okay,I am the bad person with the barking dog

[Kryswyn]

We have a nice lovely fenced yard we can turn our 6 Jack Russells out into. There are plenty of squirrels to keep them entertained and lots of stuff happening in our neighbors’ yards (including other barking dogs, although no one else has more than 2). We do NOT want to rub our neighbors the wrong way. While we may move back to VA, we want to choose when we do this, and take all our dogs with us.

So when our dogs are outside, either I or DH are outside with them. Sometimes we sit out there for an hour while they investigate every leaf touched by a squirrel when the leaf was on a tree. This way, we know when they bark. We have one alarmist (barks at any/everything) and one mouthy, opinionated youngster who cannot resist barking (loudly) when she plays with the others. Of course, they’ll all go off when someone’s in the next yard.

When a bark fest ensues, we go inside. It’s called being responsible neighbors. We pick up our poop regularly for the same reason. We have bark collars, but we try not to use them, because they cause the two boys to panic. The young girl however will be wearing one shortly full time because she has a harder temperament.

So leave your dogs inside during the day when both of you work. If they’re not fully housebroken or you’re worried about destruction, then crate them. All mine are crated when we leave the house and when we go to bed (except for the one that sleeps with us.

[BuddyRoo]

I live in a subdivision. I have dogs. My dogs have a doggy door and free access to the yard all day/night. My dogs do bark if someone pulls into the driveway or walks up to the house. To me, this is “good barking”. I GET “good barking”. I LIKE dogs.

But my neighbors put their dogs out and they bark pretty much the whole time. They bark at my dogs in my yard (because they want to play I think). They bark at every little kid walking by on their way home from the bus stop. They bark at me when I pull into my driveway. They bark at the neighbors as they drive by.

Normally they’re only out for about an hour at a time in the evenings. But over the last two weeks while I was home sick and trying to rest, I found that they’re out the majority of the day…barking.

It’s annoying as hell. The only reason I HAVEN’T called AC about it is because I don’t want WW3 with my neighbor who is also cop.

I’m moving next week. I will NOT miss those damned dogs.

If your dog(s) are barking incessantly, I really think you should consider a bark collar. They can be set to allow a bark or two before giving a correction so you can still get the “good bark” without the incessant barking.

I would give it a shot.

[Roxyllsk]

It’s a tough situation - I understand that you’ve always allowed the dogs to run the yard freely and never had an issue until now. But honestly, unless you live in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors, you really do need to try and keep the barky dog from barking constantly and annoying the neighbors. Yes, dogs do bark, and barking for a legitimate reason then stoppeing is okay. But barking constantly is not okay.

Really only 2 options here - bring the dog in the house during the day, or try the citronella collar.

[saje]

I live in semi-rural suburbia. Many of my neighbors have dogs that live outside, and even though they aren’t close neighbors I can hear their dogs. It is unbelievably irritating. One of my close neighbors has devoted most of their acreage to a fenced in dog yard, and it borders my driveway. EVERY time I use the driveway I have the dogs charging along the fence barking their fool heads off. They aren’t going to attack and I’m not worried about them, I understand that it’s probably fun for them. But it bugs the hell out of me, even though in the scheme of things it’s no big deal.

I have a screen porch with a hammock on it, and I love to nap in the hammock and listen to the birds and the breeze, and doze in the fresh air. On nice nights I’ll even spend the night out there. And then some neighborhood dog starts up -

bark…bark…barkYIP…bark…bark…bark…bark…barkYIP…bark…bark…

It makes me want to cry or strangle someone because my stress level is through the roof from things going on in my life, and all I wanted was to chill for a bit and soothe my frazzled nerves and try to regain my composure. The barking is irritating as hell, plus I wonder how happy the dog is out there all alone in the same old pen 24/7, and that just adds to my dissatisfaction with everything.

Be a good neighbor and keep your dog in, or put a bark collar on. Please.

[blairasb]

I will add my agreement to what has already been said here.

