Since my neighbour complained about the dogs barking I have been recording them to see if there is a problem. At first it seemed that they didn't bark while I was out. but for the last couple of days I have found some spells of barking :(. One day they barked for an hour solidly then were quiet. the next they actually barked for nearly 2 hours without a break :(. Now obviously I am going to be trying to address the problem to see if I can find out why they are barking and stop it but in the mean time I am just wondering how much barking in one day is acceptable? in this case there was 2 hrs barking then only the odd bark for the rest of the day. I know because I was there.

Also any suggestions to help find out why they are barking. It is when I am out. Unfortunately  most of the separation anxiety treatments suggest not leaving your dog alone for any length of time while training. unfortunately I have to work and cannot take the dogs with me. There is no-one who can stay with them while I am out. The dog who is starting the barking off cannot be rehomed. If I don't keep him then his only option would be a one way trip to the vet so really need help with this.

I know for mine, there are local kids who go to school down our street and often find it very entertaining to make the dogs bark!

have you tried leaving a radio on.

yes the radio is on. loud! Windows are shut. They are in a room that is at the back of the house away from the street.

The odd thing is the neighbour next door says she doesn't hear them the neighbour who complains is a few doors down.

Well for starters, don't leave the radio on loud..... remember dogs have much better hearing than we do so leaving it on loud could be upsetting them!!   By all means leave it on, but playing soft music - softly!!
 
Clearly these dogs hate being left alone - did you see the programme about 40 dogs in one town being videoed to see what went on when their owners were away?   It was very revealing.   6 of them appeared to be okay.  6 were showing signs of distress and the rest paced, barked, howled, messed in the house and were destructive.   When the owners were shown the vids., many of them were shocked, to the point of actually weeping.   Not realising what went on when they were not home.

There are some people who might react more to your dogs yapping, than others, but even if it's just one neighbour, that's one too many, and you could be reported.   I usually suggest either somebody coming in, or a day creche, but I don't think there are many day creches in the UK.  Not like in America.   So I suppose you just have to make a choice - either risk being reported and facing the consequences, or perhaps the fact that working full time (?) and having a dog may not be going to work.   Coming from somebody who didn't start having our hounds until we could afford for me not to be working, full time at any rate.   Sometimes fact is we can't have it all.

Well unfortunately I would think that one or two hours would definitely be cause for the council to get involved. I was always told there is no definite time set but that for instance 20 minutes non stop could easily be considered excessive.

Does the barking dog that cannot be rehomed accept other people? If so could you not home board him with somebody, doggy daycare? What is he like in the garden, would he bark less if he stayed outside with access to a kennel when you were out?

Can you set up a computer with a webcam or similar to see what actually happens? And finally I don't know where you live, but have you thought of contacting Lincoln University's Animal Behaviour Clinic as they are the ones currently doing all the research into dogs being left alone at home, and they do accept vet referrals to their behaviourists. They are very good there. Even if they are far from you might be worth a try? http://www.lincolnanimalbehaviourclinic.co.uk/

but I don't think there are many day creches in the UK.

They are popping up all over the place now, seem to be wherever we go. We always remark on them when we see them as many years ago I kept talking about wanting to set one up and none existed here, now they are everywhere. I just Googled "Dog day care" plus the name of my nearest town, which is only a little one, and it came up with quite a few results.

Are you able to tell from the recordings what's setting them off?  E.g. - winding each other up?

I record mine periodically after my neighbour complained (ironically, as the loudest b*tch I know who the other night was screaming and effing at her kids so loudly that my friend, when she went out to her car, could hear her even though her doors and windows were all shut... but I digress :-P), and I was able to identify particular dogs egging each other on or playing which set others off.

When I go out now they are split four ways, and barking is minimal.  Mainly just Phoebe now but she is noise phobic - she goes upstairs with her own stereo to minimise it though, and is on melatonin for her stress levels which helps immensely.

> Well for starters, don't leave the radio on loud..... remember dogs have much better hearing than we do so leaving it on loud could be upsetting them!!

The level of the radio is much less than the level of the barking so if they are getting upset it is going to be the other dog barking not the radio. When I said loud I did not mean blaring out making the walls shake. I would describe it as a loud normal.

> perhaps the fact that working full time (?) and having a dog may not be going to work.

I work Part time and the dogs are only left for a max of 4 hours. Often much less.

I don't think the main perpertrator   would cope with daycare or a dog walker. I have looked into it and there is a kennel locally who will have dogs for the day while the owner works but they are shut in a kennel. They are taken to an excercise area a couple of times, but what worries me is this dog is not good with people and I worry that he would be left in the kennel all day. Or harshley treated in an attempt to get him out.

> Sometimes fact is we can't have it all.

