I'm really sorry guys but this is going to be a long one so make a brew and grab a biccie!!!!

Almost 2 years ago we moved onto a really quiet and small cul-de-sac that backs onto woodland with loads of fields with the thought that it would be paradise for our dogs and to start a family (I'm 7 mths pregnant with our first child).
The lady next door had a shih-tzu and a miniture pug when we moved here and they yapped constantly as soon as they heard any noise at all whether in the house or in the garden. Last year she regularly went away either overnight or for a couple of days and left them in the house and we could hear them yapping and scratching and banging the internal doors.

A few weeks ago her new boyfriend moved in and wanted a bigger dog so adopted one from the RSPCA after a home check (looks like it may have some dobe in it). Now apparently the little pup was taken with its mum and littermates from its owner as he was banned from keeping animals and thankfully his neighbour informed the RSPCA. It was put in a foster home for socialisation and house-training and when it arrived next door it was so confident and happy and extremely well behaved for a 13 weeks old pup.

That was about 5 weeks ago and obviously with only having the 2 little yappers as role models it is becoming exactly the same although this isn't the only issue. In the 2 years we have lived here I have never seen the woman next door walk her dogs and since the pup arrived they have all been walked twice. I am at home virtually all the time as I wasn't allowed to go anywhere alone as during my pregnancy my blood pressure dropped so low I kept blacking out if I over-did things. Also over the past few weeks I haven't been able to keep cool and all my windows and patios door have been open and all I have heard all day (as although she works, her boyfriend works from home) is her boyfriend constantly shouting and yelling at the pup as he tries to train it to sit and stay!!!

The neighbours dogs are shut outside in the garden from about 7am until about 10pm no matter what the weather with just the odd half hr let in the house so we just don't get a break. We have just spent a month re-doing our garden so it is all nice and tidy for summer so hubby and I can sit out and enjoy the sun with our new baby but every single time either we or any of my dogs step foot outside the patio doors all 3 of the neighbours dogs start yapping relentlessly and jumping up at their side of the fence and they just don't stop. Nor do the neighbours tell them to stop or open the door to let them in. I have 5 Bullmastiffs and for those that know Bullies know that they are not barkers and will only usually relaliate if they are antagonized first so mine can be pottering around all quiet but after a couple of minutes they will start barking back. But as soon as I shout "quiet" or "stop" then instantly hush up. The newest problem is that for those that can remember when one of my girls had her pups and went for a check-up at the vets she was attacked by a staffy in the reception area and my stud dog who was with her went mad to protect his girl and now when he hears the neighbours dogs jumping and scratching at the fence he lunges at it and has already head-butted it and cracked it. I have resorted to running a strip of my horses electric fencing a foot in front of the fence so they can't get to it. It is rarely turned on as just the site of it puts them off but obviously it hasn't altered the fact that the neighbours dogs are yapping and crying constantly and I can't even have a relaxing bath in peace.

It is now 9.45pm and I am sat in the lounge will all my dogs on their settees and the patio doors are open and the neighbours dogs are still yapping and crying at their back door. Even me sneezing or couging in my lounge sets them off for the next 15 mins. I've been crying for a couple of weeks now as I shouldn't have to constantly tell my dogs to "quiet" when they hear the neighbours dogs scratching at the fence and they all dive up and run outside. It's not my dogs fault and yet I feel like they are being penalized for it.

Obviously I am going to have to broach the subject this weekend with my neighbours so lots of advice and help on how to tackle the situation in as nice a way as possible so I don't fall out with my neighbour would be much appreciated although I know that falling out with them may be inevitable.

Give yourself a pat on the back if you reached the end and understood the ramblings of a woman on the edge of a breakdown!!!!

you poor thing,what a flaming nightmare,and i thought my neighbours were bad!im not a very brave person myself,find facing people very hard,but i think if i were in your position,i think the right thing to do would be to politely confront them with the problem,hard as it might be,you have a right to some peace in your own home!Then if nothing changes,have a word with environmental health.I wish you all the best.

try talking to enviromental health at your local council,and keep a diary of when they yap/bark, you could even get a recording running to give an idea of the noise from your garden. dog warden may be worth a chat but they can't put in a noise monitor which EH can do.
commiserations on having to put up with this especially while you are pregnant.
Chris
edited to add.....if you think they will get stroppy if you talk to them skip that step and go straight to EH, they can take it up as 'complaints have been made' without saying who from

You poor thing....sleep no sleep! That is just what your going to need before your baby is here!

