Dealing with a neighbours noisy dog

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MileHighKiwi

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#152361 24-Sep-2014 13:29

Our neighbour got a dog recently and it's driving us up the wall with its constant barking ALL DAY. Over the weekends its not a major problem because the neighbours are mostly home, but during the week it's a bloody nightmare. We have only really noticed this week due to having to work from home for a couple of days. It has barked today from 8am non stop and as I'm writing this it's still going.

Obviosuly speaking with the neighbour is the right ting to do but what should my expectations be? He'll say 'sorry' but the dog is hardly going to abide by our request to keep its trap shut.

Will the dog (puppy, 3 mths old, I think) grow out of this?

This is exactly the reason why we have never owned or want to own a dog. We're professionals and would be in the same situation as our neighbours of having to leave the dog unattended for 10 hours per day. It's not fair on the dog or the neighbours.

And soon my wife will be home all day when our baby arrives. This can't go on.

Has anyone else had this problem?

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#1136496 24-Sep-2014 13:34

If it's just a 3 months old puppy. Could be just missing it's own family.

I'm sure it will settle down after the puppy get use to it's new owner and enviroment.

bagheera

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#1136497 24-Sep-2014 13:34

http://www.animalcontrol.org.nz/Complaints.html

Lyderies

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#1136514 24-Sep-2014 13:43

If you don't tell them hes crying they wont know so they cant deal with the problem,

Best bet is to go over and talk to the neighbors and if they are rude about it take more serious steps

I'm going to noob myself past judgement

gzt

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#1136515 24-Sep-2014 13:46

MileHighKiwi:

Personally I would start with a call to the SPCA. These people should not own a dog, but since they have made that decision already the SPCA are probably the best people to explain to them exactly what dog ownership and animal care entails.

My second call would be council noise control.

Looks like auckland council would issue a barking abatement notice. I have not heard of this process.

Lyderies

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#1136519 24-Sep-2014 13:50

gzt:
MileHighKiwi:

Personally I would start with a call to the SPCA. These people should not own a dog, but since they have made that decision already the SPCA are probably the best people to explain to them exactly what dog ownership and animal care entails.

My second call would be council noise control.

Looks like auckland council would issue a barking abatement notice. I have not heard of this process.

Thats ridiculously harsh, the owners are not abusing the puppy, it is merely doing what all puppies do and cry because there pack has left them

I'm going to noob myself past judgement

gzt

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#1136521 24-Sep-2014 13:52

Lyderies: If you don't tell them hes crying they wont know so they cant deal with the problem, Best bet is to go over and talk to the neighbors and if they are rude about it take more serious steps

This is true. Any normal people will want to know they are creating an issue and resolve the situation.

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#1136548 24-Sep-2014 14:21

gzt:
MileHighKiwi:

Personally I would start with a call to the SPCA. These people should not own a dog, but since they have made that decision already the SPCA are probably the best people to explain to them exactly what dog ownership and animal care entails.

My second call would be council noise control.

Looks like auckland council would issue a barking abatement notice. I have not heard of this process.

Geez right to DEFCON 5 aye, thats a wee bit harsh.

All dogs bark, OP is best the speak to the owners and it might be worth taking a little bit of his time to find out what the dog is barking out i.e. people walking past the house, cats, birds or is it just lonely and missing attention.

Its normal for puppies to seek attention when they are young. ( How would you like be taken of your mum to live with strangers).

If the issue is bought to the owners attention it can be worked quickly. If the dog has clean water and food then a call to the SPCA won't go anywhere. The council won't normally do much if the owner isn't home they will just stand on the footpath and listen to see if the barking is excessive.

xpd

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#1136549 24-Sep-2014 14:23

(Dog owner)

Go talk to the owner, nicely (take a few beers round) let them know your concern and see what they can do.

Our dog was the same, bark, howl etc when we went out. Ending up keeping him inside in a crate when we went out which hes fine with now and we're at the point of getting rid of the crate. Hes just not an outdoor dog unless someones with him - some dogs are, some arent.

Going straight to dog control just infuriates the owners that someone hasnt had the decency/balls to say "hey, your mutt is being a nuisance".

XPD / Gavin

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#1136551 24-Sep-2014 14:25

I have removed (and warned the user) a post suggesting give something toxic to the dog. This is not acceptable behaviour.

Go talk to the owner. They probably just need to contact someone who can help them train the dog. Perhaps a crate with a cover, which usually makes puppies feel safer. Or just a noisy clock or dehumidifier in the area with a white noise to get the puppy to sleep.

