Hi everyone,

We own a Minature Pinscher and our neighbour has complained about barking twice and the second time has threatened to have us evicted. We live in a apartment and the first time he complained it was understandable because we let our dog out into the yard without leash and he barks at people walking by. But since then we have kept him on leash in and out of the house, going with him to do his buisness so we know he isn't barking outside. Another neighbour we bumped into even asked us what happened to our dog because they don't hear him anymore. The second time was two months after the initial complaint and we weren't home, when we came back there was a note on our door threatening to have us evicted...We are considering a husher collar or a muzzle because we know how annoying a barking dog is...but given that the complaint was 2 months after the first we are wondering if our dog's barking is not out of the ordinary and he's just being a dog and barking when he hears something strange or whatever. We were wondering if anyone knows what the law is on evicting people because of thier dogs?
Also, what kind of muzzles or collars are good for hushing a dog?
Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

It depends where you live. Are you in the UK. I asked our dog Warden what position they took (have one dog hating neighbour). Was told that when they got a complaint they asked the complainant to keep a diary for three weeks. They would only take action if the barking was for excessive periods both day and night. It would have to be more than what could be considered reasonable. They accept that dogs bark when the postman or visitors called, and as long as this isn't for prolonged periods would take no further action.

If you are in rented accomodation then you should check the terms of your lease to see what covenants there are regarding pets and neighbour nuisance.

We have a neighbour who hates dogs and he complained last year about the dogs.
The complaintant will have to keep a diary as Brainless says and then if the council feel there is something wrong they will put in monitoring equipment for about 48 hrs.
So if your neighbour is saying the dog is barking when he isn't he won't get anywhere.
Our neighbour complained because the dogs were barking due to him barking and growling at them! Well of course once the monitoring equipment went in he couldn't do that and there was no noise!!!!!!!!
Good luck