To cut a very  stressful and upsetting long story short, over the past 4 years I have received a few letters from my local council, an abatement notice followed by a court summons and then a crown court appearance (which could have resulted with a criminal record), just because my dogs bark occasionally in the day when I'm at work. According to the council it was causing health problems for one neighbors (on her days off work!) I know it is only occasional because I have CCTV watching them every day, they are not barking because of boredom they are doing what dogs do and guarding their territory. I have spend weeks researching everything from the environmental protection act to anti bark devices and theories, but have yet to find anyone who has had a similar experience or been threatened with a criminal record just because their very much loved and cared for dogs bark. Is there anyone out there who has gone or is going through a similar same kind of thing?

I was told by my local authority that to be a nuisance the barking would have to be prolonged and also at anit social hours, and that it was reasonable for dogs to bark occasionally.  In cases of complaint they in the first instance ask the complainer to keep a diary of the barking times and durtatiuon, and then if they felt it was unreasonable they would come and record things for themselves.

Maybe you should turn this on it's heasd as you have CCTV and write out a diary of your own (as you can back it up with the tapes) wiritn down exactly when and for how long the dogs bark.  I am sure if the duration especially is short then any REASONABLE PERSON COULD NOT VIEW IT AS EXCESSIVE SO AS TO BE A NUISANCE.

I might move in to your county, because that certainly is not the case with my local council, unless you call 3 o'clock in the afternoon unsociable or 2 minutes a prolonged period of time!

Have you taken legal advice?  It may even be covered by your household insurance......

There's a dog which barks a lot very near to where I work. I don't particularly notice it because I'm used to dogs, but others I work with aren't, and they're getting together a timetable of when and for how long the dog barks. It's been going on for at least two years, and means that we can't have the windows open in the summer because of the yap yap yap, as if the dog is shut out and asking to be let in, and it goes on for over an hour at a time. I'm sorry for the dog, and I'm sorry for the owners, but it's really a nuisance.

My dogs bark at anyone coming anywhere near my house. We only have a neighbour one side and fields to the back and one side, so I have never discouraged it as we have had an attempted break-in in the past. However, I do make sure that they are quietened when they start and I never leave them in the garden when we are not at home. I am fortunate that I have a detached house, but am well aware that if we ever had to move to a smaller attached house, we would have to rehome them as I am sure that they would cause annoyance to any neighbours when the postman etc called :(

Tolerance to noise is a very difficult subject - it varies considerably from person to person :(

Daisy

Yes I did know someone this exact thing happened to. Her neighbours complained the dogs barked every time she left them (she had 7 at the time, now 8!) and they kept a diary too. She was my obedience trainer at the time and a few of us at club would 'sit' for her if she had to go out. With our backing and statements to the contrary from other neighbours, it was kicked out in the end. She has now moved to a detached bungalow! They have to prove it is excessive barking, not normal barking from dogs who are defending their territory. Unless they can prove this without a doubt, they are stumped. I would suggest you seek help from your other neighbours, get what they have to say in writing, signed and dated. Then photocopy it and send a copy with your own diary made from the tapes to the council. Whatever you do, do not send only copies of anything to them, it could get lost and your evidence is gone.

Best of luck. If this woman could beat 'em, so can you!

Claire

Im not sure exactly what position you are in, has this been heard and is now cut and dried or are you on appeal or something or are you trying to find a way of stoping the barking alltogether. 
What confuses me is that you say you have been to court but you mention no sentence and you say "could get a criminal record" which means the case is not yet over.
Did the neighbours medical evidence give them different grounds that a normal noise abatment order or what? I am bit confused as to exactly what your current situation is. Did you mean 'county court'?

I've had past experience of neighbours getting up a petition against me, because my dogs used to bark when I was out - I had no idea because they very rarely ever barked when i was there. This is going back 20 years now!
It was a very stressful time because I later discovered one of the neighbours, who was a bit crazy, used to bang on the fence to incite them to bark, then claim he couldn't sleep as he was a night shift worker.

I solved the problem by closing all windows, and moving the dogs to another part of the house entirely when i was out - not always an option, but it can really help :) I also went round and discussed the problem with the neighbours who had signed the petition - 2 of them agreed they were not even bothered by the barking buthad signed because the trouble maker had been so insistent :rolleyes:

The problem neighbour had a stroke and eventually moved away.