I can so sympathise with your situation- my next door has been a pain in the butt for years with her pets. Must say the only time it breaks my heart is when its tipping down with rain and pitch dark outside and she's left her dogs outside-it cracks me right up! Sadly our outside is a rubbish courtyard about 15 foot square so mega interesting for them to be out in! The last time they were barking like crazy it woke me up at 2 am I had to be up for work at 5am so shouted out my bedroom window SHUT UP! she brought them in then lol

I would send your husband round to have a chat about how her yapping dogs are making you ill- maybe he could speak to the woman? Or you could speak to the guy sometimes that could work. Have you ever had a conversation with this woman ? If you get a hostile response from either of them then its time to contact the rspca as they would pay a visit if they are outside with no kennel area for hours on end.

I would seriously try and nip this in the bud before your baby is born me'dear as having a baby makes you very tired and it could really become a more unbearable situation than it is already. You do not have to put up with this and shouldn't have to! xx

I know you are not in a good place to do anything on a large scale about this but could you put some deterrents in place.  My boy reacts well to the spray cannister that makes a 'shhh' noise and will stop in his tracks but my girl isn't slightly bothered by it.  Could you use something like this or a water pistol to interrupt the behaviour and make it less rewarding for them to bark?

There are also sonic things that apparently stop barking but I am not sure how effective they are.  You could point it at the neighbours fence but it would probably irritate your own dogs ears too.

Your local noise nuisance team may be interested too.

The summer is coming (hopefully) so you will want your windows open, and barking dogs when you are trying to get a baby to sleep will really drive you over the edge. This needs sorting now before babe arrives, however if your neighbours are the uncaring sort that have dogs without excercise, and leave them outside all day in most weather, then I think you may be wasting your time trying to reason with them. You may be better going straight to EH as this could be less stressful for you and stress is something you can do without at this stage of pregnancy. (It could also benefit their poor dogs as well if they are forced to walk the dogs and take them indoors)

Would having a word with the dog warden do any good?

They might be able to suggest which course of action to take?  or maybe a call to the RSPCA inspectors due to the length of time that they are shut outside and distressed.

if you think they will get stroppy if you talk to them skip that step and go straight to EH, they can take it up as 'complaints have been made' without saying who from

Had to reply to this, as I have been the recipient of such complaints in the past. I would have preferred a MILLION times if our neighbours had come to us to talk to us, than going straight to the council to send official complaints -I see that as very rude indeed and far, far more upsetting than if a neighbour has a word in a nice manner. It's not exactly hard to work out who it can be who has made a complaint as it has to be close neighbours, if you don't know which it is you end up suspecting them all for it and disliking everyone for it, and it's very nasty indeed to receive these letters in the post -THEY are not worded kindly. You never know, the neighbours may never even have thought of the possibility of the dogs disturbing anyone -how can they change unless they are told? I'd definitely try a quiet and kind word first, give them a chance.

Agree with the others, re. having a polite word with them. I think some people can switchoff from thier dogs barking so don't even notice they may be causing a bother to anybody else.

> I shouldn't have to constantly tell my dogs to "quiet" when they hear the neighbours dogs scratching at the fence and they all dive up and run outside. It's not my dogs fault and yet I feel like they are being penalized for it

Try looking at it a different way, it's highlighted a training issue that you can resolve with some patience & treats - condition your dogs first to a positive association with the other dogs, then work towars getting them to ignore the other dogs. It really does work.

It's bliss having a dog that does not react to neighbours dogs  -(speaking as somebody with 1 neighbour that has an Akita & GSD left outsdide a lot that bark/howl at everything, 2 other gardens that back onto mine, 1 with 2 constanly yapping westies and 1 with 2 yapping JRTS) and it's also peace of mind that if anybody else reports noisy dogs, you know yours can't be blamed :)

If speaking to the dogs owners gets you no where, you could try the positive association on thier dogs - give them a treat when you go into the garden/make noise etc. so you are not seen as somthing to ward off.

Awww bless you, I can totally sympathise with you on this one.

Speak to the neighbours first (the woman will probably be better). Explain your situation, your pregnant and will soon have a baby that needs sleep, the last thing you will need is for the baby to be woken everytime you get it settled by the neighbours dogs.
If they dont make efforts to stop the dogs barking then reporting them will be your only option.
If the dogs are never walked, left outside in all weather with no shelter, causing noise pollution well into the night and are obviously distressed I would also be contacting the RSPCA.

I have Bullmastiffs and have done for several years and they do take alot before turning to barking, I have a private school field at the rear of my garden. I'm also pregnant, we bought the house last year, lovely I thought. Neighbour several doors up thinks its her dogs field, they come to the rear gate yapping and growling at my dogs. My Bully now barks at everything moving in the garden :(. Her children are often caught teasing my dogs through the gate, and we went through a spell of the Whippet finding ways to jump the fence into the field. Catching a Whippet that decides it does not want to be caught is not easy :).
My OH takes ours out onto the field in the evening for a good run before we all settle on our sofas for the night and regularly picks up dog mess while out there. Not from our dogs I might add they rid themselves of that on their afternoon walks :).

