Buying a flat with two yappy dogs

beanie414

Mojisola said:

beanie414 said:

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.
Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

Perhaps you need to try different training methods.

If you want to be happy in your new house, don't underestimate the effect of the barking on your neighbours - if they are so inclined, they could make your life miserable in retaliation for having to listen to your dogs barking a lot.

Are you sure that they don't bark a lot when they are in the house and you aren't there?

Sorry, I'm probably making the dogs sound much worse than they are! We are both here with them constantly as we never leave them at home alone (me or my wife)  and I have been here with them since 6 this morning and they have barked three times.

I'm just worried about a flat as we haven't lived in one since we were both kids. I just am not sure what the rules are with buying flats. We are so used to having the freedom of a house.

beanie414

MovingForwards said:

beanie414 said:

Oh, yes, I meant to say we were hoping to go through an online place like purplebricks so does the estate agent you are buying from check the lease for the pet rules? Do you have to check that they are right about the rules as well? Do they provide you with a document about the lease?

Sorry if this sounds stupid. I have only bought one house as a first time buyer and we only had one cat back then.

Thanks.

No, EAs do not check the lease rules.  You can downloaded them from the land registry and check whether pets are allowed.

Slithery said:

beanie414 said:

If you own a share of a freehold on a flat does that mean that you can have pets or that they can't kick you out if your pets are annoying?!

No, it doesn't. You still have to abide by the terms of the lease.

Oh, okay, thank you for the info.

newlywed

We had neighbours in our block of flats who would go out for 6-8 hours at a time (They didn’t work) and leave two jack Russells in the kitchen that would bark once every second for the whole entire time... it was like water torture with a dripping tap! 

In the end so many complained (including people in houses across the other side of the road) that the landlord visited them with an rspca officer. 

boxer234

beanie414 said:

boxer234 said:

I can’t think of anything worse than this for the other flat owners and I’m a dog lover.  Some leases restrict pets the estate agent should know that said this is a habit you can work on with positive training methods. 

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.

Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

Off topic completely but what have you tried ? Are they yapping at people walking past/ noises ?  I have two boxers and my youngest is a menace I have a fab 1:1 trainer and am really starting to see the difference.  

The other problem with flats is that you get a lot of external noise such as doors closing whenever I visit my sister who has a flat my boys struggle to settle.  

beanie414

newlywed said:

We had neighbours in our block of flats who would go out for 6-8 hours at a time (They didn’t work) and leave two jack Russells in the kitchen that would bark once every second for the whole entire time... it was like water torture with a dripping tap! 

In the end so many complained (including people in houses across the other side of the road) that the landlord visited them with an rspca officer. 

No, we don't leave them at home at all! If we ever go away for a night we leave them at the vet to board.

beanie414

boxer234 said:

beanie414 said:

boxer234 said:

I can’t think of anything worse than this for the other flat owners and I’m a dog lover.  Some leases restrict pets the estate agent should know that said this is a habit you can work on with positive training methods. 

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.

Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

Off topic completely but what have you tried ? Are they yapping at people walking past/ noises ?  I have two boxers and my youngest is a menace I have a fab 1:1 trainer and am really starting to see the difference.  

The other problem with flats is that you get a lot of external noise such as doors closing whenever I visit my sister who has a flat my boys struggle to settle.  

Hmm, could you recommend someone in the London area? We had two dog trainers and one was actually a "celeb" trainer and both didn't really work.

PM me if you don't mind, or I will PM you.

Majoggy

We have a small dog, she makes next to zero noise and her bark and howl are comically pathetic.

We introduced her to the person in the flat above us and she basically just said she didn't particularly like dogs and we weren't allowed them as part of the lease. Not the best start!

However, pets are allowed here as long as you have the consent of the freeholder - which is us and the other 11 flats. I assume the only way this could be enforced is if a majority of the other flats said they had a problem with it and made it a formal issue.

As the dogs are loud, I would be concerned.

onwards&upwards

beanie414 said:

boxer234 said:

I can’t think of anything worse than this for the other flat owners and I’m a dog lover.  Some leases restrict pets the estate agent should know that said this is a habit you can work on with positive training methods. 

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.

Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

There is no dog that can't be trained, the problem is usually with the humans I'm afraid!  

Keep trying, get some professional help with it, you really don't want to be hated by neighbours when you want a peaceful retirement. 

MalMonroe

Mojisola said:

beanie414 said:

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.
Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

Perhaps you need to try different training methods.

If you want to be happy in your new house, don't underestimate the effect of the barking on your neighbours - if they are so inclined, they could make your life miserable in retaliation for having to listen to your dogs barking a lot.

Are you sure that they don't bark a lot when they are in the house and you aren't there?

I agree.

Have you ever seen Graham Hall on TV training dogs?? Have you tried clickers?  Another great trick is to blow a loud whistle when they start barking, stop when they stop and then pet them and give them a treat. Worked wonders with my friend's rescue dog and took less than half a day for him to get the message. They've had no trouble since. 

Sometimes when you have two dogs, they can encourage each other to bark when they don't even know why they are doing it - but the whistle (which dogs don't like) really works. I love dogs but neighbours' yappy dogs? No.

onwards&upwards

beanie414 said:

boxer234 said:

beanie414 said:

boxer234 said:

I can’t think of anything worse than this for the other flat owners and I’m a dog lover.  Some leases restrict pets the estate agent should know that said this is a habit you can work on with positive training methods. 

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.

Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

Off topic completely but what have you tried ? Are they yapping at people walking past/ noises ?  I have two boxers and my youngest is a menace I have a fab 1:1 trainer and am really starting to see the difference.  

The other problem with flats is that you get a lot of external noise such as doors closing whenever I visit my sister who has a flat my boys struggle to settle.  

Hmm, could you recommend someone in the London area? We had two dog trainers and one was actually a "celeb" trainer and both didn't really work.

PM me if you don't mind, or I will PM you.

The trainer doesn't 'fix' the dogs.  The trainer/behaviourist is really there to train YOU!  You have to keep it up, every day, forever.