Buying a flat with two yappy dogs

prowla

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.

That's a selfish attitude - I had a summer ruined because a neighbour had a dog which just barked continually when they left it on its own all day.

beanie414

prowla 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.

That's a selfish attitude - I had a summer ruined because a neighbour had a dog which just barked continually when they left it on its own all day.

Again, we don't leave them alone all day. My wife or I are with them all the time. It would only be when we had to let them out to the garden that we were worried about them barking.

If the dog trainer that responded thinks that is not excessive barking then I would trust what they say.

onwards&upwards

beanie414 said:

Chilli6 said:

Overall it sounds like your dogs don't bark excessively from your description. 
I'm a dog trainer and it is normal for dogs to bark!  Some dogs are more prone to excessive barking due to breed type, character, anxiety levels. Many small breeds (including mine) have higher anxiety/frustration levels combined with breed traits meaning they were bred to be more vocal.
Steer clear from 'celebrity trainers' - to look good on TV is very different to being able to give good behavioural advice in the real world. I know a couple of great trainers who managed to get some air time but know many more who aren't great at all.
This isn't a dog forum so I'll stop the advice there, but to sum up my opinion, if you are home all day and they have everything they need (food, quality rest, exercise, opportunity to play) then excessive barking won't be seen and a few barks in the garden or at sudden sounds is completely normal and your average person will tolerate

Oh, that is interesting. Yes, I have noticed it is the smaller breeds that tend to be yappy. That is good that you wouldn't think it was excessive.

Smaller breeds aren't necessarily 'programmed' or predisposed to bark more, sadly I think its more the case that the owners of small dogs are less likely to train them properly, because the consequences are less serious due to their size.  That's why so many small dogs are allowed to pull on the lead and jump up at people.  

(I say this as someone who has small rescue dogs, so please don't take it the wrong way!  But the mindset that its just what they do isn't helpful to you!  That said, I really can't tell if the barking is actually excessive, you describe them as yappy and are concerned about it, but then you are home all day and say they don't actually bark much or for long, so I'm a bit confused I confess!)

beanie414

onwards&upwards said:

beanie414 said:

Chilli6 said:

Overall it sounds like your dogs don't bark excessively from your description. 
I'm a dog trainer and it is normal for dogs to bark!  Some dogs are more prone to excessive barking due to breed type, character, anxiety levels. Many small breeds (including mine) have higher anxiety/frustration levels combined with breed traits meaning they were bred to be more vocal.
Steer clear from 'celebrity trainers' - to look good on TV is very different to being able to give good behavioural advice in the real world. I know a couple of great trainers who managed to get some air time but know many more who aren't great at all.
This isn't a dog forum so I'll stop the advice there, but to sum up my opinion, if you are home all day and they have everything they need (food, quality rest, exercise, opportunity to play) then excessive barking won't be seen and a few barks in the garden or at sudden sounds is completely normal and your average person will tolerate

Oh, that is interesting. Yes, I have noticed it is the smaller breeds that tend to be yappy. That is good that you wouldn't think it was excessive.

Smaller breeds aren't necessarily 'programmed' or predisposed to bark more, sadly I think its more the case that the owners of small dogs are less likely to train them properly, because the consequences are less serious due to their size.  That's why so many small dogs are allowed to pull on the lead and jump up at people.  

(I say this as someone who has small rescue dogs, so please don't take it the wrong way!  But the mindset that its just what they do isn't helpful to you!  That said, I really can't tell if the barking is actually excessive, you describe them as yappy and are concerned about it, but then you are home all day and say they don't actually bark much or for long, so I'm a bit confused I confess!)

I suppose I see them as yappy, but I don't have anything to compare them too. I have been monitoring them today to see how often they bark and they haven't barked once yet and it's almost 1 now. My neighbours have all been very quiet today though and we haven't had a cat jump into the garden or anything.

Maybe I'm overreacting as I'm nervous about the difference in living in a flat compared to a house.

I was really hoping someone on here who lives in a flat with dogs said it is possible. People must live in flats with dogs. 

theoretica

beanie414 said:
If the dog trainer that responded thinks that is not excessive barking then I would trust what they say.

That was excessive from the point of view of the dog - excessive barking from the point of view of your new neighbours will be different and depend on a number of things including the neighbours.  It will also depend on the sound insulation of the flats, with noise being more tolerated in winter when windows are shut and how noisy the neighbour hood is overall. 

Do individual flats in the areas you are looking at have their own gardens?  You may find there are issues other than noise with letting dogs unsupervised into shared garden spaces.

bouicca21

The worst behaved dogs I have ever met were little  - and the reason they were so badly behaved was that every time that did something undesirable their wretched owner picked them up.  Talk about reinforcing bad behaviours.

in my experience (and not just because I had rescues myself) rescue dogs are the best because their new humans work hard at settling and training them. Besides the price breeders charge, especially under current circumstances, is simply obscene.  I’ve seen so called designer cross breeds on sale for £3000. 

HampshireH

Having worked in housing management and tenancy enforcement  previously my experience is that dogs in flats and neighbours don't mix. 

Whether its yappy little dogs, big dogs barking, dog poo under a neighbours window in the garden or just the person who bought their flat because there was reassurance their lease says no pets (implication being the others do to) and so will go to any length to have it enforced.

That said of course if you move to an area where no one cares its a bonus. But you won't know before you move.

beanie414

theoretica said:

beanie414 said:
If the dog trainer that responded thinks that is not excessive barking then I would trust what they say.

That was excessive from the point of view of the dog - excessive barking from the point of view of your new neighbours will be different and depend on a number of things including the neighbours.  It will also depend on the sound insulation of the flats, with noise being more tolerated in winter when windows are shut and how noisy the neighbour hood is overall. 

Do individual flats in the areas you are looking at have their own gardens?  You may find there are issues other than noise with letting dogs unsupervised into shared garden spaces.

We were only doing searches on flats with their own private garden as we thought the same thing about shared gardens. I wouldn't want to share a garden even if didn't have dogs as I can't imagine you could get privacy.

My wife was saying about getting an air purifier for every room when we move as we have one in our bedroom and it blocks out street noise quite well.

beanie414

HampshireH said:

Having worked in housing management and tenancy enforcement  previously my experience is that dogs in flats and neighbours don't mix. 

Whether its yappy little dogs, big dogs barking, dog poo under a neighbours window in the garden or just the person who bought their flat because there was reassurance their lease says no pets (implication being the others do to) and so will go to any length to have it enforced.

That said of course if you move to an area where no one cares its a bonus. But you won't know before you move.

Yes, it's true. If it is a professional couple who are out all day that would be better but then it could be a retired person or a mother with a kid.

I think maybe there are too many headaches with getting a flat. Maybe we should just look at houses instead.

I will look at more training for them. I just wasn't sure if trainers would be working in clients homes with the Covid situation.

Davesnave

NameUnavailable said:

Another option is dog training or muzzles!

Why do the dogs always get the blame? It's the owners who need training!