Lindsay
X

Sorry for being a bit vague, but I could write a book about it! Basically I had a few warning letters, my neighbour made a diary (which was nonsense) the council set up a DAT machine (to record the noise) and eventually recorded 1/2hr  with 2 spells of approx 3mins barking at 1.30pm, with that they slapped an Abatement notice on me (May 2003), I went to see a solicitor and appealed against the notice, the council eventually informed my solicitor that they has 3 weeks worth of recordings (unknown to me at the time that they didn't manage to record any barking on them, except 1/2hr) with this my solicitor advised me to withdraw my appeal as it was highly unlikely I would win and it would be very expensive to fight. I got a summons in January 2004, apparently they had some new evidence (recordings) I pleaded not guilty but for some unknown reason they found me guilty and fined me £1000 and a criminal record. Yes a thousand pounds! I went to see a different solicitor and appealed against the Magistrates decision. I obtained 3 statements off my other neighbours and had a sound specialist visit my property to record the sound levels. I appeared in Crown Court twice, both times it was adjourned due to the Council not supplying my solicitor with their evidence basically. On the last visit to Crown court the judge ordered the council to supply all the tapes, not just the 2 days (early afternoon) they recorded a bit of barking as it has to be looked at as a whole.
February 2005 my solicitor informs me that the council have dropped the charges because all the other tapes (blank ones!) had been destroyed!
The problem I have now is not only the fact that I have to apply to the courts to get my costs back (which has run into thousands) but the abatement notice is still valid (lasts for ever!) and there is nothing stopping the council putting me through all this again. (they could make my dogs bark to get some recordings when I'm at work) My solicitors has said nothing can be done about the notice because of the length of time.

I was in the same position with my neighbours they complained because the dogs barked at the postman.  To cut a long story short my neighbour on the other side left her dogs barking constantly outside and I think the noise of my dogs barking was aggravated by her dogs barking.  I moved to the country now but I have got a inconsiderate neighbour who leaves her shelties barking from 6 in the morning until 12 at night so to be honest I can see both sides of the arguement.  When I had my mother come to live with us she was constantly woke up by them.  My dogs bark of course they do but I never allow them to stand outside yapping because I am well aware of how annoying it is and I know that neither of my direct neighbours have dogs or kids which probably makes me their worst nightmare! :)

I know that the enviromental health have to witness noise for at least 20mins before they can take a case to court weither it be barking or what was in my case loud bassy music.As long as your dogs are just barking when someone is near say like the postman and then stop when they have gone I dont really see a problem.I know this isnt much help but I thought Id just let you know about the EH having to witness noise for at least (no less) 20mins before they can take a case to court

Kimmy

Hi Kim
What makes you think the Enviromental Health have to witness it for 20mins? Is that 20mins of the said noise or just 20mins of the background noise?

Kim the EH on length of time of noise is different for different councils throughout UK. I lived in Kings Rd Chelsea some time ago and we had seriously bad problems with faulty burgler alarm.Chelsea and Kensington by laws were 10 mins of sound in every hour, they are local goverment laws not national.
Jules do I understand this correctly, all this trouble amounts on no more than 6 proven mins of barking over a two week period??? is the noise abatement act a local or national statute with a different application and interpretation than local bye-laws for noise polution?
Do I understand this correctly-if your dogs bark again AT ALL you might have to go through the same thing again except because a noise abatment order is allready operative you will have to pay something for breaking the order-even if the dogs bark only once or twice, is that correct???

Hi Kim
The notice was served on a 30 minute recording with two distinct spells of barking out of a full 19 days worth of tapes. To be honest I don't know how many times my dogs have to bark for me to go through all this again, if it's anything like the previous case not many. (out of 26 days,18mins on a Friday afternoon and 13mins on Saturday afternoon).
Yes your right, if my dogs bark for what ever length of time the council seem to think is a statutory nuisance I will be served with a court summons and have to go through all this again. I don't know about my it being "injurious to health" to my neighbor, it's diving me mad! I spotted what I think is a microphone at my neighbors window yesterday and I just can't understand why, because they are not barking. I still watch them every other day on my cctv to ensure that they didn't start barking for some reason.

Well, its obviously a no win situation, not even something I for one can see anyway out.
What do you think you will do?

It does look like a now win situation, but it was last time and the council still prosecuted me. If I do get another summons through the my door, I will win again because I know for a fact that my dogs don't bark enough to cause a nuisance and when the council decide that that they don't have a case against me, I will be thinking of  sewing them for harassment!
I am not being forced out of my own home because one of my neighbors has a problem, my house is detached and my neighbor the other side who is closer and in all day doesn't hear any more than the occasional bark, so I know the claims of  me causing a noise nuisance are fictitious.

Have you or a friend phoned EH with a similar 'issue' just to see what they say is reasonable. This at least should give you guidance on the policy of the council.

You know this makes me very angry because a dog barking is like a human talking or shouting, and human's dont get took to court for talking. What is this world coming too!!!!!!!!