Advice appreciated please. A couple of weeks before Xmas my neighbour nicely told me that my youngster was barking now and again. It had only started in the last couple of weeks. He said it wasn't a problem but thought I should know as I have always said to my neighbours since I moved in 2 years ago, please let me know if they ever hear anything.
I thought I knew what the problem was as I had been keeping the youngster restricted to the kitchen as he was going through his cocking leg stage, so I was retraining him and it was working. I let him have the run of the house again with my older bitch and when I spoke to my neighbour again a week later. He said he had heard nothing. Job done.
Two weeks ago, I was chatting to his wife and she mentioned that both dogs were barking for 10-20 minutes of a morning when I left for work. Thought it was the postman setting them off but it soon stopped afterwards. Again, I put them to the back of the house, made sure they were distracted and it seemed to work according to the wife. At the same time I bumped into my neighbours the other side. Told them that I had found out my dogs were barking, apologised and said I was dealing with it. They replied that in the two years I had been there, they had heard them once :rolleyes:
Today I get grabbed by my car on the way back to work by the original neighbour, saying that my dogs were barking all day and if it didn't stop he would report me. I kept calm, apologised. Explained that I never heard them myself and could only go on what he and his wife had told me in the past. He just grumbled that his wife didn't like to make a big thing.
I said I would get it sorted, didn't know why this had just started after two years but I would look into it. I asked if he could help, ie, telling me honestly when they barked, what sort of time etc. as that would really help me as they weren't doing it while I was there, or if I went out for an hour (not in car) and came back I could never catch them at it. He didn't want to know said my dogs, my problem.
I don't know what to do. I know what that the law says and I will keep a diary myself. I have taped them before, nothing. Asked a friend to go round mid morning, nothing.
My neighbours the other side still say they don't hear anything. (I live in a terrace)
I don't want this hanging over me and until today have got on great with my neighbours.
By the way this man does work nights.
What can I do to check this if I can't catch them at it and my neighbour won't help in any way.
Sorry, long waffle but this has really stressed me out.

Hi -

Personally, I would set up a video camera (somewhere where the dogs can't get it!), and leave it running.  How long does a video tape run for??  Can it run all day?  I'm not sure. 

Or maybe you can rig up one of these internet cameras on your computer, so you can video/hear the dogs while you're at work?  (Might be a bit technical.)

But set up some kind of recording device.

Then watch/listen to it and see if your dogs bark.

Then ask your neighbour, WITHOUT telling them that you have recorded it, if your dogs have barked.  If he lies and says they have, when they haven't - or that they have barked for 5 hrs when it was 5 minutes, you don't have a problem.

The thing is - in order for anyone to get at you legally, they have to be able to prove you are making noise and this will be checked out by environmental health, who will come round with recording equipment.  My point being that if you can't get any recording which shows your dogs are barking, then it's highly unlikely environmental health will either, and your neighbour doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Thanks.
I have just got a camcorder and was thinking about setting it up. I had this three years ago with a neighbour who I thought was moaning cos' I'd had words about noise and loud music in the early hours. I set up a tape recorder and even went to the lengths of parking my car round the corner and creeping back in. They said that my dog had been barking all night. I turned round, told them they were a lyer that I had been in all night. They never complained again.
These neighbours are actually really nice. Get on with them great. Had drinks at Xmas and all that. So I do think there is something going on with the dogs as they don't seem the type to start something.
My problem is they won't give me any help to try and solve it when i'm out. I know it's not their problem but I said that if they could help, the problem would get solved a lot quicker.
This has just churned me up to be honest. I don't want to be at loggerheads with them but I can't film/record my dogs all day.

I got on ok with my neighbours till he heard the dog  bark at night for a few seconds once or twice a week, honestly nothng that a sane minded person would object to, we now dont speak as he said things i can never forget or forgive. i know he is the sort of guy that looks for trouble and as such i could never win, he would always find something to grumble about. maybe yor neighbour is the same. I lost a lot of sleep over it and got quite stressed every time the dog snored to loudly!  excellent advice on here though which will set your mind at rest.

I can relate to that wholeheartedly - whilst I would accept if my dogs were barking unreasonably and a genuine complaint it was the wording and way the complaint was made.  I too have not forgiven the remarks that were made in his letter - didn't have the guts to say them to my face.

I too worried about every little bark that they made but OH told me not to be so paranoid and that he hasn't got a case - I too kept my own diary so we would have notes to compare and he seriously was being neurotic and out of order really.  I now I'm not the first set of neighbours that have had problems with them either.

It such a shame when neighbours you think you get on well with suddenly become unreasonable about something that could be discussed face to face and in a much more grown up way.