I’m an apartment dweller in a complex that doesn’t allow dogs. In the neighborhood outside the complex, somebody has a dog that they periodically leave out at night. Fido barks. for. hours. 15 to 20 second intervals. It doesn’t bother me on the nights I am working from home and up late. But it is absolutely BRUTAL on the nights where I have to be up by 5a to get to the office on time… If I could figure out where the dog lived, I would definitely be calling AC, not only because of the nuisance aspect, but because they do this regardless of weather.

I like dogs for the most part. I used to groom. I grew up with my dad’s K-9 unit dogs. But my opinion on dogs is the same as when people have small children. YOU chose to have them, and it’s YOUR job to make sure that the rest of the world’s encounters with them is pleasant- or at least not irritating.

It seems like the tendency to poison pets is on the rise, and in my area, pet thefts are absolutely RAMPANT. I’ve heard of it more lately than ever, and I’m not even in a “pet-centric” job anymore. Better to use a bark collar and indoors than to have somebody remedy the situation for you.

[Canaqua]

Agree 100% with everyone else. Leaving a dog who barks a lot outside when you aren’t home is a terrible thing to do to your neighbors. It doesn’t matter who has lived there longer or who takes better care of their dogs, etc… No one is entitled to make the lives of others unpleasant, now matter how virtuous a pet owner you may consider yourself.

I have pretty strong feelings about this because we are the current victims of our nextdoor neighbor’s inconsiderateness in this area. There are few things more stressful than having to listen to incessant barking when you can’t do anything about it…because there is no one home to ask to bring the dog in (like they should have to be asked in the first place :(). This is an otherwise nice woman who is making enemies of all her immediate neighbors. Her excuse is that her little yappers aren’t properly toilet trained and will go in her house :rolleyes:. Whose problem is that? I’ve had numerous conversations with her about it, she doesn’t care, we used to be friends, we aren’t anymore. I’m not calling AC on her, but other neighbors are, they also consider her persona non grat at this point.

We have a barker, an elderly/senile ACD/JRT mix…she doesn’t even know what she’s barking about half the time. She is NEVER, EVER outside without supervision, so we can control her noise and bring her in right away if she doesn’t respond promptly to a “quiet” command. I don’t hate my neighbors and don’t want to torture them ;).

Leave the dog inside when you aren’t home, the dog can enjoy your nice yard when you are home to bring it in if it starts barking.

I do not mind some reasonable amount of alarm or excitement barking…dogs are dogs, but when it goes on for a long period of time with no one around to intervene it is not a dog behavior issue, it is an owner behavior issue.

AND, I believe that dogs sitting around barking outside excessively are NOT happy being out there and are stressed. If they were relaxed and happy out there, they wouldn’t need to bark continually. Many dogs DO feel more secure inside when they are home alone…our barker included.

To be brutally honest, I don’t think you are doing the right thing by your dog, let alone your neighbors.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=Bacardi1;6629485]

Suck it up & keep the dog indoors when no one will be home. Dog barking from indoors if someone tries to break in should be “doggie protection” enough.[/QUOTE]

Majority opinion seems to be that the DO needs to quiet his/her dog.

OP, I think you are looking at this wrong: Yours is “just being a dog.” Not all dogs bark enough to piss off neighbors.

And you “like the protection” that this dog provides. So, the reasoning goes, your neighbors should put up with the down-side of your guard dog. They won’t do that. But the other thing is that a dog who barks all the time is “the boy who cried wolf.” The barking your dog might that is legitimate during a break in will fall on deaf ears.

IMO, as well, anyone using a dog as an alarm or a weapon as self-protection would do much, much better with a well-trained one.

[Jackie_amp_Starlette]

You do need to monitor even inside…when I when back to work after my kids were in school, my two dogs (a malamute and a corgi) started barking during the day while inside. My nice next door neighbor came over and told me…I was mortified…and I went and got two no-bark collars right after my neighbors left, and cured the problem in 5 minutes.

I live down the road from a boarding kennel, and while I knew they were there when we bought this farm, they on rare occasion will put the dogs out at an unreasonably early hour (6 am when normally 7:30) which I will leave a nice phone call about if it happens several days in a row - it’s usually someone filling in for when they go on vacation; they do not bark all day long.

