I know this is a well discussed topic but I'm hoping someone may have some ideas that can help.A neighbours three dogs are causing a lot of disturbance with their constant barking,the barking goes on all day and through the night.The dogs seem to be kept permanently in the garden,the dogs are mastiffs and as you can imagine they have a loud bark.It makes no difference whether the owners are home or not the dogs just never stop.I'm being driven mad by this and just don't know what I can do,I can't use our garden for more than a few minutes and I'm having to keep the windows closed to minimise the noise.I want to make it clear that I'm not at all anti dog in fact I have four dogs myself so I don't think I'm being sensitive to the noise,I also work at a kennels so am well used to barking dogs but I'm finding this situation impossible to live with anymore.I've even thought of having to move but we'd never be able to sell the house with all that noise going on.If you complain to the owners you're met by a torrent of abuse,I've also complained to the council and was told they've had other complaints and mine would be added to the list but nothing has been done and I complained about eight months ago for the first time,the problem's been going on for well over a year.Just to add insult to injury a neighbour complained to me that my dogs were barking all day and night,he didn't know that my dogs come to work with me each day and are never left alone at night, so my poor dogs that rarely ever bark at all are now being condemed as the barking dogs of the neighbourhood!Can anyone suggest anything I could do,I'm now having to wear earplugs in the house all the time just to try and get some peace from it!
Tracy

I suppose you will just need to apply more pressure to the council to do something on your behalf, what about speaking to your local council representative and get them on board to push for something to be done.

Oh I can sympathise!  I can't offer much in the way of help or advice but I've been in your position - well, still am really.  My neighbours don't seem to hear the incessant barking from their three but reported me to the dog warden for keeping mine in a kennel!

It can be soul destroying.

What an awful situation to be in.  We have 2 GSDs that live around the corner.  When they were puppies the woman used to parade them round on their walks.  Now, they're stuck in a garden hut that they have adapted into a kennel with nothing to do all day but bark.  A couple of my neighbours work shifts and couldn't sleep during the day because of the racket.  They must be allowed in the house at night because we don't hear them then.  They complained to environmental health as this is classed as noise nuisance.  I would imagine that most of my neighbours would have phoned to add strength to the complainers argument as it is just like that around here.  I would keep phoning the council - 3 times as day - until they take you seriously.  Why should you have to keep your windows shut because of these dogs.  Also, contact your councillor as he/she can add weight to your complaint.  Invite them round to hear the noise.  I wonder how quick something would get done if they lived next door to them?  Just one inconsiderate neighbour can make your life hell.  Hope you get something worked out.

Best wishes
Annie

Not really a solution, but we have a neighbour who lets her two dogs out at intervals during the day, then sits there listening to them barking at the door for twenty minutes to come back in, I just go to the top of the garden near there back door and start barking over the fence, this sends her dogs in to a frenzy so she has to let them back in :) my two just sit there staring at me like I've lost the plot, ( I probably have actually) :D

The way it works is that you contact the local council, the department that deals with noise nuisance. (If you do a Google serach for your town, you will probably find the details -often you can even e-mail them.) You tell them what is going on, and they send out a letter to your neighbour asking them to keep the dogs quiet. They will not tell your neighbour who has made the complaint. The way the law works, dogs are allowed to bark, but NOT constantly and NOT at night.  At the same time, you will be sent a sheet of paper to make notes of the times you hear the dogs bark and for how long it goes on. You are to keep that record for 14 days. After that period of time, you return the time sheet to the council, and if they consider what you have put down to be excessive (of course, anyone can lie on these sheets, but that's how the system works -not saying that you would lie!!) -then they will install listening equipment to record the times the neigbour's dogs bark and can then take action when they have proof. You can also ask a council official to visit you and hear for themselves.

Marianne

Same reply as Goldmali.
Its called a nuisance order.
Can use it for music, bone fires ect.ect.