I had a letter from the council yesterday about my dog barking.  The letter says barking, throughout the day and night.  In our row of houses there are only a couple of people who don't have dogs, my dog doesn't bark any more than any other dogs but my dog has the loudest bark.  He only goes into the garden when I am in the garden otherwise he is indoors, he only barks when a leaflet comes through my door, or someone knocks at it.  The garden barking is generally in the day if there is a cat on my shed roof, where I have a tree overhanging and it gives cats (and foxes) alot of shade to lay under.  I must admit it probably has been a bit more since the fine weather when my back door and patio doors are constantly open, but he generally runs to the bottom of the garden has a quick bark and that's it, it isn't constantly throughout the day and night.  At night I go to bed around 10 and he comes up with me and if he goes into the garden we generally put the lead on him.  Also obviously during the day I take him out.  Also my son plays with him in the garden, we have a bubble gun and a water pistol, he barks at the bubbles and catches them or he tries to catch the water from the water pistol, but generally that's only when my son is playing with him for a while.  I rang the council, and they said that they have to send the letter out to me, but also they send out day sheets to whomever has complained and they have to fill these in and send them back, and what they said it will sometimes say "barked at 10am for 2 mins" "barked at 1pm for 3 mins", etc. they said they know that dogs bark and generally once people write it on a bit of paper it is so stupid that they don't even bother to send them back.  Anyway any ideas how to stop barking?  I was so worried about this yesterday, but today the more I think about it the more ridiculous it seems.

This all sounds a bit extreme and heavy handed from whoever complained but the Council do have to follow these things up.  Your dog doesn't sound like he barks any more than my dog - at cats on the fence, at the postman etc.  I try and distract my dog with a rattle of the biscuit tin if he's making too much noise and that usually works for him as he finds biscuits more interesting than cats.  Perhaps any games that encourage your dog to bark excessively could be avoided.

It sounds to me like you are at home for most of the time so I can't imagine your dog is barking because of being left alone for long periods of time.  If I were you I'd keep a "bark diary" as well so that if there is any more letters from the council you can compare your notes with the complainers.  Also if you get on with your immediate neighbours (assuming its not them that's complained) maybe they could back you up that your dog isn't being a nuisance.

Nuisance barking to me is constant barking/whining/yelping non stop for long periods of time and that doesn't sound at all like your situation.  I wouldn't worry too much about it, just take sensible precautions to avoid any situations that could cause a lot of barking.  Barking at cats is normal I would say.

CG

just to echo the above really, legally you are doing nothing that would be taken even vaguely seriously, try tp put it out of your mind. i do know how it is thought as my neighbours tried that on once as well,I ignored them as i knew it was ridiculous and now they say nothing. i think they may have sought advice and realised they were being silly, which is what will happen in your case. good luck, dont get stressed with your dog for someone elses nitpicking.

It only takes one person in a row of 20 to complain and feel they should have a life of peace and quiet and a dog owners life can be made hell.  A very good friend of mine was once driven to a near breakdown by such a person as like yourself the council are obliged to listen to all complaints, her torture only ended when this couple moved, but believe me they put her through hell, she has lived in her home for over 9 years, is very well liked as is her dog, got on with all her neigbours and her dog was not a prolonged consistant barker either, but this did not stop this couple. One bark and they were at their window scowling. I don't think others realise just what this does to a person, she was afraid to go out, afraid to keep her dog and was seriously thinking of giving him up, she would phone me up crying her eyes out.

Luckily for her, the couple moved and her life is now heaven again, she is relaxed and happy once more. I certainly would never poo-poo such a problem as I saw the devastation and the emotional wreak my friend became, she became paranoid that she was being watched all the time, and felt stalked, knowing someone is writing down every bark your dog makes and knowing they were sitting in their garden with a recorder waiting for a bark drove her almost insane. She even saw them once with a squeaking duck trying to get her dog to bark.

When someone has it in for you and your dog, you basically are going to have to prove yourself innocent, don't sit around thinking it will go away, get your friendly neighbours to also log any barking times, video etc, this person can lie through their back teeth as my friend found out so be prepared for this.

I truly hope that your problem will go away, that these people are ignored by the authorities, and I hope that you will try not to let it get to you too much.

The way that housing is built today brings less tolerance from neighbours. It is an increasing problem and for some people a nightmare. On the flip side there are also some dogs who drive neighbours to distraction with constant barking and howling, the council, dog wardens etc, just need to get the balance right and leave the general 'normal' dog owners in peace and put a stop to the neighbour who just thrives on complaining and not allow prolonged intimidation.

