ILuvAmstaffs Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of advise for my mum. She has received a notice from the council that there has been a complaint about her Dobe, Max, barking. We are fairly sure the complaint was made by her direct neighbor who has consistently over the past couple of years antagonized Max by kicking the colorbond fence & making barking sounds, then screaming at him when he starts to bark. Another neighbour has witnessed this & confronted the woman in the past. This usually only happens on bin night when the neighbour has to use the lane behind mums house to put her bin out...and as Max is inside all night he couldn't be bothering anyone of a night without mum hearing him. Mum is going to get the other surrounding neighbours to sign a letter stating that in the 10 years she has had Max he has never disturbed them by barking etc. So far she has spoken to 4 of her neighbours & they are happy to sign the letter. I've told her to start keeping a diary of any disturbances, but other than that is there anything else she can do? Are we safe in assuming the council would investigate this themselves before issuing a fine? Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris the Rebel Wolf Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Mum is going to get the other surrounding neighbours to sign a letter stating that in the 10 years she has had Max he has never disturbed them by barking etc. So far she has spoken to 4 of her neighbours & they are happy to sign the letter. I've told her to start keeping a diary of any disturbances, but other than that is there anything else she can do? Are we safe in assuming the council would investigate this themselves before issuing a fine? Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated. While of course it depends on the local council, most will ask both parties involved to keep a diary of times of barking and compare before issuing fines :) Your mum had also done a good job with her other neighbours signing a letter stating Max isn't bothering them, pretty compelling evidence :) My advice would be to contact council straight away and let them know the only known situation when Max is barking is when he is being stirred by the neighbour kicking the fence and antagonising him. (No need to say she suspects this is the person who complained, they will be able to draw this conclusion on their own ;)) Send in the a copy of the letter signed by the other neighbours. Most councils only investigate if multiple complaints are made, either by one person reporting ongoing problems, or different people in the neighbourhood. She won't be fined for a single report. Check with your local council's webpage which should be able to provide guidelines on excessive barking, times, and what it considers excessive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Thanks for that. She is going to go in & talk to the council & the neighbour that confronted the woman also works in admin at the council & she is going to bring the letter in for mum once she has spoken to all the surrounding neighbours. It's just crap because mums had such a bad run lately of undesirables trying to break in/vandalise her house & her only comfort is knowing she has Max to protect her as she is on her own since dad passed away 2 years ago. So far she has had 3 panels of her colorbond fence pulled down (luckily Max was already inside for the night) and then a few weeks later 2 men tried to pull down another 2 panels & around the same time she went out for no more than an hour & came home to find someone had tried to pull her security front door off the hinges. So this is just all more rubbish she doesn't need! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 does she have police reports for all these vandalism attacks and attempted break in? Every time it happens she NEEDS to get a police report done, provide those to the council and it can help explain any unusual barking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dxenion Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 A statement from the neighbour that confronted the woman would help a lot too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juice Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 i would also be getting a 'beware doberman patrolling' sign or something too regarding the vandalism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parkeyre Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 i would also be getting a 'beware doberman patrolling' sign or something too regarding the vandalism. I would not be giving anyone the impression a dog of mine is something to be aware of, especially of the council investigate a complaint against my dog. That's asking for trouble if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevafollo Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I had a noise complaint from a pain in the arse neighbour ... The neighbours were asked to keep a noise diary and all the other neighbours said "their dogs bark no more and no less than our own" the ranger told us the complaint was dealt with and we had no worries but the neighbour up the back turned into a jerk after that so we moved! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Mum made reports to the police on 2 of the 3 occasions there were attempted break ins but not the 3rd time as they never turned up on the 2 previous occasions. She will be reporting everything from now on and also keeping a diary of things like the times max is in the house as well. I'm thinking she may need to start keeping him in the house when she is out to prove he hasn't been barking when she is away as well. Fingers crossed the letter signed by the other neighbors will be all that is needed.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Years ago a friend had a neighbour making nearly daily reports to the council about her dogs. She boarded them in a kennel for a week - the reports continued - end of council paying any attention to the neighbour. All documented and the kennel even photographed the dogs and wrote an accompaning letter confirming they had the dogs for X dates. Sort of expensive but it worked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lavendergirl Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Not saying this is the case here but a barking dog can be very annoying to one neighbour but not to anyone else. If a dog is in an enclosed area directly next to one neighbour's house it may be very annoying to that neighbour but not to someone a few doors away or across the street. Therefore getting other neighbours to state that a barking dog does not bother them may not be entirely valid - in some cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravenau1 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 i would also be getting a 'beware doberman patrolling' sign or something too regarding