I am not trying to have it all. I am trying to sort out a problem which has happened due to a change of circumstanced beyond my control and trying to find a solution which doesn't involve killing an already unhappy dog

> Well unfortunately I would think that one or two hours would definitely be cause for the council to get involved. I was always told there is no definite time set but that for instance 20 minutes non stop could easily be considered excessive.

I am sure 20 minutes can be excessive but presumably it also matters how many times the 20 minutes barking happens. Somedays my dogs don't bark at all when left. But for the last 3 days it has been a lot. I just went out for an hour and a quarter and they barked for 10 minutes were quiet for 5 minutes, barked for another 10 minutes then were quiet for the rest of the time.

I will try  leaving my camera set up recording. and see if that tells me anything.

I am a long way from Lincoln but will look into it. thanks

The link below is to the DEFRA outline for noise abatement orders if or when that happens. The only additional thing I can add to it is that once a noise abatement order is broken each 'individual incident' is a sperate offence, to clarify that, you mentioned 3 different time periods of barking in one of your posts, those would all count as seperate offences should the council persue legal proceedings, which based on your post seem eventualy inevitable.

DEFRA, noise abatment outline.
https://www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes/complain-about-noise-to-the-council
.

My neighbour told me one of my dogs was distressed while I was at work, barking excessively and scratching, that went in with the bedroom carpet being torn up. I put beano who hated being on his own and would bark and scratch in the bad room with ebba my rottie who didn't care about being left alone. And the new dog Tara in the kitchen.
Turned out that it was ebba the non separation anxiety dog was barking and doing the damage. Now beano is quite happy being deaf blind and decrepit on his own in the bedroom and ebba the old cow causing problems is in with the new dog and perfectly fine from what I know!
So maybe a change of dogs might help
I have been reported twice from 2 different neighbours in two different places. One was a lazy git that liked to sleep in the day, the other wanted her two dogs outside all the time. All other neighbours I spoke to loved my dogs and that was a lot of them I asked!
So in short not all you think is right :)

Wow, two hours (or even an hour) of barking is a lot! We do have the odd noisy dog round us (sounds like they are shut outside whilst the owner is out) but it doesn't bother me as I'm a doggy person so it's live and let leave. To have regular, sustained barking would be different though and I'd be worried that the dog is very stressed and not coping at all. I'd put a note through the person's door (in case they're unaware of the problem), offering to help if possible.

Having a dog walker/sitter or using doggy day care should help. I do the doggy day care and it is very useful for those who are out all day (long hours)/have young dogs who appreciate the socialisation and maybe continuing the house training and midday meals the dog needs whilst the owner is at work/have dogs who just appreciate the company/have noisy dogs who will bark and bark and bark when left.

If your dog doesn't like other people, you could just ask a dog walker to spend an hour at yours without trying to interact with him at all. The fact that someone is there will very likely mean he isn't barking. You may find that, over time, he accepts this person more and more and will start trying to initiate a little contact.

Have you tried the DAP collar?  Rescue Remedy soothed our old cat when deafness and dementia caused her to howl at night.  What about one of the videos meant for dogs?  A dog walker to come in middle of when you are away?

It is possible to work on SA while you have to leave the dogs, it just makes it a bit harder, that's all.

PET remedy diffusers are supposed to be very good (significantly better than DAP diffusers, if all the reviews I've read and hear are anything to go by although the DAP collars still seem to be good), and I've spoken to you about melatonin already :-)

The basic method for SA is to start by leaving the dog for an amount of time he's happy with - even if it literally a split second with you stepping out of sight then straight back in.  Calm praise and repeate, or perhaps repeat later on and just do tiny bits of training over the day.  The time then gets built up slowly.

Another method is to have a unique object that the dog never sees, and in staged sessions, put it out in clear sight then ignore the dog for a little bit: the idea being to teach the dog that this object is a cue that he is going to be left to his own devices for a little while.  Started with you present, it can help teach some dogs that it's a time for them just to chill, not to panic.  As with the first method, you would build up the time that the object is out and he is ignored, but starting initially only with you at home, then progressing to tiny amounts of you stepping out then building up the time again (you would need to drop the time to begin this stage - so if you had built up to 30 minutes say, with you present, you'd go back to one minute of object in sight and you disappearing - as you raise one criteria (you leaving), you drop another (duration)).

A third method - my personal favourite - is to begin giving him special time with something to do, such as a filled kong, on a special spot (new dog mat for example, or a yoga mat, something like that), again while you are present to begin with.  He learns to associate the mat with the kong and an enjoyable time, then as with method 1, you start to build up time with you gone, giving him the mat and the kong before you disappear.  I like this one the best because it begins to build an association of really good stuff for him happening with you disappearing, so you disappearing begins to become a nice thing rather than a source of stress.

All three methods take time of course - there is no quick fix for this.  Looking at how the dogs are arranged can help as I mentioned above, also perhaps looking at what food he's on, when he's fed (like us, dogs tend towards being more settled after a decent meal), walking routine and so on.