I've been through this for the past 4 years (8 complaints in total) and we've given up and are moving. In our case the neighbours are vindictive and lie outright about how much the dogs bark. The thing is, IF your dog was to bark too much (and it doesn't sound to me that he is) then that has to be PROVED. If the council gets the form back from whoever complained and it says they heard barking at so and so times for so long (our neighbours just blatantly put constant barking from 7 pm to 10 pm every day of the week!!! yeah right, as if I could live with that myself......!!) -and the council thinks it looks like it is stoo much, then the next step is to install listening equipment. In my case our neighbours refused it four times as they knew they would be proved wrong if it was done, but eventually the council told them they had to allow it or they would have to stop complaining. So the listenign equipment was inatalled, you are not told when or for how long or anything, and it was proved that there was no problem.

By law dogs are ALLOWED to bark, as long as it is not constant, say for 20 minutes a time, and not at anti social hours, i.e. during the night and very early morning.

You can call the person at the council who sent the letter and explain your situation and say you will be very happy for them to listen in as you have nothing to hide, it will help to put you in a good light. The bad news is, you can't demand they listen, only the neighbours can, and the council has to send out letters by law if they receive a complaint -and the neighbours can complain every 6 months if they so wish.:(

Hi Debbie
Don't get too stressed as some of the others have said you can't stop a dog barking and as you say, he's not barking constantly.

We had a prowler round the back of our house, the garden is fenced off but our last dog was going mad at the doors, so we opened the patio doors and he ran out barking, the prowler ran away, but this particular neighbour came out shouting at the dog to shut up and Spangler was not a barky dog!!

We've had a similar problem with our new puppy.  Since the weather has been warm the patio doors are open and he plays with water when my OH is watering the garden, he gets very excited and barks, the very same neighbours get quite abusive, in fact thinking about it we could probably summons them.  My OH just picks up the puppy and brings him indoors.

I'm sure we'll receive a letter from the council about it very soon, they do say this when they are ranting and raving. They make much more noise than the puppy!!

 

I would not worry too much about it, I too went through this with neighbours, and they only realised it wasnt just my dogs barking when I was away at my caravan for 4 weeks, another neighbour told me that "the complainer" was moaning about my dogs barking to her and she said, "well it cant be hers as she and the dogs have been away for 2wks" there are a lot of dogs round about here across the back from me and across the road,, who really do bark more than mine, so at long last getting peace from the moaning neighbours and ive been in this house 7yrs now. i've been reported to the council as well, and they did nothing after someone from the council came out to see me and knocked on the door, surprise no dogs barked as I had them out with me.

You all think you've got problems. I once had a letter from the council because a neighbour had complained that the leaves from my trees were dropping on her drive!!! Some people just need something to complain about. You say your dog plays in the garden with the children, has the neighbour complained to the council about the noise the children make, I'll bet not. Dog owners are an easy target for these whingers.

my next door neighbours r rediculous in their complaints, the GSD barks very early in the morning (not my dog, belongs to the people who i live wiv) but they dont complain about that, but they complain about them playing during the day!!! how silly is that? made me upset when they complained about it, but it is completly rediculous

As many on Champdogs will know, we have recently moved house due to our neighbours.  I ended up on anti-depressants as a result of the hassle we had, and would dread going for walks as our neighbours may have come out to garden or wash their cars while we were out and I would have to walk past them on the way back.  We have since moved to a detached house with a large garden and the nearest neighbours are about 100 metres away.  However, we overheard a lady comment to her companion the other day as she walked past our garden that the dogs are a menace and she would have to speak to someone about them.  All this because the dogs were barking as they walked by our gate.  I was starting to worry that it was all happening again until a friend (a farmer) told me that someone whose house backed onto one of her fields had complained to her that the oil seed rape was making his asthma worse, and he wanted it cutting down.  I now realise that whatever you do and wherever you are there is always someone petty and smallminded enough to complain about something.

Thank you for all the replies, I do think that whoever has complained has the wrong dog.  There is another dog two doors away that does bark constantly and throughout the night, which I must admit doesn't bother me at all.  Anyway, I have spoken to all my neighbours who were shocked that I had had a letter from the council, as none of them appear to think that my boy is a problem, but each one said about the dog two doors away.  This morning at 5am, we could hear alot of banging and one of my neighbours was knocking on the house two doors away and telling them to shut their dog up, so I do truly think that somebody has got the wrong house.  I must admit though after speaking to my immediate neighbours I am not at all concerned as if they are not worried about him then I can't see how someone else can be.