I was  talking to my neighbour last night and she happened to mention that her dog had taken to barking at 5:30 in the morning waking her up. Without thinking I said yes I hear him when I take my dogs out whereupon she had a go at me for being inconsiderate and going out so early causing her dog to bark.

So then I said that maybe, if she taught her dog not to bark at me whenever he heard my car door shutting, or my front door opening, or when I was out in my own garden even without my dogs and even when I am cooking in my own kitchen with the back door open then just maybe her dog might not bark when I went out with my dogs.

And then as if on cue her dog started barking and she scuttled off muttering and could be heard shouting "be quiet" to her dog.

I do feel bad that her dog barks when I go out in the morning but she lets him bark at me all day with no attempt to stop him. He makes more noise than all mine put together.

i wouldnt worry,i go out early too,I notice other people arent shy of slamming car doors,having loud conversations under peoples windows,or having the car radio on full blast even earlier than this,on their way to work,and its not your dog thats doing the barking!If I was in your neighbours position,Id be moaning at my dog,not you!hopefully she s seen the light,now!

Don't feel bad at all.  I have a neighbour exactly the same.  Their dog barks all the time, at the slightest little thing, inside the house and outside in the garden.  Like you, I felt bad at first and even started tip-toe-ing around in my own garden!!!!  Then I took a reality check and remembered it was THEIR problem and not mine!!  So I just go about my business now and ignore it.  My neighbour mutters away as well and tells the dog to be quiet in a monotone voice.  I even made attempts to be-friend their dog since I think its just frightened, but they weren't interested in any help or solution!

Our neighbours dog cries and screams every time they go out, last time we spoke of it they commented "well at least she's better than she used to be, we've had behaviourists to her and tried all sorts of things, nothings going to stop her.... but she is better than she was"

Yes she is, now she only screams for an hour instead of two!

We've since had a puppy who wakes up between 4.30 and 5.30, barks and sets the other 3 off, at least once I've heard the neighbour shout "shut up!"

She's slowly getting better and will stop if I ask her to but I'm a firm believer in "what goes around comes around!"

One of our neighbours used to let her GSD bark non-stop day and night   he lived out and would bark till 4 in the morning then stop for an hour and start up again at 6.  I timed him one day and it was over 12 hours of solid barking !  So we complained.   She got very aggressive and ended up screaming at me and OH in our house one night.  Her final piece was that she wouldn't mind so much, but the Dobermann up the street kept her awake and stopped her getting to sleep!

My answer was that if her own dog was quiet she'd be able to ask the Dobe's owners to stop him barking :-D  (the Dobe didn't actually bark very often or more than a couple of woofs, just when someone was lurking in the lane)  I also offered to get a large parrot and keep that outside so all the neighbours could enjoy the noise it made - I can be really sarky when pushed.

Strangely enough she managed to stop the dog barking for hours on end after that.  I find a threat of 'Right back at yer' often works better than reason with some people ;)