This is getting ridiculous. :( Quick re-cap for those that don't know my story: 4 years ago our next door neighbours started to complain about the dogs barking. 8 complaints so far, they have been proved WRONG every single time even when the council has listened in. I don't let the dogs bark and I don't often go out!

3 years ago we started trying to find another house. 22 weeks ago we finally had sold my mother in law's house and had our offer on a new bungalow for all of us, rural location, accepted. There is STILL no moving date in sight because of legal problems.

Just over a week ago we went to a cat show to judge and were gone for about 5 hours. When we got back home our neighbours on the OTHER side were shouting and going on about how our dogs had not shut up for the entire time we had been gone. And yes, when we arrived back they were indeed barking. (But it was THE hottest day of the year, would they REALLY have managed to bark non stop for 5 hours?) This neighbour then said she knew full well the other neighbour has reported us "but I haven't done so YET". Clear threat there, AND she'd obviously been talking to the other neighbour. (Who we KNOW has lied about us, claiming the dogs bark when we have been at home.)

On Wednesday I went to dog training as usual and ONLY took the Papillon and one of the 2 pups for socialisation. So plenty of dogs still at home. The neighbours with the new complaint weren't at home, and when we arrived back home, we stopped outside and listened carefully. TOTAL SILENCE. All dogs quiet.

Friday I go to a competitive obedience class and this time we decided to play safe so we stuffed the car FULL of dogs and left just 2 at home, the two we know are the very least likely  to bark. Came home and the neighbour is standing in her window shouting about the dogs never having shut up , and again, yes, we could hear them bark. We pointed to the car and said look, we brought as many as we could with us! She said she knew there were still TWO left.

Several points here. 1. How did she know there were TWO left and not one or three or whatever? I can't see any  way of knowing this without looking into the window to the kitchen? (Which WOULD drive them nuts and make them bark as she'd have to get right close to the  window to see in.) 2. Why do the dogs only bark when the neighbours are at home? 3. Why do the dogs suddenly bark NOW after 4 ½ years here of NO excessive barking ?? 4. Why did they only start to bark after the two neighbours had been talking to each other?

Maybe I am paranoid, but I feel sure the neighbour MAKES the dogs bark on purpose. It's easy. She has a barking dog herself, if she leaves that to bark in the right spot, bangs a bit on the fence etc my dogs will bark. She can do it when she spots us coming home down the road. She could even do it and then call the council out to prove her point. I suspect she's doing it to help the other neighbour as HER complaints were never proved.

The outcome is we simply CANNOT risk anything here. Even if somehow the dogs DO bark for no reason I can't accept that, and so our only option now is to NEVER leave the house together unless somebody is here.

So now I can't go to dog training every week any more, can't even go to the vet, can only do things when hubby first fetches his son over here to dog sit (1 ½ hr round trip -I don't drive). I'm a prisoner in my own home. Please ,please let the move come about real soon! Apart from anything else, it is now VERY diffcult to socialise the pups as I can't go out when hubby is at work...........

Sounds horrendous Marianne and worrying for you :(   I hope your new house move goes through speedily and hitch free - it can't be easy trying to placate folks that sound as though they're determined to cause a stir. 

We're so lucky that we have great neighbours who appreciate the odd bark if the dogs are suspicious of anything.   I'd hate to have to move for any reason as good neighbours are priceless.

Not much help but tea (OK with slightly grudged toffee cheesecake ;) ) and oodles of sympathy from me!

Teri

Mmmmmmmmmmmm cheesecake! :D

b*****d bloody neighbours!!  i do hope they get their just deserts. just have faith in the move, you will leave there eventually. i had a neighbour that used to torture me by having her music full blast day and night, eventually she was evicted for not paying the mortgage- thank god! why do people delight in making others miserable? i cant understand why they get a kick out of it- i suppose their own lives are so sad and boring????????? 
have faith

Have you tried video recording the dogs, see if they really do bark or sleep when you're out? Or a tape recorder? Then and only then will you know for sure whether they (neighbours) are lying or not, maybe set for 30 minutes and go for a walk to the shops or something? Or how about leaving the tv or radio on so they can't hear much noise outside ? Any friend local that might dog sit for you? If you have to leave the house shout 'bye' and 'wave' to the window, let your neighbours think you have left someone with them ;) then if they have been lying they won't be so quick to do so if they think someone is in the house?
I would hate it if I thought I couldn't leave the house at all :( You must be feeling so depressed.

