Had a official council letter about "nuisance" barking

Id like to know what is deemed as excessive basically?
What times & how long? These people are being asked to keep a note of this. Times & Duration so im guessing this is important..?

If anyone could tell me what is excessive and what council will deem excessive be great thank youu

I believe that there is no set amount it is open to interpretation but u am sure someone will have correct information. What can be useful is to keep your own diary of barking as it's not unheard of for complainants to make up information . E.g. use  a recorder when u are absent to verify If.the dogs are barking

It will probably vary from council to council, take into account this letter is from the council many of which loan a complainant a noise monitor/recorder so they can hear the 'evidence' for themselves.

Is your dog left alone for long periods very day?
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Look up barking dogs on your council's website. There should be information on your council's interpretation of nuisance barking. 

Read the letter carefully, if this is an advisory letter that a complaint has been received you can speak to an environment officer(dog wardens are part of environment department)to check what your council class as excessive & also if they use listening monitors, some councils don't as complaints have been known to deliberately provoke barking to prove the nuisance.

A friend of mine received an advisory letter. The dates on which the dogs had been allegedly barking all day & night my friend was on holiday on the continent & had their dogs with them ! They even had evidence from their holiday to prove they were all in France, Portugal & Spain for three months. As my friend told the council the complainants must have had very exceptional hearing !!

Just checked my council. It comes under a statutory nuisance. Definitions of such are very subjective and wide after reading further.there is no hard and fast rule .one man's nuisance is another acceptable. The council after gathering evidence have the final decision. They also go on to give suggestions of how to limit  barking. Info from your council  as tommee suggest would be helpful as is Trevor Cooper dog law.i spoke to him once on this subject over a tricky neighbour. Fortunately all was well.

I live on a corner and the 2 houses round the corner have the ends of their gardens joining the side fence of mine and next doors side is against the other side, the end of my garden joins the side fence on the 3rd round the corner who currently does not have a dog.
Between the 4 houses there are 5 dogs, one is a JR one is a small spaniel, two are small and fluffy and my GSD (who practically never barks in the garden)
It is VERY difficult to pinpoint which of the other four is actually making all the noise.
Could it even be 'mistaken identity' for the source of the barking?

Have you considered putting a camera in your home which records upon sound so you can have exact times your dog is barking. It may well pick up other sounds which maybe triggering your dog.
Some people complain at one or two barks every jow and then because they jusy dont like to hear dogs barking ever

Talk to your local dog warden, they will have the specific info for your council.  Or Environmental Health, if you have no DW.

Generally speaking, barking is considered a nuisance if it is excessive and here at least, that is quite a considerable amount.  We're talking 20 minutes or more of literally constant barking - in some places, if the dog pauses for a few seconds then the clock starts again.

Often the complaints are made up by vindictive neighbours but sometimes they do highlight an issue - mine did.  5 of mine had SA and I didn't know (always had housemates until that point so they were suddenly alone) and of course, they were barking and howling when I wasn't there, so I couldn't hear them.  I set up my phone to record after I received the letter and discovered the extent of the issue.

That said, even if it wasn't happening, I'd most likely have had a letter anyway because my neighbour at the time was just nasty.  Apparently there are dozens of complaints on my file at the council about me and the dogs, and they will all be from the woman.  None ever went beyond her calling them because there was no actual complaint to be made.  She just hated me.  She frequently rollocked me for the dogs barking '24/7' even after the letter, when I had someone in with them every single time they were left until I'd worked on the SA to the point of being able to leave them alone.

My point is, don't panic!  Set up a recording device.  If there is an issue, then get a plan in place and tell EH/dog warden what you're doing, as that will help if it goes any further, because it shows you're taking steps to address the noise.  If there isn't an issue, then forget about it - most complaints don't get further than the diary keeping because at that point, the complainants either realise that their lie won't be taken seriously without evidence, or they try and continue, get noise recording equipment put in and then of course, nothing is found.  You'll probably not hear any further than the letter you've had, if that's the case.

I'm sorry you have experienced this.   Thankfully I've never been reported for excessive noise from our hounds although we tended to live in rural areas, and in detached houses.   I usually made sure the windows were closed and doors to the outside shut - and in truth we were rarely away for hours much as I well remember coming back from one shopping expedition to hear our then 5 hours, shut in the kitchen, having a howl-in.  So intent were they on their 'misery' that we got through the front door, hallway and into the kitchen before they realised we'd returned!!   Actually the howling was low-key so even if we had been semi detached, it wouldn't really have been that annoying.  I tend to make sure none of mine utters after around 10 pm, or before 7 am.   Which I'd call anti-social hours.

I have to say that, like a reformed smoker who reacts to somebody smoking, quite often dog owners are the first to react to the noise made from dogs owned by others!!   I certainly am.

I hope you can make sure the noise DID come from your dogs - all too often those who get annoyed, target the wrong person!!

Councils will always ask anybody who complains to keep a diary of things like noise problems.   Nothing unusual in that.

I believe time of the day is also taken into account, so unsocable hours like 11pm-7am. There is not set time limit when a noise becomes a nuisance I,believe. Its a statutory nuisance if it unreasonably and substantially interfere with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises.
So prolonged periods (how longs a piece of string) and unsocial hours

Your best bet is to call your council about it.

I am facing the same problem as well. But it is not a regular stuff, it is not every night, but maybe 2-3 times per week in the middle of the night, the neighbour's dog will bark excessively and very loud like the dog see the ghost or something. So sometimes I cannot sleep because of that noise. The community alert about this but the problem still the same.

Try talking to the owners