Moving House

[Pheebs]

Hubby and I are all kinds of excited about our impending move to our first home. We have Lucy, a 5yo Great Dane and Maggie a (7?) year old Boxer X Bullmastiff. Whilst I've no reason to believe they're nuisance barkers in our absence, I really want to make a smooth transition and make people aware that we'll endeavour to curb any nuisance behaviour that may affect them.

The suburb we're moving to is fairly pet-friendy, and I remember seeing a picture doing the rounds on Facebook where a couple had taken a photo of their dogs and written up a little letter as if it was from their dogs ie: "Hi we're buster and we've just moved into number #, just to let you know we will be working on our behaviour but please know that there will be a settling in period etc".

Do you think a letter along these lines would open us up to people who then felt they had a right to complain? (You know the type I mean: serial naggers :laugh: )

The vendor and I have been writing emails back and forth and she seems lovely (she has two staffies) and appears to be quite close with the neighbours so hopefully we'll have the same luck :)

[Pheebs]

Also, whilst on the theme of moving house and settling in to a new environment - any recommendations on how to train dogs to use a very specific area for toileting? We've never had house training problems before but our new place has a small section of grass but mostly decking (which we will no doubt have to surgically remove Maggie from on sunny days :D ).

[miss2]

Pheebs we are in the same situation, hubby and I just bought and moved in last week. i know what spuds barking can be like so on Sunday I went over to my direct neighbour with spud to introduce our selves.

I made it very clear to her that if his barking is becoming a problem to please let me know and I will do my best to sort it. She has lived in the street for 25 years so knows everyone else and gave me the run down on the rest of the street lol

I get the feeling it’s going to be worth while to keep her on side lol

[HazyWal]

That letter is a fabulous idea I move a lot but always around the same suburb so most people know us and as mine aren't barkers we don't have that problem having said that if a cat jumps over the fence things won't be pretty I have always had fantastic neighbours so been blessed but when we move to Melbourne it will be a whole different ball game not knowing a soul so that letter could be something I could do :)

[cowanbree]

I always do a meet and greet and give them a card with my phone numbers on it saying if there is any issues at all I want to hear about it. Has always worked well for me and has the added benefit it anything dodgy is going on the neighbours give me a ring at work. In the 9yrs I have been here I have had to come home twice for bark (both times over in season bitchs) and once because we had prowlers,. Fortunately the neighbour had scared them off before I got home but I do feel a bit safer knowing they are keeping an eye on my dogs

[Dogsfevr]

I don't think i would send a letter out like the example you have given ,for me its saying my dogs could be a pain ,they havea history & where still tying so be warned.

We have moved alot with dogs & never told our neighbours anything ,most had no clue we had dogs as they where quiet & not an issue .

If you wish to inform them then i would be doing like Cowanbree & given a card with contact details incase anything odd happens but i wouldn't be going into any detail about settling in periods or anything else .

I also wouldn't be saying anything until you have moved in & got a feel for how the dogs may react whilst your home .

If people are going to complain they will often because most people take issues with being told there dogs are badly behaved i think people accept new neighbours with pets when they see you being pro active & responsible & that often opens up talk more

[Pheebs]

All very valid points.

I guess the appeal to me was that I'm pretty non-confrontational... as a tenant I wouldn't care so much but for somewhere we plan on settling down long-term I'm a bit more mindful of this sort of thing. I know also that the next door neighbour has a cat that roams, and like Hazywal I know it would not end well should it come into our yard. I would hate to be the neighbours whose dogs killed the cat

[Dogsfevr]

When it comes to roaming cats its a pickle ,our dogs wouldn't play nicely but by the same token roaming cats aren't my problem if they enter my yard where my dogs are safely contained then i can't do much more

It frustrates me no end when people allow there cats to torment our dogs or jump in our yard.luckily here we don't have that issue BUT by the same token saying to your neighbour my dogs may not like your cat is admitting something i wouldn't want .

If you where to approach the subject then think carefully how you word it ^ its sad that we have to think this way because it isn't fair on the cat or your dogs or yourself

[Nushie]

The suburb we're moving to is fairly pet-friendy, and I remember seeing a picture doing the rounds on Facebook where a couple had taken a photo of their dogs and written up a little letter as if it was from their dogs ie: "Hi we're buster and we've just moved into number #, just to let you know we will be working on our behaviour but please know that there will be a settling in period etc".

Do you think a letter along these lines would open us up to people who then felt they had a right to complain? (You know the type I mean: serial naggers :laugh: )

I would reword the bold bit. It makes it sound like you know your dogs are a problem.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Nushie

[Leah82]

Definitely do a drop by for a few of your neighbours. Telling them about the dog is one thing but it also gives you a chance to sus the neighbours out and find the old lady/couple who will tell you exactly what's going on when you're not there and give you the goss on the other neighbours :)

Like you said you are planning to be there for awhile so it's good to introduce yourselves in person and be a part of the community, especially because of the dogs. If people recognise you and you are approachable they are more likely to let you know if the dogs are being a nuisance during the day.

When I lived in an apartment for over 5 years there were a couple of old ladies downstairs that used to talk out the front a lot, I got all the goss on other people moving in and out, and I even got a heads up when some random guy and his son were looking over my car one day.

[biker girl]

as we had previously been on a very large block (2acres) & no neighbours, then moving into a smallish block (1000sqm) we weren't sure how our dogs were going to be with having immediate neighbours...............

so before we actually moved in, I door knocked our two close neighbours & introduced myself & hubby & explained what was about to happen with 4 dogs moving in!! We also mentioned too, that IF the dogs were making too much noise, that please come & speak to us directly & immediatley.

so far no problems, we speak reasonably regularly with our neighbours & their feedback is "yes the dogs do bark from time to time" though nothing too much

in fact a couple of other people in our cul de sac can't believe that 3 Gsds & a pointerX live here as there is hardly any noise!!!! Well compared to a couple of other dogs who bark a lot....

[Vehs]

Congrats on the house Pheebs! :D

We didn't do anything like that with our dogs - probably should have! But we did deliver Xmas cards and do friendly waves whenever we could... and I would talk to one of the neighbours dogs quite fondly (she moved away with their daughter )