I think that video recording would be a great idea!!! That way you'll have an indisputable  proof in your hands and also a peace of mind. ;)

We already left the radio on every time we went out. I've thought of the scenario of CCTV or tape recorder or similar but to be honest now I am too scared to want to go out and come back to all the abuse. The other neighbours who just reported us weren't too bad, just stares, but to be confronted and shouted at -can't cope with it. :( My step son is the only person we can really trust with the dogs when we are out, AND who is happy to do it (I told him we'll pay him if he's to dog sit on a regular basis, he says he doesn't want any money which was nice).

Trouble is, like I said, I feel so scared now. Right now as I was typing here there was a knock at the door, bloke in a suit with a clipboard, and know what my first thought was? Oh my the neighbours read ChampDogs and have worked out who I am and who I am referring to and have sent the council round to check me out!! It was just somebody trying to sell stuff........ but my heart still beats like mad. (And the dogs all started barking but I said one "enough" and they shut up!)

Wow, I wish one 'enough' would shut my pair up! I dread people knocking at the door :( mind I know if I'm not in they shut up a lot quicker than when I am, if that makes sense?
Marianne, don't make yourself a prisoner :( Can your step son not stay with you a while? I know its no long term solution but it might shut the neighbours up!

>mind I know if I'm not in they shut up a lot quicker than when I am, if that makes sense?

erm, no    How'd you know that then?  :D

Well, miss Teri, I had been out, come back, but was talking to a neighbour outside.  'Door knockers' in street. Didn't want them to know I lived at the house they were knocking at. Could hear dogs' barking and after less than a minute they stopped. Knocker walked away, dogs remained quiet :P If I had been in and answered the door they would have continued to bark the whole time. :P  

:D

ooooh er oooh - shirty :D

Teri,

My girl also makes alot more noise at someone knocking at the door or hearing someone outside if I'm in - On the couple of occasions when I've had someone come in to look after her while I've been out, she doesn't really stir and is all quiet when I come back rattling at the door.  She's a guarding breed though so I do think it's to do with that.

Karen

I was pulling Missie's leg :P

My own breed give out big time to "defend their mum" should the door go - it's an old, large, half (etched) glass door so half way down the hall they can tell if it's friend or foe    Foe translates as anyone they've not sat on the lap of before!

regards, Teri

Can your step son not stay with you a while?

Long answer. :) To be able to a) afford a house in a rural area without a lot of neighbours, and b) be closer to my mother in law who is 79 and disabled (housebound), we sold her bungalow (my husband owned it anyway) and am selling this house, to buy one bungalow for us all together -and my step son will live with us too. Due to the legal problems we were about to lose the buyers of MIL's bungalow, they didn't want to wait any longer, so we had to sell it and move her out, and we've had to RENT the new place temporarily. MIL was then able to move in there (can't move in HERE as this is a house and she can't do stairs), but we CAN'T move yet as we cannot move into a rented place with a lot of dogs, the sale has to go through first. (Also we are doing some work on it and it would be easiest to do that with us and the dogs out of the way.) So my step son lives with his granny now to make sure she isn't on her own and can get help if needs be. He can come over here for a few hours or a day at a time, but really needs to go back to his gran ASAP. (I must say, much as I can moan about him at times, for a 17 year old lad he is VERY caring and VERY helpful, he even cooks his granny's meals for her, bless him.)

Could you not get a couple of these mock CCTV cameras and attach them to the side of your house facing over at each neighbour, if they see them going up and think they might be getting recorded whilst you are out, it may stop the nosey old coot looking in your kitchen?

We used to have a mock camera in the shop I worked in as a deterrant.

I totally sympathise, I had years of misery with my previous neighbours who thankfully have now moved. I put mine up for sale, and dreamed of ways to get my own back. Thought about organising fake potential viewings,you know someone with about 15 kids! letting them knock on their house 'by mistake', so they had to re-direct them to mine.
I thought they might then count their blessings for having me as a neighbour, but they never did!
You could certainly film the dogs, but with some people it wouldnt matter what you did, they would still moan. Hope the move happens soon, why cant people just live and let live, they could have a lot worse than abit of barking to put up with.
Ive been looking at sound-proofing, its cheap, and might work if you did one room.

