Neighbour Issues - Advice

[3Woofs]

About a month ago I received a call from council advising me that there had been a complaint put in about my dogs barking. I don't beleive they bark excessivly and told the ranger this. He was quite harsh and said people don't make complaints for no reason. My dogs are also inside from about 6pm - 7am everyday and never make a peep so 100% no noise during the night. We are also at dog shows nearly every weekend so the dogs aren't at home.

I do work 3 days per week so thought perhaps I'm wrong and they bark while I'm not home so I bought bark control collars. I even sent my boy to boarding when I had a girl in season to ensure there was no whining noise.

On Monday I had another call saying that there had been another complaint. I advised of the bark collars and that I don't beleive they are barking.

Today i had a knock on my door and it was the ranger asking to inspect my property as there had been another complaint and that they said there is an extreme smell on dog poo and piles of it in the backyard. I'm really shocked about this as the poo is picked up daily and any hard surface is sprayed with deoderising disinfectant spray.

I took him into the backyard and there was only 2 fresh poos in the whole yard.... I have 5 dogs by the way.

My dogs didn't make a peep at him being there either, just wagged their tails.

The ranger said he will note that everything checked out fine in regards to noise and smell but that he beleives this person will keep making vexatious reports.

My question is has anyone had similar happen to them? Also, what will/could happen now? This neighbour is being totally unreasonable and causing me huge amounts of stress! Arggghhh!

Edited December 20, 2012 by 3Woofs

[noisymina]

The ranger said he will note that everything checked out fine in regards to noise and smell but that he beleives this person will keep making vexatious reports.

So he admitted it was a vexacious report?

Keep a record of it all.

The ranger will get tired of it eventually, specially after meeting you and being welcome to inspect.

What the neighbour is up to, why they are doing it etc - I guess that would be nice to know - then you will have some idea where you stand re other harassment.

[BlackJaq]

Do you know why the neighbour is complaining about you? It obviously is not a real issue, sounds to me like they are trying to cause you trouble.

I see you have Staffords, could it be somebody who simply doesn't like the breed? Or maybe is scared of them? Do you have any new neighbours? If so, it may be worthwhile meeting them and inviting them to meet your dogs?

Sorry, I don't know what council will do from here but if there is no actual issue then I would hope they will tell the person to p*** off :p Hate nuisance complainers, they make life hard for everyone!

ETA: Until you figure out who and why they are complaining I would keep the dogs inside when you are out, if possible. Some people will go out of their way to encourage dogs to bark or even bait them for no reason other than they don't like the look of them

Edited December 20, 2012 by BlackJaq

[conztruct]

About a month ago I received a call from council advising me that there had been a complaint put in about my dogs barking. I don't beleive they bark excessivly and told the ranger this. He was quite harsh and said people don't make complaints for no reason. My dogs are also inside from about 6pm - 7am everyday and never make a peep so 100% no noise during the night. We are also at dog shows nearly every weekend so the dogs aren't at home.

I do work 3 days per week so thought perhaps I'm wrong and they bark while I'm not home so I bought bark control collars. I even sent my boy to boarding when I had a girl in season to ensure there was no whining noise.

On Monday I had another call saying that there had been another complaint. I advised of the bark collars and that I don't beleive they are barking.

Today i had a knock on my door and it was the ranger asking to inspect my property as there had been another complaint and that they said there is an extreme smell on dog poo and piles of it in the backyard. I'm really shocked about this as the poo is picked up daily and any hard surface is sprayed with deoderising disinfectant spray.

I took him into the backyard and there was only 2 fresh poos in the whole yard.... I have 5 dogs by the way.

My dogs didn't make a peep at him being there either, just wagged their tails.

The ranger said he will note that everything checked out fine in regards to noise and smell but that he beleives this person will keep making vexatious reports.

My question is has anyone had similar happen to them? Also, what will/could happen now? This neighbour is being totally unreasonable and causing me huge amounts of stress! Arggghhh!

Ummm, I actually think it's up to the council to go back to your neighbour and advise them that the report they made was investigated and resulted in being found to be incorrect. I think they should have some information to provide them about what actually constitutes an issue that would give rise for a legitimate complaint to be lodged while at the same time informing them that there is a cost for investigations arising from frivilous and vexatious complaints and these are unacceptable. If you know which neighbour it is, I would be reluctant to approach them over the issue as it could escalate. Good luck and I hope they move.

[minimax]

Being able to prove they are making vexatious reports is always handy. Ie: having video or audio of your dogs not barking when they say they are, or having your dogs not even home when they claim they are barking (not as easy if they can see you come and go and take the dogs out).

[mixeduppup]

I had a neighbour try that old trick. Truth is they didn't like big dogs. We saw the ranger sitting outside of our house for a couple of days and called to ask, he said there'd been a complaint. We invited him in and apart from one or two barks upon his arrival from the maremma they were quiet and adored him. He checked out the house and kennels and when he realised that we locked them up at night he was quite annoyed by the complaint which stated they barked all night, which wasn't possible. He also noted that they had quite a few yappy little dogs themselves that they had sneaked inside because they knew he was coming. It didn't go any further. I've started keeping a diary now, just in case, because you never know if they'll try something again. I would set up a recording system whilst you're at work so you can make sure that they aren't barking and show it to the ranger or courts to prove what you say is accurate.

[disintegratus]

We had a similar issue with our next door neighbour, she'd made life hell for our grandma when she lived in the house, then when my sister and I moved in, she got even worse. We tried to do the right thing, but after many complaints (both directly to us and to the council, and the RSPCA, and the police, and my boyfriend's workplace when he stopped for lunch at my house and had the audacity to park his small truck on the nature strip outside my house) it eventually escalated to intervention orders, mediation and then we bought a new place and moved the hell away from the stupid woman and her good for nothing husband.

Once, on a weekend, my sister and I went to the market, had been out of the house for 20 minutes when she called us to say that Harley had been barking nonstop for an hour and a half. That one ended in her being hung up on after she started screeching down the phone, which was then promptly followed by a council complaint.

[Airedaler]

We had a similar experience recently. There was a complaint made against us although it was not about the dogs. the complaint was so incredibly wrong it was laughable but the council people came to investigate it as they must. They told us that it was obviously a vexatious complaint and that would be recorded on the file so if there were any further complaints either along the same lines or from the same people they would be disregarded.

If the ranger has seen your situation and is happy with it then you may find the situation recorded as a vexatious complaint. I guess it just makes you a little more cautious about what you do with the dogs when you are not at home.

It sounds as though you have a narky neighbour but it amazes me what they hope to gain. As soon as the ranger comes out for an inspection he sees there is no problem and it then becomes obvious that the neighbour is wasting his time and telling porky pies about your situation.