Barking And Neighbours Complaint

[WildatHeart]

I'm just after some advice, options and ideas. I can home today to find a hand written letter on nice pretty paper in the mail box.

Dear Neighbor, I don't know if you are aware of your dogs incessant barking all day. It is most disturbing to the whole neighborhood and it has to stop which means you must do something about it. My next step will be to inform the council. Please do the right thing. A neighbor.

If it is my dogs I want to do the right thing and fix the problem asap. I'm grateful the neighbor has approached me first before resorting to council first.

I have a 6 year German shepherd female desexed and an 8 month keplie x border collie (entire for the moment). Dogs are crated at night so don't bark. The only time they bark (that I'm aware of) is if the neighbour walks up the side of their house, which isn't often and they aren't there for long, or when the same neighbor and looking after a relatives small white fluffy which CONSTANTLY barks at my dogs, and they don't do anything about it, even if mine aren't barking. Mine are reprimand if they bark back and they soon stop. They have only recently started looking after that dog on and off. That same neighbor did complain to me once that my dogs barked all weekend which i replied back funny that because i was away camping all weekend WITH my dogs. Not sure if it was that neighbor that has wrote the letter or not. But to be fair, I'm at work 8-5 five days a week so can't say what they do then.

Dogs are run for about an hour every second morning and have training sessions inbetween. Also access to lots of toys. So I'm after some ideas, advice or options that i can take from now.

Thanks

[persephone]

Put up a camera/voice activated recorder ..so there is evidence for/against?

Have someone in an unknown car pull up nearby and listen for a while ?

[cassie]

Can you set up a video camera to record your dogs in their yard, to find out if they are in fact the culprits?

[WildatHeart]

I am looking into some type of recording device at the moment but going along the lines of "it is my dogs" what is the best way to go about that?

[Dame Aussie]

Can you give some more exercise? When they're tired they're less likely to bark.

Could they be kept inside when home alone?

[coogie]

Our council has bark monitoring collars that they will lend you, they offered me one when I contacted them in relation to a very similar letter put in our letter box; could you ask if your local council has any ? I didn't need to take them up on it as the immediate neighbours were all willing to sign a letter/stat dec to say it was not our dog barking.I went and asked because I did have some doubts - she had previously barked a lot for around two weeks when she first came to me as a rescue, so I couldn't say hand on heart that it wasn't her - although I suspected it was the dogs across the road. Maybe you can contact the other neighbours and ask them if the dogs are causing a nuisance?

The other advantage was that when the complainant did contact the council they already had my information on file and knew I was willing to address the problem if it was my girl. I am still not 100% sure who complained or why they were convinced it was our dog, it never went any further.

[andrewang]

Like many others have suggested, try recording your dogs when you are away for a couple of days. It may not be your dogs barking after all.

[mantis]

You are lucky the neighbours contacted you before the Council.

When I moved house many years ago with Kenny, I didn't think there would be a problem, as he had the house & the yard to do what he wanted. Didn't know he was barking while I was at work.

My neighbours came over & told me that he was barking the whole time I was away. Fortunately Kenny hated water, so I bought a Super Sopper & kept it on the bin in front of my fence & told my neighbours to squirt him whenever he barked. Only took 2 days before he stopped barking. They had to do it occasionally after that, but there were no more complaints & they all ended up loving him.

Talk to your neighbours & try to come up with a solution to make everyone happy.

Edited August 6, 2013 by mantis

[minimax]

Before you start implementing anything, it probably is best to figure out if it is your dogs, and if it is - if it's both or just one.

It's hard to fix a problem when you don't know the exact problem, or if it exists.

If they are barking, you don't know if it's because a bird or something is in the yard, or because they are playing with each other, or because someone brings their kids to play next door, or because someone walks their dog outside your house .... etc so monitoring the situation is the only way to figure out what's going on.

[kelpiecuddles]

Maybe you could type up a little note and put it in the letterboxes of your immediate and next one down neighbours to the affect of:

Dear neighbours,

I recently recieved a note from a neighbour informing me that my dogs were barking during the day. I was not aware that this was occuring and I am currently investigating the issue to try to rectify it. If you have any information regarding when or which dog/s it may be I would greatly appreciate it so that I can get to the bottom of things. I appreciate your patience while I sort this situation out.

regards

Your Neighbour Wildatheart at number X

That way whoever wrote the note is less likely to take the next step and start complaining to council, it gives you time to assess whether it is in fact your dogs and one of your other neighbours may approach you and give you more info on whether they are in fact barking and if so when and who.

[WildatHeart]

Our council has bark monitoring collars that they will lend you,

That's a good idea. I will see if my council has these.

Like many others have suggested, try recording your dogs when you are away for a couple of days. It may not be your dogs barking after all.