Lots of options. But don't kill the dog as suggested.

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MileHighKiwi

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#1136555 24-Sep-2014 14:27

Thanks for all the advice. Definitely don't want to call the SPCA/Council unless its a last resort. The neighbour was decent enough to let us know he was getting a dog so I'll have a chat with him and raise the issue and take it from there.

Just wanted to test the waters here; people are very protective about their dogs!

bcourtney

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#1136562 24-Sep-2014 14:39

MileHighKiwi: Thanks for all the advice. Definitely don't want to call the SPCA/Council unless its a last resort. The neighbour was decent enough to let us know he was getting a dog so I'll have a chat with him and raise the issue and take it from there.

Just wanted to test the waters here; people are very protective about their dogs!

This is a great plan. We have two dogs. Our eldest dog has never had a problem with being outside and remaining quiet however our youngest dog barks at birds, neighbours cats, butterflies etc! However we had no idea about that until a neighbour told us (being away at work during the day makes it difficult to know exactly what's going on!).

Definitely go talk to the owner. For anyone else in the same boat: do this and do it early. The longer you leave it the longer you will build up anger at the situation and this can deflect on to the owner when you eventually DO go and have the chat.

Our neighbour told us about the situation and we immediately had the dogs inside during the day (luckily they're both toilet trained and old enough to hold on throughout a working day). To be honest, our dogs love being inside during the day as they just sit in the sun and sleep.

If the owner is the one person in a thousand that gets precious about being told that their dog barks then take the issue to animal control/the council. But seriously, I'm sure the owner will understand completely.

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xpd

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#1136565 24-Sep-2014 14:44

MileHighKiwi:

Just wanted to test the waters here; people are very protective about their dogs!

Yup we are :)

The dog I have now is the first dog I've owned (wife had one when we met, but never considered that dog as "mine"), and its been an experience, but hes a loving mutt and we would not be without him - if dog control took him away over something stupid, we'd fight for him as if he was an extra child.

He's our "special" boy :)

XPD / Gavin

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JimmyC

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#1136604 24-Sep-2014 14:59

bcourtney:

Our neighbour told us about the situation and we immediately had the dogs inside during the day (luckily they're both toilet trained and old enough to hold on throughout a working day). To be honest, our dogs love being inside during the day as they just sit in the sun and sleep.

Indoors definitely seems to be best. Personally, unless you live on a farm I don't understand why you'd have a dog in the city and not have it be an inside dog with at least access to a laundry or similar.

Our dog has a 3bdrm kennel essentially. Her own dog door and she comes and goes as she pleases. I get emailed each time she comes and goes from one of our security cams, it's cool to see what she gets up to during the day :-)

MileHighKiwi

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#1136617 24-Sep-2014 15:18

xpd:
MileHighKiwi:

Just wanted to test the waters here; people are very protective about their dogs!

Yup we are :)

The dog I have now is the first dog I've owned (wife had one when we met, but never considered that dog as "mine"), and its been an experience, but hes a loving mutt and we would not be without him - if dog control took him away over something stupid, we'd fight for him as if he was an extra child.

He's our "special" boy :)

Dogs ARE cool. I grew up with dogs and my grandma has been an SPCA inspector for 40+ years so I have always had dogs around our family.

Right now though our pet of choice is a cat, and he's a pretty cool dude. Low maintenance (Unless you count being woken at 5.30am for breakfast with a paw to the face) and we can go away for weekends, stay out late etc and not worry about a thing.

kingjj

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#1136686 24-Sep-2014 16:11

We got our dog about 20 months ago and its been a learning curve ever since. First dog for my wife and I and we (rather stupidly in hindsight) got a Border Collie. We have a large section fully fenced on a corner, sharing fence line with 2 neighbours. One neighbour has dogs and the other doesn't. In fact the neighbour that doesn't is surrounded by dogs on all sides (almost every house in the area has a dog). The first thing we did when we got the dog was visit our neighbours and ask them to tell us of any behaviour we weren't aware of. Initially the dog would be left outside during the day when we were at work (usually only for 9 hours 1-2 days a week).

Queue several complaints from the dogless neighbour. After discussion with the other neighbours (who said our dog barked but no more than there own) we decided to send our dog to day care when we are both at work. Result being a happier dog and happier neighbours. It did entertain me when the neighbour came over the complain about our dog barking all day when he had been at day care since 9am though.

TL;DR: Dogs get lonely and bored, especially puppies, perhaps suggest to your neighbour that doggie day care a couple of days a week would be a good way for the dog to socialise and get rid of some of that energy.

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