Hi,
Does anyone know the procedure fror registering a complaint about a barking dog to the Council, and what happens when the complaint has been registered?
Many thanks :)
Char

You need to contact the Environmental Health Offlicer at the local council. They'll probably want you to keep a noise diary of when the dog/s is/are barking then they'll be in a position to decide what to do.

They'll visit the owner first of all to tell them there's been a complaint so it may be better to talk to the owners first as once EH get involved things could be very difficult with your neighbour.

Good luck,

Fiona
x x x

Hi Char...I went down this route when two Dobes were left on their own day in day out , shut in a house and barking continually. I put a letter through the persons door just to ask them to please be aware of the noise , I included my address in case they wanted to talk to me ...followed a week later (after having had no response) with another letter saying I was contacting EH.

EH here were very good and gave me a diary to fill in , I had to mark down what the noise was and how long it went on for and also how I felt. Other neighbours complained as well ...they had the same form. The EH went to visit the house and also sat outside and monitored the noise.

I don't know what happened , but the noise did stop without going to court ...and both Dobes seem to have settled down now

Melody :)

I've experienced the other side of this and someone complained to me. You know what irritated me the most was that no one approached us. We had absolutely no idea that they were barking and if someone had come to us, we would have sorted it. Instead, the first we knew about it was a note through the door. The environmental health officer was actually very good and told us what the procedure was and the people who complained would have to fill in a form to say when the dogs were barking. When we received it, we were horrified and sorted the problem straight away and the dogs were never left in their kennel. If they had come to us first, the EH wouldn't have wasted their time.

Helen

Unfortunately not everyone is as reasonable as you! I would like to think that I would go round and let someone know their dog is barking, but then I have these visions of this big bruiser opening the door and saying 'yeah - and what YOU gonna do about it'. And then when EH goes they know exactly who's house to target!

I admit I'm a whimp at heart.

However having said that if my dogs were causing a problem I'm like you - I'd prefer someone come and let me know. As it was I KNOW one of my dogs was barking quite a bit (egged on by the little rat of a dog next door who barks at everything). We have no one on one side, and the little rat barker on the other, so she actually wasn't bothering anyone, but it bothered ME knowing about it so we sorted it.

Wendy

Which is exactly why I put a note through my neighbours door twice before contacting the EH

Thanks all, thats so helpful :)

We had the same experience last year, had the RSPCA and the EH around. Nobody in our avenue complained and we are on good terms with everyone close to us. We never found out who put the complaint in. We asked our neighbours whether they had heard the dogs barking and they said no and my mum and dad are in nearly all day every day.

My dad was very unwell at the time and mum and I were away for the weekend at a dog show, I can tell you now it really knocked us for 6 for quite some time. I don't understand why if people are unhappy why they can't just come around and speak to the person involved first or send a letter as I know not everybody is nice.

The people also said that we were breeding numerous dogs, which is totally untrue, a litter every two years or so isn't breeding numerous dogs, well I dont think so anyway. I must admit the RSPCA and the EH were really nice and were more than happy with what they saw, but it was extremely upsetting at the time.

At my old address I had problems with people reporting me to the RSPCA and EH. The RSPCA never returned my calls and I never actually had a visit from the EH just the standard letter. I think the filling in of a 'diary' can put some people off if there isn't a genuine reason for them doing it and one of my neighbours was a nasty peice of work who went round to every new neighbour and told them that my dogs were vicious! I just put it down to them being malicious! What I would suggest though if you have been 'reported' is to make a diary yourself so you can dispute any claims of noise when you were actually there and it was quiet.
Bec

Many years ago someone put a note through our door complaining about the noise our dog made when we were out. It was a very abusive note and, of course, unsigned. When we asked our near neighbours they said the only time they heard any barking was when the chiming ice cream van came down the road :)
We never found out who wrote the letter but it really upset us at the time.

We had a similar problem about 6 months after we moved in to our new home. Unfortunatley our neighbour decided to confrunt us on the matter at 10pm just after i had got back from an evening of pain and a vist to the hospital..

You can understand my anger when very abusivley she said she was going to report us because our dog barked all day. At the time i was in College and had never had this problem before. We were very upset, the thought of loosing him or any complaint was awful (especially as i want to be an RSPCA inspector!) we did a sound recording and yes he barked continuousley when we went out. We wondered what was different about this house and all it was, was that he could not see out of the window (he always could at the old house) so we put an ottoman under the window sill and we dont have anymore barking!

It really would be nicer if as the complainer you went round early afternoon, or if you cant/dont want to you could post a polite letter, the chances are your neighbours dont know they have a noisy dog! and will appreciate being told. also give them sufficient time to change things, some training may be required and will take time. Be patient and if there is no change in a month talk to them again..only go the the EH as a last resort.

Got new neighbours now and everything is fine again..NO barking and no conflicts :) tho that might change with the new arrival of Monty the pup lol!

Roxanne