I'm trying to sort something out in regards to this, thanks

Maybe you could type up a little note and put it in the letterboxes of your immediate and next one down neighbours to the affect of:

Dear neighbours,

I recently recieved a note from a neighbour informing me that my dogs were barking during the day. I was not aware that this was occuring and I am currently investigating the issue to try to rectify it. If you have any information regarding when or which dog/s it may be I would greatly appreciate it so that I can get to the bottom of things. I appreciate your patience while I sort this situation out.

regards

Your Neighbour Wildatheart at number X

That way whoever wrote the note is less likely to take the next step and start complaining to council, it gives you time to assess whether it is in fact your dogs and one of your other neighbours may approach you and give you more info on whether they are in fact barking and if so when and who.

Really like this idea. Thanks for that. I was considering door knocking close neighbours in the morning and not even mentioning the letter but just asking if they noticed my dog/s barking and if they could give me some info, time of day etc.

[Dogsfevr]

We have had people board there dogs whilst trying to sort out if its there dogs.

The owners new who had complained & went & told the people in question they where trying some new methods & could they let them now if there still barking.

On 2 occasions they have still complained another occasion it was done with the councils full knowledge as the neighbour had become an issue .

Can you ask other neighbours if they bark ??

[WildatHeart]

Just downloaded Audacity and seems I can record sound via my laptop (has built in microphone, who knew?) and it says I have enough space to record 169 hours. obviously won't do video but its a good start.

[Trisven13]

I was at a friend's house one day and the neighbours went out. The minute their car pulled out of the driveway the dogs started barking. Thirty minutes later I commented to my friend that the dogs barked a lot and she said that they did it all day but didn't make a sound whilst the neighbours were home.

I think the letter to the neighbours is a great idea because then they can see that you're addressing it. Those collars sound like a great idea!

[cowanbree]

I would go and visit all the neighbours, tell them about the letter, say if it is your dogs you are very grateful to the person who left the letter and ask for their help in rectifying the situation. This way you get them on side straight away and they can help you find out what is causing the barking. Without that information it is very difficult problem to tackle. I have had great success with this and if there is something causing an issue that is causing excessive barking they have rang me at work so I am able to shoot home and fix whatever is causing the problem. It has worked great for me

[Diva]

I had anonymous complaints some years ago. Locked the dogs up in the day, snuck home at lunch time to try to catch them barking, even had a cleaner at the time who said she never heard them. Turned out to be the dog in the house behind, but I couldn't prove it until I was away one weekend and had the dogs boarded, but got yet another note complaining about a specific day when they were miles away.

If it is yours there are a number of devices designed to interrupt barking, but if you can figure out which dog and at what it might be able to be reduced through management.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Diva

[CellarDoor]

I would record your dogs but also contact your council, and explain the situation (see about those collars perhaps) :) if your neighbour believes you aren't solving the problem quick enough, they may complain to the council, and at least if that happens you've already explained the situation to the council, and indicated you are not only aware of the problem/complaint, but are taking steps to rectify it :)

Edited August 6, 2013 by Clozza

[Pailin]

Honestly it became very apparent to me today that dog barking sounds can be very deceptive when trying to work out where they are coming from. I was home all day today and heard a large sounding dog barking constantly. From inside my house it sounded like it was coming from directly across the road who have a large young Rottie. He rarely barks and it was unusual so I went outside with the intention of making sure it was him so I could let the neighbours know (we are friendly) because it was out of character. Standing out the front of my house however, it sounded like it was actually coming from the house nextdoor to them, I walked towards it and it seemed it was even further along than that and then I was thinking perhaps it was a house from the street behind ours.... To cut it short, even though this dog was barking non stop, a deep strong bark, I would not have been able to say with any accuracy which yard he was in. It was bizarre but it was like the bark was echoing.

Anyhow, recording to make sure it is your two sounds like the best starting point and then addressing it further from there when you have more information. I definitely like the idea of dropping a note in the neighbours boxes letting them know you are taking it seriously and also asking your immediate neighbours if they have noticed your dogs barking excessively. The more info you can compile the better.

[DakotaJ]

I like the idea of speaking to the neighbours and getting them on side first, even if it is just to buy time to investigate the problem.

The first night we got our puppy she cried during the night, even though we were trying to comfort her. We had only just moved to the area and didn't know the neighbours well but the next morning we went to the neighbours and explained the situation and apologised if we'd disturbed them, and asked them o let us know if she barked when we were out etc.Tthey were all great about it and have all taken a neighbourly interest in her growing up. You may even find one of them may say "oh no it's not your dog barking, it's some one else's"

[WildatHeart]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I was able to talk to two neighbours this morning (one on downside didn't answer their door so will try them after work). Both neighbours said yes my dogs do bark at noises or them, or people walking past out the front (school route). They said the shepherd wasn't the issue but the younger dog. One neighbour said they both sit down if he tells them too. He wasn't too concerned though because they've just sold their house and moving out next week. I have set up video and audio to record all day anyway. Topside neighbour said its heaven when I'm home. He agreed to give me feedback once I start doing something about it.

Sooo which now leads me to, what can I do about it. I was thinking maybe a collar from K9Pro. And probably just for the kelpie x?, as both neighbours said its him causing the most noise and only because he bark that sets off the shepherd.

If anyone has any other ideas I'd love to hear them. Going to contact the council today as well.