And, the neighbor across the street had a GS who barked for years…and was mysteriously found dead one morning. We do think the step-dad, who works 3rd shift, did him in, but no proof.

Endless barking dogs are not good neighbors.

[saje]

Think of it this way - you know how irritating car alarms (“protection” for the car) are when they go off and the owner doesn’t know? And they beep forEVer?

Your dog has the same effect as those essentially useless car alarms.

[glfprncs]

I’m for leaving the dog indoors regardless of how wonderful the back yard is. I live in an area where too many dogs end up missing from back yards or found dead in backyards. I, personally, would never leave my dogs unattended in my yard.

My dogs do, however, bark inside the house whenever anyone is in the street in front of us. They do create quite a racket, but as soon as the person moves on, they stop and go back to doing what they prefer doing during the day (which is sleeping). They don’t bark at birds or squirrels.

My house backs up to another neighborhood, and many of those dogs are ‘yard dogs’ that live outside 24/7. I love sleeping with my bedroom window open, particularly now that the temperature has dropped, but it’s becoming almost impossible with the 3 or 4 dogs that bark throughout the night.

[FrenchFrytheEqHorse]

If my dog stood in my backyard and barked all day, I would be terrified for its safety. Bring your dog inside.

OP, you need to think seriously about who you’re ticking off with your annoying dog. I know that sounds terribly mean, and that you think “it’s my backyard, I can do what I want”. Sure, you’re trying to be courteous by thinking of solutions to the barking issue. But how do you know your outside all day, barking incessantly dog hasn’t already gotten on someone’s last nerve?

ACOs are terrible about addressing barking issues. Jerks take this kind of thing into their own hands ALL THE TIME.

[GoForAGallop]

I LOVE dogs. Love them. Have three currently. Have had 20 of them in 23 years. All adopted/rescued from various scenarios. I’ve stopped highway traffic to catch the idiotic ones playing frogger.

Nothing, and I do mean nothing, moves me closer to understanding people who brutally kill and torture animals than an incessantly barking dog. :lol: I would never do it, of course, because I am a sane, rational person and understand that it’s not the dog, but the owner…but oh man…a barking dog grates on my last nerve, and that’s if I started the day off in a good mood. And not everyone is as sane as I am, or would think twice about hurting an animal. I have friends in the vet industry, and they all have plenty of tales about dogs who “mysteriously” got into poison while romping in their yards, with no apparent source.

Get off your high horse (licences? 25 years? who cares.) and get a bark collar, or bring your dog inside. She’d probably be happier inside, and I say this as someone with large acreage…most of my dogs have been happy to be outside while I’m outside, and then they come in and crash on the couch.

[Rhyadawn]

A few years ago I was working nights. My neighbors to the south have 2 small terrier mutts that they breed. The dogs bark 24/7, in the house or out. When the barking is too much for them to handle inside they put the dogs out in the yard so they didn’t have to listen to them.

I can’t tell you how many times they woke me up, kept me awake, and in general just make life difficult. My neighbors were great, but in that way they sucked!! Apparently I wasn’t the only one who was fed up with them because 3 times someone took the electric fence collar off one of the dogs (the one you could catch) and the dog took off. They got her back, and they smartened up about just tossing the dogs outside too.

Do my dogs bark? Sure they do, they’re dogs and it’s in the job description. They bark to tell me if someone is in the yard, or if someone is at the door. But when I tell them “quiet, that’s enough” that’s it. When I take them outside to play and they are wrestling they can get a little noisy but I am careful to only allow this during the day, usually in the afternoon. I don’t have neighbors that are shift workers but I do have a few that like to sleep late when they can.

[GotGait]

Being “pro-dog” has nothing to do with it. I love dogs. I hate hate hate barking dogs - and the owners even more. Seriously, that incessant noise makes me want to punch the owner in the face, and I’m normally as nonviolent as one can get. My stress level goes through the roof when one of my idiot neighbors dumps his dog outside at night and I hear:
bark
bark
bark
bark
bark
bark
bark
bark
bark

(Did it stop???)

bark
bark
bark
bark
bark
infinitum

Get no-bark collars and keep your dogs inside unless you can monitor them. The noise from your backyard doesn’t stay there, and others have a right to peace and quiet in theirs.