To add: he did contact the council too but it never went anywhere at all as he really didn't have a case.

Just ask them nicely to let you know when the dogs actually bark and for how long ..get them to keep a diary for you ;) Sometimes neighbours can mistake a dog ..a friend of mine has neighbours who were complaining about her dogs ...even when she had the dogs out :p Seems like it is another neighbours dog who is barking :)

However, on the flip side....I have lived near to dogs that DID bark constantly and it can be a nightmare. Your neighbour at least had the courtesy to tell you about it rather than go straight to the council as so many do

i have had a similar problem when i lived in a bedsit...

My neighbour complained that my dog barked allllll daaaaaay long -- granted he DID bark when i left, for a few minutes (sad quiet little wuffs) and when the postman came or when people were running up and down the communal stairs.

It also turned out, my dog DID bark when my neighbour chucked stones up at my flat window and rattled the letter box on purpose.....

The main thing was though, when we smuggled the dog out without her seeing and i came in without him whilst he staye din my friends car round the corner.

She lept on me, telling me he had been barkign and howling all day long and she was sick of it and i was an evil person - pointed out to her that i could in fact hear TWO dogs barkign and they were the pair of JRT that lived in the flats opposite and then welcomed her into my flat to see that there was no dog there and there hadnt been all day.

That did shut her up, unfortunately she took the harrassment further and i ended up leaving anyway.

Em

I too had problems with neighbours who were friendly enough until we had to leave the dogs for longer than usual when my youngest son got rushed to hospital.  The day after, we were unloading the car when they came up and verbally abused us.  We didn't retaliate, just explained the situation, apologised, and went indoors.  A few days later we had a visit from the dog warden who commented that one of the dogs was barking when she stood outside the gate (Of course she was!) and for us to take measures to prevent her barking.  We also had a letter from the environmental health, but as this has never been followed up we know the dogs are not persistantly barking during the day.  However, the couple who reported us (both well into their 60's) seem to have mounted a campaign against us and most of the other residents of our cul de sac no longer speak to us either.  We have only been here a year, but have now sold our house and are moving to a larger house with land and no neighbours!  I can't wait!  The stress that I have been under however has been terrible - I am now on anti depressants, I am constantly trying to shut the dogs up even if they play bark, so it isn't very nice for the dogs either.  I had always said to all my neighbours to let us know if the dogs bark - obviously if we aren't there we don't know - and I would do something about it, so don't know why our neighbours were being so nasty.  Another neighbour said that this couple have driven others out in the past - that they bide their time until they can find something to latch on to, then start the campaign - there is nothing you can do with people like that I'm afraid.

We have only been here a year, but have now sold our house and are moving to a larger house with land and no neighbours!  I can't wait!  The stress that I have been under however has been terrible -

Snap. We're getting out as well, and will never again have neighbours. As far as I am concerned "neighbour" is the rudest word in the language. I feel so sorry for our dogs that never are allowed as much as a single woof, despite us knowing they do NOT bark too much.

Aaaagh! I was enjoying this thread until I read your two posts!!!! Grrry! You make me so green with envy!  I vote you get banned instantly from this forum! :D. ;)  ( let me add that is a big wink!   :)  )

LOL!! :D

The thing is - in order for anyone to get at you legally, they have to be able to prove you are making noise and this will be checked out by environmental health, who will come round with recording equipment.  My point being that if you can't get any recording which shows your dogs are barking, then it's highly unlikely environmental health will either, and your neighbour doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Yes. This is what happened to us. Our neighbours lied through their teeth, and reported us over and over. Each time they refused for listening equipment to be installed (spot the obvious reason!!), and the council wouldn't do it just because I myself asked, it had to be the neighbours' request. After 6 reports I assume the council told the neighbours they now HAD to listen, and so they did -and of course found there was no problem. The neighbours came up with some feeble story saying they dogs had all of a sudden stopped barking. Yeah right. :rolleyes:

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's made me feel better, not reading that you've all had some horrible experiences but that I'm not alone. Hope that makes sense.
I did go round to my neighbours the other side of me last night and spoke to them. They said in the last two years they've heard my dogs half a dozen times and it wasn't a problem. It made me feel better as they agreed to write a letter to the fact. I bit the bullet and went and spoke to my other neighbour who I had the set to with. Was apologetic again and said that I would be looking at the problem. He still wouldn't help me. But I now have a plan. One of my other neighbours who pops in to check on my dogs for me has said she will have them round at hers a couple of times a week. I'm going to take them to work with me for a bit. So basicallly the dogs won't be there. I'll then check back with the neighbour after a week or so. If they still say they're barking. I'll know that it was a load of lies. It seems to be that the wife is complaining to the husband because she's there all day. He's not but is the one coming round to see me.
The funny thing is I've been there 2 years and all this started around Xmas. So it's started just in the last two months. His NEW wife moved in the November. Maybe nothing but makes me wander.

