I received a letter from the council yesterday saying that someone had complained my dogs are barking for long periods of time. :(

As far as I am aware they don't bark excessively. I have always done my utmost to make sure they are not a nuisance. However I have recently changed my job which has lead to the dpgs being left for longer periods than they are used to. I have not heard them barking and they always seem to be snoozing when I return but I suppose it is possible they might bark when I am out. I have also had a problem this week with one dog barking at night but seem to have got on top of this and have had 2 quiet nights now

If my neighbour complained to the council on Monday about my dogs, are the council likely to have responded so quickly that I received a letter on Thursday? or are they likely to have received a complaint before this?

How should I handle the complaint? I am tempted to just ignore the letter but take what steps I can to make sure the dogs don't bark. Either myself or my daughter will be around for the next few weeks watching the puppy so dogs won't be left.

Can I ask the council for more information? it would be useful to have dates and times of the barking so I can try and work out why they are barking.

Should I reply to the council? Apologise or would that be seen as admitting liability? Would it help my case if I sent a letter saying I am a responsible dog owner and am doing my utmost to resolve the problem?

Also does anyone know any ways of finding out if dogs are barking while I am out?

They are required now to write to you straight away, at the same time they will ask the complainant to complete a 3 weeks diary where they are to note time and duration of barking.

Good idea to keep yoru won diary in case they make up times when you are home and you know dogs were quiet, or dogs are out of the house.

If the council think there is grounds for complaint they will come round with monitoring equipment.

Don't ignore the letter, ring the council and follow with a letter, giving your side of things.

Dogs are not expected to be entirely silent.  It is prolonged periods of barking, and unsocial hours (between 11pm and 7am that is of most concern.

They will also usually send you a leaflet with management ideas, the having a radio on, not leaving too long, not having them where they can see out to bark etc.

You could set up a Camcorder/sound recordign device (not up on what replaced tape recorders) to record the dogs while your out, but of course it will only be able to do so for shortish periods.

Thanks very much for your helpful reply.I am very careful about  not letting the dogs bark at night and won't let them make noise outside between 9PM and9AM. I am here every evening so know that they don't bark then. It is a good idea to keep a diary. I will start doing that.

I have been leaving the back door open with the dogs gated inside in this hot weather so wonder if they could be disturbed by sounds outside and bark. I will shut the doors and windows in future just in case.

Obviously I don't know which of my neighbours complained but if it wasn't next door I do wonder if the complainant realises that the dog making most of the noise round here  is not mine.

I already leave a radio on and they can't see out. I do have problems with people putting leaflets through the door even though I have a post box. The dogs might bark at that. I wish I could stop people using the door completely. Any ideas how to train leaflet deliverers?

Have called and left a message for the council. Will write a letter. thanks for the advice.

I had a similar complaint from my nasty neighbours so I set up CCTV to record my dogs when I was out at work, the dogs barked initially when I left the house but by the time I had driven off the drive they had gone quiet, what it did pick up was the raised voices and loud music next door and them banging on the wall periodically when the dogs were quiet, they didn't know I was making a recording, 90% of the time they were asleep, they would wake up and have a drink,something to eat or a half hearted play. Since 2009 the dogs stay away from the partition wall and front door when I am out.

Needless to say their complaint was ignored, I kept the tapes for future reference.

For years I have put up with their unsociable behaviour, their dogs [ 4 Rotties and a bull terrier ]that barked at everything and anything passing through the close and everytime they heard me out in the garden, when I have reminded them of this they react like the rules don't apply to them, the police have warned them but with me being away from the house at work and no other human being there I was scared they would put something through the letter box or throw something over the fence, I have removed no end of bones from the garden following their Bar B Q's before letting the dogs out.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

> I wish I could stop people using the door completely. Any ideas how to train leaflet deliverers?

Just cover up the letter box, simples :-)  Bit of cardboard and duct tape should do it, so they physically cannot put anything through.

I agree with ringing them to discuss the issue - explain that the main culprit isn't your dog.  Keep a diary and submit it yourself, the time they usually ask a complainant to keep a diary is for three MONTHS although if they think it's a problem sooner than that they'll put monitoring equipment in their home, but this wont necessarily show whose dogs are making the noise.

I had a complaint about me as part of a long standing neighbour harassment case which I stupidly didn't report, but it seems to have settled now.  I spoke with the council and suggested that as the neighbours (only 3 sets) were colluding they'd have to put monitoring equipment in and I was happy for them to do this as it would also pick up all their door slamming, shouting and anything else they did (in the past sounding air horns and throwing buckets of water at my dogs!).  I kept a record and sent it to them - when my dogs were out, when the neighbours went out, when they were door slamming etc etc... what my dogs were doing, when other dogs were barking.  Shortly after they rang me and said the neighbour was now saying my dogs were 'no longer noisy' which basically means that they've discovered they can't simply make a malicious complaint, it has to be 'proven'.  These are people who left their dog in a loose box from 7.30am to 6pm 5 days a week and from 7.30 to 1pm 1 day a week and the dog barked at everything - very echoey in the block of loose boxes! This is whilst she went to work - never once had they complained about my dogs in fact she came in frequently to chat and have a coffee and do my Mother's hair, look after my dogs whilst I went to a funeral for 36 hours AND came to France with me to collect Jive!  Unbelievable!  My normal dog sitter commented that when they knew I was away and it was him there he never heard them, yet when he came round a few weeks later they were back to their door slamming ways....

