during the week.


If the new neighbours (hopefully well in the future so it won't matter) do object, the only way out would be having him pts; sad, as the vet said, only yesterday, that he is quite contented in his little world.

Brock_and_Roll

The moral of the story here is that when you are buying a house (a huge investment), it is a very good idea to sit in your car outside for an hour or so in evenings/weekends - get a good idea of potential noise/neighbour issues.

Red-Squirrel_2

teddysmum wrote: »

If the new neighbours (hopefully well in the future so it won't matter) do object, the only way out would be having him pts; sad, as the vet said, only yesterday, that he is quite contented in his little world.

And of course, you wouldn't dream of killing an old but generally happy little dog just to save the neighbours from 5 minutes of barking a few times a week!