Thought about organising fake potential viewings,you know someone with about 15 kids! letting them knock on their house 'by mistake', so they had to re-direct them to mine.

LOL yes  we've been dreaming about renting the house to a rock band or a family with loads of noisy kids or something......

Ok I am not an expert but hows this for a suggestion?

Talk to your solicitor who is dealing with your house sale about whether any complaints from the neighbours could affect your sale - if the answer is no - then suggest you just ignore them (and possibly do the filming/recording thing as well - maybe pointing the camera to the outside if you think your neighbours are egging your dogs on.)

My neighbour used to comment that my akita used to whine and bark when we were out (she is kennelled outside)  When I spoke to her she also admitted that she used to talk to the dog over the fence (she meant well!)  I suggested that she stopped it as it was winding my dog up - she did and my akita stopped.

The other thing to do is to try and talk to them and ask them if they have noticed anything that may have started the dogs barking as you have never known them to do it before, etc and see what they say.

Anyway good luck with your move..

Good points, thanks. :) Also might be worth mentioning to the solicitor that we now have fire up our backsides and can he PLEASE try to speed things up as we have to get out!

In answer to your question, yes, dogs can bark solid for 5 hours, a neighbour of ours have 2 border collies, both the owners work full time, so the dogs are left from 8.15am - 6pm every day, and they bark non-stop, they are left outside with the side alleyway to the house open for shade etc.   The trouble is once they start mine start, but I am home 99% of the time so can keep them quiet but for some reason it's always me that gets the complaints, probably because I have more dogs.

Good luck with your move, there's nothing worse than moaning neighbours they really do make your life hell.

at least you can look forward to a time in the not too distant future when they will just be a  bad memory

Goldmali, why not talk to your neighbours and explain that you are moving very soon.  Point out that, whether or not your dogs bark, you will all be gone soon, so there's no point in all this antagonism.  If they wait a bit longer it will all be over!

We have told them we are moving.

The only thing which you MUST put into the paperwork you fill in when selling your house is details of any 'official' dispute between you and your neighbours.  So play your cards right and just do your best to placate your neighbours until exchange of contracts :-)

I used to have a number of dogs when I was married to my first husband and yes, we found out they used to bark when we went out.  It was never continuous but enough to cause the neighbours to say something.  To my mind it was up to me to keep them quiet and not create a noise nuisance so after we realised what they were doing they were NEVER left alone.  If we wanted to go out we got a dog sitter in - otherwise we made sure one of us was always there. 

IMO it's part and parcel of being a responsible dog owner.  I can't stand it when other peoples' dogs bark so why should I let mine bark?  Of course they barked when someone came to the door but only for a few seconds because one of us was always there to quieten them down. 

It's something I had to choose - a lot of dogs and take responsibility or a couple of them and have more freedom - I chose the former.

Debs

1. I can sympathise because I've got neighbours from hell as well.

2. Dogs can bark for 5 hours non-stop without effort, my neighbours do.

3.  Your neighbour might have been able to tell there were two because of the bark - nice neighbours dogs do a "yip-yap" bark in tandem!  Obvious there are two of them

I do hope you get it all sorted soon; its very stressful living under such conditions. :rolleyes:  Don't become a prisoner. 

Aww :( Poor you Marianne x

I'm keeping everything crossed for you, i hope your move comes through very soon xx

{{{hugs}}} to you :)

It's something I had to choose - a lot of dogs and take responsibility or a couple of them and have more freedom - I chose the former.

Yes but Debs you're missing the point -it has been PROVED more than once with the council's listening equipment that my dogs never DID bark excessively.(And certainly at least the first time they listened in they did it at times when we were away at training etc during the week.)  So WHY have they started in the past 10 days all of a sudden? At the EXACT same time as the other neighbours got together with the first lot. And only when the other neighbours are around. Just seems very odd to me. I'd NEVER want to cause anybody any trouble, and until 10 days ago we never had.

