Neighbours dog barking

housebuyer7

Just to repeat what I said:

- Its spurts of barking everyday, throughout the day
- reactive barking if anyone walks by
- occasionally barking and growling at us in the garden
- excessive barking in the evenings when they segregate him while they cook and eat (so 2 hours).
- He does not bark overnight.

BarelySentientAI

housebuyer7 said:

Musical instruments are also an issue - the council guidance is not for more than an hour a day I believe? And babies crying is not considered a statutory noise nuisance so is a moot point. The noise I am describing falls in the remit of the council.

Babies crying indoors, if the noise is heard because of poor sound insulation between the properties, is not statutory nuisance based on precedent.  Otherwise, it can be.

housebuyer7 said:

i want to know if people agree, that it’s futile to involve the council without the dog barking for 15 consecutive hours a day? The council don’t specify when the threshold “excessive” is reached for barking. Does anyone have any experience?

The relevant part for animals is likely 79.1.(f):
any animal kept in such a place or manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

There isn't really much good definition about what any of those particular terms mean, a lot is just precedent in case law or what different councils choose (a bit like your 1 hour for music) - some councils aren't specific, some are.  Mid Devon, for example, says that sustained barking "over a minute or two" would count, as would early morning or late night.  Chesterfield, alternatively, says that barking "at someone coming to the door" is not a nuisance but barking "all day because left alone" is.  They also say that "it would have to be loud enough to impact on sleep, conversation, watching TV etc. for it to be a nuisance".

Does your council say anything specific anywhere about this?  If they don't, perhaps consider finding wording from a 'harsh' council and quoting it at them?

They then would have to consider why (is the animal mistreated, left in poor conditions, under-socialised etc) and whether the owner is doing anything appropriate to mitigate (like not leaving the animal alone for hours, having training/support etc).  That's where your argument might fall down - a new rescue puppy wouldn't be expected to behave like a socialised and trained adult dog - but equally they could want to see evidence of ongoing mitigation like a training class.

housebuyer7

This is really helpful thank you so much! My council is East Sussex and I can’t find anything nor can I see that they have ever made the paper for prosecuting on this matter. 

From my observations he is not mistreated at all, rather I suspect he is just bored (have observed him on his own in the garden barking at literally nothing). He is not left home alone - they work from home. The issue I feel is training - they don’t tell him no/stop when he barks, they don’t bring him inside from the garden when he barks outside. It’s just “oh dear what are you barking at” is the response. Or no response. They got a trainer to visit on one occasion only to check they were doing the right kind of thing in the early weeks and then nothing since. I see nothing to suggest the barking will reduce any time soon without intervention.

BarelySentientAI

Hastings are the only East Sussex council that say anything relevant: 

"Almost all dogs bark occasionally for a few moments, for example when being let out after a period indoors, when people approach the front door or sometimes when people walk past the house or garden. This may be irritating, but think carefully before complaining about noise of this kind as there may be nothing an owner can do to secure an improvement.

On the other hand, dogs which bark or howl loudly and frequently for longer periods can cause great annoyance. Incidents which occur early mornings, evenings or at night can be much more of a problem than at other times. It is not unreasonable to complain to a neighbour about this sort of noise."

They suggest keeping a noise diary to provide evidence, and look to a mediation service.

housebuyer7

I don’t know why the councils don’t clamp down on this more when presumably they get fine money? I think I need to just sell ASAP.

sheramber

  Before you report it you should keep a diary of when the dog barks and for how long each time.

It would probably help if you neighbour did the same.

Here is what Mid Devon Council say on their website

Problems arise when dog barking becomes excessive and unreasonable. Even if you can put up with excessive barking it is not reasonable to expect your neighbours to do likewise.

Examples of excessive barking can include: frequent intermittent barking over lengthy periods; sustained barking over more than a minute or two; barking early in the morning or late at night.

https://www.middevon.gov.uk/residents/dogs/dog-barking/#:~:text=Examples of excessive barking can,morning or late at night.

Burnley say

When we could take action

What is considered to be excessive and persistent barking can be difficult to gauge but, as a general rule of thumb, we would investigate and deal with uncontrollable barking, whining or crying, especially at inappropriate times or in circumstances that interfere significantly with how someone uses and enjoys their property. For example,(not definitive).

1. Continuous barking for 30 minutes on 5 days over a 7 day period.
2. Barking for more than a combined total of 1 hour in 24.
3. Barking occurring during “quiet hours” between 11pm and 7am
4. 
   
5. https://burnley.gov.uk/environmental-problems/noise/barking-dogs/

ThisIsWeird

Hi HB7.
It's early days for this dog,  so hopefully the situation will improve, but the owner's response so far isn't encouraging - they should be putting into place techniques for curbing this behaviour, and making their dawg feel more secure.
Do you otherwise get on with them ok? Do you like dogs? Do they take the dog for long walks? If not, would you like to?!
Are you a 'doggie' person - do you know, or have a feel for, how they should be treated and controlled? Calm but firm and consistent?
If there is some way for you to get to know that dog a bit more, then it'll likely stop reacting to you at least, and will possibly become more secure if more folk are interacting with it in a positive way.
Any chance - if you would genuinely enjoy it, and if the owners are pushed for time - that you could offer to take it out for regular good walks?

There is nothing like it.
(TiW, owner of Romanian rescue)

Bigphil1474

OP, I've worked in a noise nuisance team, and I would advise the following. Speak to your neighbour about it again - if you generally get on and the other side do as well, having a grown up conversation  between the 3 of you so he knows how severely it is affecting both of you, may bring a better long term solution. Sometimes getting the authorities involved puts people on the defensive and things just get worse. For others, just getting a letter form the council telling them there has been a complaint is enough for them to do more to deal with the problem. Dealing with noise nuisance through the local council is often a slow and painful process so best avoided if you can deal with otherwise. Ultimately, you may need to get the council involved, and they'll be looking for records of issues as suggested above, and as the other neighbour is doing.

Personally, I have no time for inadequate dog owners and I think too many people keep them as pets in inappropriate properties and don't train the properly. If someone wants to look after a dog, they should learn how to do it properly, and dogs don't bark incessantly to 'express themselves'.

sheramber

ThisIsWeird said:

Hi HB7.
It's early days for this dog,  so hopefully the situation will improve, but the owner's response so far isn't encouraging - they should be putting into place techniques for curbing this behaviour, and making their dawg feel more secure.
Do you otherwise get on with them ok? Do you like dogs? Do they take the dog for long walks? If not, would you like to?!
Are you a 'doggie' person - do you know, or have a feel for, how they should be treated and controlled? Calm but firm and consistent?
If there is some way for you to get to know that dog a bit more, then it'll likely stop reacting to you at least, and will possibly become more secure if more folk are interacting with it in a positive way.
Any chance - if you would genuinely enjoy it, and if the owners are pushed for time - that you could offer to take it out for regular good walks?

There is nothing like it.
(TiW, owner of Romanian rescue)

These are all things the owners should be doing. If they are pushed for time they should not have got a dog never mind a Romanian rescue who has probably been through a horrendous  experience of dog catchers, humans that it fears handling it, transported hundreds of miles over days cooped up in a cage in a van and then finds itself in a house with all the dights and sounds it has never experienced before.

( Mil to Romanian who is well aware of this treatment of dogs in Romania)

Scotbot

If you are intending to move in 6 months I wouldn't put in an official complaint.  I would go round in the evening and tell them the dog is barking and is it alright. Repeatedly.  That may persuade them not put it in a separate room