Barking

[Flaves]

I did do a search and came up with nothing so here i go.

I have just got a complaint letter in the letterbox about our dogs and them barking at a certain fenceline.

Our house has 6 other properties backing on to us.

At one particular house when the people are outside they bark. When i hear them or are at home i correct them.

But the letter says they are doing it when we are not home. This is not on, not for teh neighbours and not for me.

I am going to go around and speak to the neighbours as they were not home when i went this morning.

What can i do to stop them doing this?

(THey cannot be inside all say when we are not home.)

THanks for any suggestions.

Also i am getting a trainer out for some other issues in the next few weeks but any suggestions now would be appreciated.

[lionqueen]

Hi there!

I know it might sound a bit harsh to some people, but you could try an electric fence along that side...

Great for when you aren't at home!

My dogs were making a great mess of my garden along a CERTAIN boundary...

A similar situation to yours, and the old zap certainly put a stop to that!

It isn't cruel, it only takes a couple of hits and they won't go near it again.

After a while it won't even need to be on, the sight of the wire will be enough to curb their enthusiasm!

You can get special dog ones, and mains powered ones for small areas.

OR you could try one of those electronic containment collars where you run wires around a perimeter and the dog gets zapped when it goes out of bounds. A friend of mine has one on her Weimariner to keep him out of garden beds, and to stop him bolting out the front gate!

I'd recommend a look on ebay for both!

Just a suggestion!

Nala's Mum

[Flaves]

I have an electric fence on the other side.

So i will extend that and see how that goes.

Thanks i had not even thought of that as an answer.

[lionqueen]

I have an electric fence on the other side.

So i will extend that and see how that goes.

Thanks i had not even thought of that as an answer.

Not a problem!

In a perfect world we could all stay at home and play with our dogs all day...!!!

Unfortunately there is that horrible thing called WORK...and "normal" is a setting on a washing machine!!!

Cheers,

Nala's Mum

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

Kristie there have been numerous threads in general discussion on neighbour problems.

What was the gist of the letter?, are they totally irate?, can they prove it is your dogs barking?.

Why are your dogs barking at one out of six fence-lines? , there must be something on that fenceline that is upsetting your dogs.

Are the others complaining as well?.

[sas]

Our old neighbours had this issue and they did something I never thought would have worked in a million years but it did.

They set up a fence made out of the stronger type chicken wire approx a metre away from the fence.

Edited June 3, 2007 by sas

[SueM]

I hope you can get it resolved ok, I just noticed is your dog called Barker????

[benny123]

Our two used to bark at the neighbours (from when we got them at 8 weeks old) and it was driving us and them crazy. So we rang and asked them to come to the fence for the pups to meet them while we were chatting to them over the fence. We did this about three times with two sets of adjoining neighbours. Now the dogs just wag their tails in a very happy way whenever they see the neighbours. No more barking becaue they're not strangers.

One set of neighbours now love our girlie because she barked outrageously at the boundry one night - there was someone prowling around their yard.

So, maybe try to introduce the dogs to the neighbours at the boundry fences and separately, maybe in you place so that they know who they are and where it's OK for them to be, it worked for ours. Good luck.

[Flaves]

I hope you can get it resolved ok, I just noticed is your dog called Barker????

He is after Johnny Barker a footy player. NOT cause he barks

I went and spoke to them. They said it is only when they go into their backyard or are near their fence. Usually around 6-7pm

However, i am often home at that time and they do not bark for long as they are told off.

I haev asked them to write down times, dates adn length of barking for 2 weeks until Erny can come out and i will keep an eye onm them and then we can see if it is mine.

They are inside from the minute i get home until the next morning except for toiletbreaks.

[Poodle wrangler]

Not saying your dogs are angels, but some neighbours have an extremely low tolerance for barking. One of ours must have complained about every single dog in a 600m radius. They seem to expect zero barking .

[ShellyBeggs]

I did the same as Benny123

When I lived in the burbs, my lab barked at one particular neighbour whenever they went outside.

I went out to correct him one day and started chatting over the fence to the neighbour and we came up with a plan.

I loaded my neighbour up with treats, and got my neighbour to tell my lab to sit and when he did would throw him over a treat.

We did this a few times when I was there, a few times with me watching from the window.

It worked, as soon as my lab heard the neighbour he would sit at the fence and wag his tail and he got a treat.

Gradually the treats became less frequent and unpredictable.

I would also throw a few of his tennis balls over the fence and they became rewards too!!!!

Worked a charm.....the neighbour was my dogs new best friend, it cost me $2 a week on cheap treats that I broke up into small pieces (so he didn't get too much) and for the 1 minute it took for the neighbour to occassionally throw the lab a treat, he got endless peace and quiet.

Of course if you are worried about baiting you may need to consider that you are letting a stranger feed your dog.

Another option is to move to the country where your neighbours are so far away your dog can't hear them........

It worked for me!!!!!

[sidoney]

It's nice that you people care. I have a neighbour whose dog barks every time one of us is outside - and he complains to the council about my dogs, who bark much less than his (and he cannot take the spurious complaints further as he has nothing to take). But then, he is one of those endlessly angry people.

I do nothing about the dog because barking at me is one of the only interesting things it gets to do - it never goes out, for example, and is usually alone.

Edited June 3, 2007 by sidoney

[MrsD]

Just a warning about the neighbours getting friendly with or feeding the dogs treats - it backfired with us, the neighbours loved Ebony so used to come up to the fence to give her a pat & talk to her, only problem was that she then started to bark everytime they set foot outside of their house to get their attention . It was like "woof, woof, woof, woof - come over here, I can see you, I want some attention, come here!".

It probably wouldnt end up like that with most dogs, but Ebony is such a sh*t & vocalises all the time that I (& the neighbours!) wish we'd never done it .