The drowned barking dog incident.

PhilE

Apologies if this is posted in the wrong section.

Was reading this old article recently. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11619859/Pilot-drowns-neighbours-dog-as-it-would-not-stop-barking.html

My personal view is that all cruelty to animals is abhorrent.

However, a barking dog can serverely impact the neighbors lives. It affects your sleep and work. Your children's health can be affected, their performance at school can suffer.

An owner of a barking dog has absolutely no consideration for others. Its a third world mentality, which belongs in countries where there is feaces on the street, and sewage in the tap water.

In this case, the pilot was recovering from a heart attack, and the council whom he pays money to refused to uphold his right to peace and quiet in his own home. He did something wrong, but Id say he was driven to it.

Barking dogs are not fit for civilization. Dog owners should by law, train their dogs to not affect others. If they are unable to do this, they should be heavily fined and banned from having dogs as pets.

The council should do their job. They are paid taxes to ensure a level or comfort and safety. If they can't do this, then refunds should be given to all neighbors who have been affected by their incompetence.

In this case, the dog owner and council should have been fined, not the pilot who should have received compensation for the hours of stress he was forced to endure.

If a barking dog has been killed by a neighbor, yes this is wrong. However, if it has been reported and not resolved, then its fair to say that the neighbors mental health was chronically affected, and the council and dog owner are to blame.

Rant over.

Gavin83

The article wasn't clear, did this dog bark throughout the night or just during the day?

Given the circumstances I think the punishment is fair. Maybe the 12 weeks in prison will give him the peace and quiet he clearly craves. It's likely that he'll be looking for a new job too as I very much suspect someone with such volatile tendencies will be considered unsuitable to fly a plane.

PhilE

From the article;

"This is a dog that barked from morning until night, and a year before my client had had a heart attack, and spent time off work trying to recuperate.

"He found it impossible to be in his garden. Mr Woodhouse is not a man who likes to complain but he had spoken to the council and he was at his wits' end."

Gavin83

PhilE wrote: »

"This is a dog that barked from morning until night, and a year before my client had had a heart attack, and spent time off work trying to recuperate.

I did read that but it's not exactly clear... I assume that effectively means it was barking throughout the day rather than during the night. If that is the case I can understand why the council didn't do much, a dog barking during the day is fairly standard level of noise you'd expect in any residential area.

It wasn't even clear in the article if he'd discussed the issue with the neighbours. What is clear is that he clearly isn't a mentally stable person. I can understand someone losing their temper but the way he went about it, along with his follow up actions suggest that frankly he's psychotic.

I'm thinking that neighbourly relationships might be a little frosty after this.

lincroft1710

Gavin83 wrote: »

The article wasn't clear, did this dog bark throughout the night or just during the day?

Given the circumstances I think the punishment is fair. Maybe the 12 weeks in prison will give him the peace and quiet he clearly craves. It's likely that he'll be looking for a new job too as I very much suspect someone with such volatile tendencies will be considered unsuitable to fly a plane.

The article is 3 years old and the prison sentence was suspended.

MothballsWallet

Gavin83 wrote: »

I did read that but it's not exactly clear... I assume that effectively means it was barking throughout the day rather than during the night. If that is the case I can understand why the council didn't do much, a dog barking during the day is fairly standard level of noise you'd expect in any residential area.

It wasn't even clear in the article if he'd discussed the issue with the neighbours. What is clear is that he clearly isn't a mentally stable person. I can understand someone losing their temper but the way he went about it, along with his follow up actions suggest that frankly he's psychotic.

I'm thinking that neighbourly relationships might be a little frosty after this.

If the dog was barking like that, then the owner (neighbour) was probably an unapproachable type of person.

PhilE

Gavin83 wrote: »

I did read that but it's not exactly clear... I assume that effectively means it was barking throughout the day rather than during the night. If that is the case I can understand why the council didn't do much, a dog barking during the day is fairly standard level of noise you'd expect in any residential area.
.

A dog barks at 80-100 decibels. Human hearing can be damaged at 85 decibels. If you think that this level of noise is acceptable, turn your stereo up to 85 decibels for a few hours. Imagine if you were trying to get to sleep with that level of noise, imagine it went on day and into the night for a few years.

Imagine that you could never turn it off, and you were recovering from illness. Have any children at home? Would you play the stereo that loud while they were trying to sleep, or study? No, obviously not. What about the kids next door, would you think that its acceptable for them to hear 85 decibels when they had school in the morning?

I suggest you read the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The noise level you think is ok, is actually illegal under UK law.

PhilE

MothballsWallet wrote: »

If the dog was barking like that, then the owner (neighbour) was probably an unapproachable type of person.

Not a person fit for civilization. There is never any point in approaching them, asking for a bit of consideration for others. They have none.

Fosterdog

PhilE wrote: »

Not a person fit for civilization. There is never any point in approaching them, asking for a bit of consideration for others. They have none.

Now this I have disagree with, you are making an assumption with no knowledge of the person in question. I've had two neighbours who had very barky in the last ten years and neither of them were unapproachable in the slightest.

In the first case it was an elderly gent who left the black door open for the dog to come and go into the garden as it pleased, all day and all night. The gent was hard of hearing and his mobility was limited so when he was at the front of the house he genuinely couldn't hear the racket his dog was making. We would always give him a bit of time to see if the dog quietened down on his own or went back inside or if it went on for a fair amount of time we would just pop around to see him and he'd get the dog in and close the door and apologise. He was a very nice guy and loved his dog but wasn't bothered by the noise himself and couldn't hear how bad it was.

The other neighbour is again a lovely kind woman who would do anything for anyone but she is incredibly ditsy and just doesn't think "I can hear my dog bark so everyone else must be able to hear her too", again we give it a bit of time and only if the dog doesn't quiet on it's own have we ever had to knock and there's always been an apology, it still happens again but she is certainly not unapproachable.

PhilE

Sure, if they are elderly they may not be aware of it. Or if they have some sort of disability. But I was referring to people who are relatively young and healthy, but simply do not care.

Rosemary7391

PhilE wrote: »

A dog barks at 80-100 decibels. Human hearing can be damaged at 85 decibels. If you think that this level of noise is acceptable, turn your stereo up to 85 decibels for a few hours. Imagine if you were trying to get to sleep with that level of noise, imagine it went on day and into the night for a few years.

You don't seem to have accounted for dampening due to space, walls etc between you and the dog.



Which isn't to say it's not unpleasant - I live over a very nervous dog - but it seems unlikely to literally damage hearing in the way you suggest. Effects on health due to stress, lack of sleep etc are separate and of course very real.