I blocked up my letter box when I had one and put a separate box by the garden wall - solved the problem of chewed post :-)

I have had a chat with a man from the council. He said the report said my dogs are barking all day every day!!! Which is total Bullsh*t. with my job I am in and out through out the day and my daughter has been home since June and knows not to let the dogs bark.

Obviously I can't be sure that they never bark when I am out but the complaint is obviously very exaggerated.

A good idea to block up the letterbox altogether. I will do that

We had similar complaint, I got straight on to the council and the lady was most helpful.  She told me not to change anything to begin with as nearly no one sends back the three week diary they are asked to fill in.  She also said that dogs aren't expected to be silent all the time etc. We never heard anymore about it.

It's either a malicious complaint (like the one against me) or they're mistaking the noise of other dogs for yours - I'd keep a diary and make a note when other dogs are barking (and if possible where they live)

You can get recorders that can be set to record only when there is noise and you can set the noise level that triggers recording.

I always use one when I am training a new pup to be 'at home alone'   It lets me know how often the pup cries/barks and how long.  I set mine to only record when there is a noise.  I have a chiming wall clock so it gives me a good idea of when pups are upset, and how long they are quiet for, as the clock chimes are recorded :-D

The one I have only records continuously for 1 hour but it's an old one, I'm sure digital recorders would record for longer.

It's worth doing as you can then know whether your neighbour is hearing your dogs, or another dog entirely ;)

They sound like a good idea, do u know where u can get them? I'm hoping to get a pup next year and want something like this. When my rescue dog had a problem with seperation anxiety and I was training her out of it I used a tape recorder and a timer in the plug, that way I could set it for a few seperate intervals throughout the time I was away and vary the times each day. I got a really good sample of her behaviour and as u set the timer u no when it was in the day. I could hear her drink etc so I was confident she wasn't crying or barking anymore.

Lynne

Here you go,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voice-Recorders-Portable-Sound-Vision/b?ie=UTF8&node=560902

Google is your friend ;)    Just type in 'digital Voice recorders uk'  :-D

thanks for this link. I will definitely order one. then I will know if/how much they are barking.
I hate the feeling that someone is watching me. When playing in the garden yesterday I felt I needed to stop all games every time one of the dogs so much as whined. It has made me feel very uncomfortable.

Thanks I'll bear these in mind for pups arrival!

If my neighbour complained to the council on Monday about my dogs, are the council likely to have responded so quickly that I received a letter on Thursday?

Are you in a council property?

no I own my own house

I have had it twice. Once when my dog lived outside in an enclosed yard, and barked when anyone went past down the lane (twice a day at the most as it was really quiet street.
Asked my neighbours and they all said who it was and the fact they loved Gemma barking as they knew someone was around, and as it was such a quiet lane it was a good deterent for anyone doing anything wrong.
Nothing came of that
The second one was when I had my dogs in a kennel and run while I was at work.
Someone moved in next door and had landscapers in and my dogs barked, but she didnt bother to ask me to keepo them in for that time. but  the other next door neighbours would just tell them to be quiet and they would!!! (they also said that the landscapers were winding them up!!
) She then complained to the council, and within a week of me getting the letter and leaving the dogs inside when I was at work, she had had a kennel and run built for her 2 dogs to go in!!!! And left her dogs in it until 3am barking!!!!
So I wouldnt worry too much, nothing ever came of either complaint with me, and I donnot like dogs barking myself so these were not dogs that barked constantly!!!
Lea :)

Been there, done it, got the t-shirt. My neighbours also lied through their teeth saying our dogs barked non stop every day from 7 to 11 pm. They made 8 complaints in total. Listening equipment was used on 3 occasions. The council will not tell you when it is done and they will not inform you of the outcome either unless you phone them and plead. On each occasion it was proved our dogs did NOT bark too much.  So the neighbours then tried to make a complaint about dog poo in our garden being left down for days. That failed also. They then decided to MAKE the dogs bark when we were out -as I discovered once when they THOUGHT I was out but was in fact ill at home. They banged doors and windows to get the dogs barking. Well that we couldn't do anything about so had no other option but to NEVER leave the dogs alone. It was nearly 3 years that the dogs weren't left for even 5 minutes, and I was never able to go out unless somebody else stayed at home. I could not even get to the supermarket. Needless to say at this point we had put our house on the market and decided to move. Took years to sell and buy somewhere else but we did it in the end. It's awful that people like this exist but it's sadly fairly common. :(

The law says dogs are allowed to bark, but not for prolonged periods of time and not at antisocial hours (i.e. between 11 pm and 7 am.)