i have a friend who lives at the bottom of a valley with 9 dogs, and yes, occasionally they bark, but only really inside the house where noone would be able to hear (its detached from anyone) and if they bark outside, they are immediately called in and come inside. anyhow, there are dogs further up the valley on the hillside whos dogs do bark often day and well into the night. however, people always are complaining to my friend and saying that her dogs are barking all the time and driving her crazy. but the reason for this i think is because when people come out of their houses they can see only these dogs, not the actual noisy ones. and of course they see 9 dogs and assume it must be them. enviromental health called her and she said i am inside now with all my dogs, can you hear anything, the man said no and apologised! since then there have been more complaints, but we know for a fact it isnt them as they are never allowed to bark where they will be heard.
its sad that people feel the need to falsely accuse people and dogs or noise pollution. maybe in this case also the noisy ones are actually elsewhere? as you said they are nice otherwise? just a (albeit long-winded) thought

Firstly... I can out do you with complainimg neighbours! I can beat allof you in fact! I'm sure I win!:D

My neighbours complain about.... wait for it... the sound my dogs make when they walk around in my semi-detatched house!  Just the sound of their cute little paws.

Now do I win or do I  win....?

And what's more he is a policeman and says he can sort us out and has a file about us.  Honestly as thiough we were so exciting! We are really so quiet if they take action we will only most likely get nominated  to win most boring citizens in the UK championships! lol!  Anyway... I realte to you... I do not enjoy living in my home. They have complained about so much... even when I trim my side of my hedge. They really stress me out because I like to be a good neighbour. 

I think you are like me you, in your willingness to be neighbourly, you made an act of submission to your neighbour. You gave them permission to complain. You welcomed their feedback, But they are not like you.   Most people are in fact not like you. So when someone shows such good will it highers their status and empowers them. You have put yourself in aeak possition and them in a possition of power over you and their human nature has kicked in. They are basically bullying you. You have become stressed and the situation has been made worse.

Really if we live in a people area we expect noise. Even if you live in the country we get noise. It is part of life. Dogs bark, babies cry, peopole argue, people laugh, teens play loud music, little Scottish boys play bagpipes, workmen people hammer and drill, birds tweet, parrots screech, worse still owls screeck at night!

It is actually the noise and people phoebic type who should go live on a desert Island or something... even then they would find something to complain about.

You know when my kids were babies they wold cry and it felt like they cried all day...  I timed it and they cried for about 30mins in the whole day. often once people become aware of a sound they get tuned into it and so  over react to the noise.

My neighbours complain about.... wait for it... the sound my dogs make when they walk around in my semi-detatched house!  Just the sound of their cute little paws.

Now do I win or do I  win....?

Yes Tenaj, you DO win!

Oh great! I get a prize!   So at least something good came from it!  :D

They complained to their other neighbour who then came and told us we should move or stop our dog barking. I told them they never bark....  that  we've had dogs for 5 years now and I work from home and so I know that none of them bark.   So they said they can hear it barking right that second so Impointed out that that was someone elses dog not mine.  I told them  the 'noise' they complain about is their footsteps as they walk about on our fully cushioned and carpeted floors and that really if they don't like the sound of little feet then they are actually the ones who need to be buying a detatched property out in the sticks and as I actually  have every right to live where I choose. 

lol.... they looked suprised then and laughed and said actually until their neighbours moaned about our dogs to them they had never even known we had a dog! 

HANG ON  HANG ON!!! i am a contender too! my neighbour also complained about the feet on floor noise. although as we share the same floorboards  (1 house devived into 2) and my dog is huge i dont doubt he can hear them, i just dont care, its just too bad. but as you have got carpet and small dogs i will let you win as that is truely bizarre. When my neighbour mentioned the barking to me i knew it was bullying so i stood firm and have heard nothing since, you are right they do pick on you if you appear to weaken, its not nice to be stubborn and selfish but sometimes you have to when dealing with unreasonable selfish neighbours that wont be happy till you are gone.

Ah...you would want to fight for the prize!!! MIne are medium sized just under 20kg each.... so not so small.... and 40kg together.     Maybe we can share the prize. ;)

I've just  started teaching mine agility! :D  With the winter now we have to practice in the house. Before he complained I woud not have been so inconsiderate but now I think this is my house and I will do what I want.

exactly, we only live once