I think I will be doing the same as you this weekend and speaking with the neighbours.

Hope it goes well for you and you get a decent outcome xx

Seems the RSPCA have made a right mess of this rehoming. You should as Tattyhead advised record and write down the times the dogs are barking and contact the local council and enviromental health people.

You should also contact the RSPCA who should do a follow up check on this puppy, (although unless pushed I doubt they will bother). I know of a lady who did not walk her elderly dogs every day (they had access to a large garden and a paddock), who was being harrassed by the RSPCA for walking her dogs daily. Her dogs had free access to her house and garden and paddock every day, so the dogs next door to you do not have this free access and walks do not seem to be a priorty so I would have thought the RSPCA should come and sort out this problem which they are partly responsible for.

Alternatively maybe the boyfriend might get fed up of yapping dogs and tell her it is them or him?

I really feel for you in your situation, it must be a nightmare with dogs yapping constantly next door.

I would say go around and speak nicely with your neighbour explaining the situation and how you feel and ask if they are prepared to do anything about it.  Although my dogs are really quiet I always say to my neighbours (especially after recently moving house) to please knock on my door and let me know if they bark etc so I can rectify it.  Luckily dogs only took a while to settle in the new house and neighbours have no problems with them.

If speaking with them doesn't work then keep a record of everything and phone your council and speak with environmental health.  They will come around and monitor the noise levels and give the owners an opportunity to stop the problem, if they don't and the council deem the noise unacceptable they will take the matter further.

A friend of mine has been living next door to a woman who owns chickens and 7 cockerals...the noise was horrendous but only she was brave enough to phone the council.  It was all done confidentially and within 14 days she had to rehome 6 of the cockerals and has been warned if the noise level is still high she will have to rehome the 7th.  So the EH will do something about it.

Hi,

I have the same problem with my neighbours German Shepard dog, all he does is constantly bark, I own three bullmastiffs, unfortanatly by boy did actually go through the fence (only because the gs was pulling at the fence first and he was just guarding his terrotory) my boy was 7 months at the time, i was holding onto him trying to pull him back through and my partner came out and just picked him up and took him in the house.  That really scared me, so we have put a second fence up with sheep wire to stop him going through, i have put up with a barking dog now for four years, and they do not tell their dog to shut up either, the problem is now that all the other neighbours have had enough of the barking so they let their dogs bark uncontrollably, i still tell mine to shut up or i just get them in, but i don't think its fair either because they like to play in the garden, but of course as soon as that dog barks they go charging towards the fence and all hell breaks loose and my poor dogs end up being shut back up in the house.  What i have done is complain to the environmental health and it did stop for a while, then it started up again, the next thing i had to do was call the police because oneday i was in the garden getting in my washing, and their dog started barking at the fence and thrwing itself up against it, so my dogs started as usual, then the neighbours son said go on *** KILL IT because if you dont ill shoot it!!  It wasn't my dog that started it, i can't speak to my neighbours, as they are not approachable but since the son was put in prison it has been very quiet.  I do sympathise with you cause i have been through the same thing.  I would try and speak to your neighbours first and lay it down and state how would you feel if you heard my dogs barking day after day, if you have no response i would contact EH, plus i would also contact RSPCA to check on the animals welfare, if they are outside all day with no shelter or bed to sleep on then they are not providing adequate provisions for the dogs!!  Let us know how you get on.

What i have done is complain to the environmental health and it did stop for a while, then it started up again,

You can make as many complaints as necessary, and if things don't improve when the neighbours are told to do something, things can be taken much further.

Thanks everyone, there are some good points for me to think about.

My dogs are not really the reactive type and can be out in the garden for a long time without doing anything even if the neighbours dogs have been yapping for hrs but its when the neighbours dogs really start losing their rag and start jumping and scratching the fence panels that they retaliate. I find it heartbreaking as 3 of my dogs have come so far since Ive had them as one of them used to have cigarettes put out on her and another one was constantly used as a football and was kicked so hard under the chin that he bit an inch of his tongue off. A third fell into some bad hands and lived outside for months causing severe and horrendous rain-scald, had abscessed and bloody paws from paddling in his own urine and faeces on concrete, and the slightest quick movement and he would throw himself on the floor and weighed 30kgat 12 mths old when we got him. They have come such a long way and should be allowed to lounge about and relax in the fresh air and sunshine in their own garden without having to stress that these dogs are invading the garden.

I just can't see the point of people wanting dogs if they are locked outside constantly. What enjoyment, love and companionship do they get from them.

my neighbours dog is also out all the time in the garden although it has a conservatory it can go into. i had to move my dogs into a different part of the garden with fencing and a gate to keep them apart. we also double fenced the part where they used to all attack the fence which was falling apart so they cant get to each other if they do manage to get into the other side of the garden. they never stop their dog barking either. nightmare