[Foxtrot_s]

There is a dog in this area of acreages that barks non-stop all night long. We cannot even sleep with our window open in the summer. Sometimes I feel like getting out of bed at 3:00am and driving round and round until I isolate the sound and knocking on the people’s door (but would probably get shot)…cannot understand why the near neighbours don’t complain to the Municipal Hall.

I think the OP has to find a way to quieten the dog, in the interests of being a good citizen. But the tone of some of these posts puts my back up too.
Aren’t they a bit self-righteous/critical/nasty.

[Canaqua]

Yeah, I love dogs too and have always had them, but there is something about incessant barking that is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, you can feel your blood pressure rising. I think it must push the same instinctive button as a crying baby…it is supposed to be unbearable so that you get up and attend to the needy child or something.

I had a horrible day last week. I was sick, but was working from home because we were too busy at work for me to just take the day off. Neighbor left her little yappers outside and left for the day. Not only was I not feeling well, but I was trying to concentrate and was on and off of conference calls with people more important than I. By mid-afternoon, it was so loud that I had to put my boss and others on mute and go outside and deal with them…no one was home and they were running the chain link on the side near our house and yapping their fool heads off. I couldn’t figure out what to do, other than calling the cops, who would tell me to wait for Animal Control, who wouldn’t do anything, so I blasted them with the hose and they ran off and hid somewhere.

I felt kind of mean, but seriously, I was at my wits end. I can totally see how someone who didn’t love dogs as I do might resort to something worse than just soaking and scaring the little nuisance animals.

I did tell the neighbor what happened when she came home and she made an effort to control it for about two days and then went right back to leaving them outside.

In Massachusetts, we do have an ultimate recourse, you appear before the Board of Selectmen and make a formal nuisance complaint, they are then obligated to have it investigated and can order a mitigation of some kind, which could entail removal of the dogs if they can’t find another way to get the owner to comply. I do not want to resort to that, but I’m guessing the non-dog loving neighbor behind the barky neighbor may be on the verge of doing so.

[BuddyRoo]

It seems we’ve lost the OP which is unfortunate because I think most of us here love dogs and are trying to offer solutions.

[cowboymom]

Strikes me that I wonder if people with the yapping dogs always know how their dogs act when they aren’t home?

I know I’ve had neighbors whose dogs never barked until they were left home alone…

Maybe some of those ignorant neighbors are kind souls that would silence their dogs if they were informed… hopefully…? :lol:

I know I’ve left my old dog sleeping on the porch for the afternoon and now I’m even starting to doubt her, maybe she’s one of Those…

[Griffyn]

I work third shift and I have a 2 year old at home. I NEED to sleep when he does. If you cant control the dogs barking, or wont, I will call Animal Control. Not all of us are 9-5ers that are gone all day.

Be lucky OP that noone has tossed a poison hamburger over the fence.

Please for the love of all things holy, shut the dog up if its a nuisance barker. I have one, he gets locked in the back hallway when Im gone so as to not disturb the neighborhood.

Also, I feel for you, but if a neighbors dog barked all night wouldnt it bother you?

[BuddyRoo]

Here’s what I think about chronic barkers and their owners…they’re like loud kids and parents. Oblivious.

My husband (God love him) does not “hear” his kids being loud. I “complain” about it in the house a bit because it drives me batty. I hate all the noise. But I can recall a day a few months ago where the girls were outside playing and were screaming so loudly that I saw (from my computer room) the neighbor across the street stop her yard work and look our way in concern.

I went out back to quiet everyone down. My husband was out there reading and didn’t even REALIZE the kids had been SCREAMING. He’s so used to them being loud that he doesn’t notice.

I do. Drives me nuts. But he is used to it and tunes it out. I think that mgiht be what yappy dog owners do. THey just tune it out.