the vandalism. I would not be giving anyone the impression a dog of mine is something to be aware of, especially of the council investigate a complaint against my dog. That's asking for trouble if you ask me. I have a sign on my gate that just says "Dog on premises", does the trick without using 'beware' etc, picked it up at our local Bunnings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrie Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Not saying this is the case here but a barking dog can be very annoying to one neighbour but not to anyone else. If a dog is in an enclosed area directly next to one neighbour's house it may be very annoying to that neighbour but not to someone a few doors away or across the street. Therefore getting other neighbours to state that a barking dog does not bother them may not be entirely valid - in some cases. I agree with this. It is easy and understandable to feel defensive when a barking complaint is made but I am sure most people would not just make a complaint for the sake of it (I'm not saying this is not the case with your mum though) . Up one side of my house the barking really echoes and I know the neighbour on that side gets the brunt of any barking. If any of our neighbours complained we would fully investigate it and ensure they did not have to put up with nuisance barking. They have our phone numbers anyway and they have been assured that we would really like to know if the barking ever gets excessive or annoying so I hope they would feel comfortable enough to approach us before going to council. Barking is annoying and not all people love dogs so it is something I really try to keep to a minimum even as far as alert barking that someone is on the property. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterloo Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I would not be putting up "Dog" signs. Sometimes this will make the dog a target for baiting from some idiots. Has your Mum spoken to the lady concerned? Perhaps they can come to some peaceful solution and keep everyone happpy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazyWal Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 i would also be getting a 'beware doberman patrolling' sign or something too regarding the vandalism. I would not be giving anyone the impression a dog of mine is something to be aware of, especially of the council investigate a complaint against my dog. That's asking for trouble if you ask me. I have a sign on my gate that just says "Dog on premises", does the trick without using 'beware' etc, picked it up at our local Bunnings. I have a sign that a friend made for me (she used to sell them at the markets)that says "A BIG DOG LIVES HERE" seems to work for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zug Zug Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Is your Mum aware of any particular times that the barking has been causing concern? If so, she could possibly arrange to have the dog inside the house with her at those times. I.e. be as helpful as possible, and also be in a position to make clear to the Council (if asked) that she is doing everything reasonable to help out. I would expect that the Council staff may actually come past the house a few times to listen for themselves. If your dog is barking when they come out, they may pay more close attention. Councils know that some neighbours exaggerate issues, and no doubt have heard it all many times before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m-sass Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Hi all, I'm looking for a bit of advise for my mum. She has received a notice from the council that there has been a complaint about her Dobe, Max, barking. We are fairly sure the complaint was made by her direct neighbor who has consistently over the past couple of years antagonized Max by kicking the colorbond fence & making barking sounds, then screaming at him when he starts to bark. Another neighbour has witnessed this & confronted the woman in the past. This usually only happens on bin night when the neighbour has to use the lane behind mums house to put her bin out...and as Max is inside all night he couldn't be bothering anyone of a night without mum hearing him. Mum is going to get the other surrounding neighbours to sign a letter stating that in the 10 years she has had Max he has never disturbed them by barking etc. So far she has spoken to 4 of her neighbours & they are happy to sign the letter. I've told her to start keeping a diary of any disturbances, but other than that is there anything else she can do? Are we safe in assuming the council would investigate this themselves before issuing a fine? Any advice on how to approach this would be appreciated. Your mum is best to ask the council for times and dates when her dog was supposedly barking then deny that it was her dog and tell the council there must be some mistake or the complainant is making false allegations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Willow Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 It's very sad when neighbours can't just communicate with each other, and they just go straight to the council first We were very lucky when we had a barking issue with our old dog that our neighbour told us what was going on, and we fixed it. She even went round to look over the fence the first time because she though something might be wrong, and wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILuvAmstaffs Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Just in regards to the barking, the neighbor that we are pretty sure made the complaint lives on the other side of mums house away from the main yard and with a separate courtyard that Max cannot access between them. As mums on a corner block the only direct neighbor is the one who confronted this other neighbor about antagonizing the dog on bin nights. All the other nearby neighbors across the road from mum have signed the letter saying Max doesn't often bark and he hadn't bothered them (7 house in total) and a group of people in mums street who walk by each day have signed a similar letter stating they pass the house each day and haven't heard any barking. Mum has spoken to the neighbor back when dad was alive and was told to f off and they would bark at the dog if they liked. They are absolute charmers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystiqview Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 i would also be getting a 'beware doberman patrolling' sign or something too regarding the vandalism. This is the WORST thing you can do! IF the dog DOES bite someone, that sign admits culpability as it implies there is a dangerous dog on the property. If a sign is needed, "please shut the gate, dog inside" or something similar. "beware" is not a word that should be used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now