Ignore them my neighbour is a councillor and can't get any joy out of the council re my dogs as they know there's not a noise nusiance dog warden has sat outside my place for hrs listening and they assure me there is no issue with noise.

I had 5 neighbours complain together to try and throw more weight behind their complaint, they didn't stop with the dog warden, it was the police, the RSPCA with BBC camera crew seems I had 19 dogs in the shower, shame I didn't actually have a shower at the time or 19 dogs, Disability fraud investigator apparently I was breeding snails and the idiot who is also on disability walked past my front window so he could see what was going on with two whippets on the lead in front of him - they decided to investigate him instead and the officer was very disappointed that I wasn't breeding snails as he wanted to see what they were lol.  Enviromental health and finally planning officer over my fence, already had an application in to have it over 2mtrs they just didn't know it so waisted their time complaining bless lol.

I always think they come and nag at you when you get home because their case hasn't been proven don't let them dictate how you live your life the neighbour the other side of my neighbours from hell lives in his cellar because he's had 20 yrs of their bullying and can't deal with it, I'm too stubborn and fight back.

The only thing you can do is video record the goings on wen your out and if they are tormenting your dogs ,ide ether report them to the police for harrasment or have a word and explain youve got them on tape and if it carrys on youle report them. hope it getts resolved and yu get to move soon :)

So sorry to hear about the situation you are in, Marianne. I've read a lot of what you have written on CD, so know how much the dogs mean to you, and how much of your time and life you spend on/with them. Can only offer my sympathy,have no suggestions other than what has already been given. At least there is light at the end of the tunnel :-)  The new house is there in the not so distant future!
Karen

Thanks Karen. :) Thanks EVERYONE. I know I'm moaning, but it just helps a bit to get it out. :) It WON'T be forever, it's just right now.

Of course it helps! Loads!
Try thinking of next summer, by then this will be but a vague memory ;-)

Very true. :) A few years ago I had major, major problems in my life and nearly didn't survive them. When I compare THAT to now, all problems I have now is silly neighbours, well it's paradise, LOL.

So sorry to hear this GM :(
your home is your refuge from the world and awful when your forced to feel on tent hooks in it :(
really hope the house move starts to get going and all this can be put far behind you..easier said than done, but dont let the 'Bar Stewards' (;) ) get you down!! Rant all you like! get it off your chest x

Poor Goldmali,

Personally knowing I was moving I would say s*d them, and not worry.  No-one likes others talking about them though, and I dare say they do a lot of things to set off your dogs, peering through the windows and knocking on the door being just a couple of them, it must be a horrible situation

There is a way to stop this from happening as unfortunately it is a pack thing, when one starts the others join in.  If you were going out for a couple of hours or so, I would pop them in crates scattered throughout the house with water, food if necessary, toys, bones and a cover over the crates, that way the dogs will not pack bark, and can not run at the noise and get each other excited, if the crates are covered they also can not see anything beyond the crate, leave the tv and radio on and the barking will be minimal if not at all. Obviously I would not advise doing this for longer than 2 hours, but you can relax and go out to do your shopping, go to the hairdressers and do the dog training trips knowing your home will be quiet and the neighbours not gossiping and ploting. :-)

my neighbours used to say our dogs barked all day, so we videoed them, they barked 3 times a day for 5 minutes each time, bruce would bark at tess and get her howling so then all three (only had 3 then) would howl when they had finished howling bruce would bark for a little bit longer then they would all be quiet, the triggers were, just after leaving for work, kids walking up road from school, kids playing out in the street after school. i then purchased an aboistop collar, the neighbours asked what it was when told that it was to stop bruce from barking, and voila the answer was 'they have been quieter over the last few weeks' we didnt tell them that i had put it on 5 minutes before hand for the first time to adjust the collar :D  havent had any complaints since.

i would video your dogs, you can pick cameras up cheap enough now and keep a catalogue of the videos as the council would have told your neighbours to keep a diary of when the dogs are barking, if you have them on video not barking it can be thrown out, also i would warn your neighbours that they are devaluing their houses by complaining, a friends neighbour has devalued his house by a substantial amount of money due to his complaints about dogs, these also came to nothing and the council still do drive bys to see if they can hear the dogs and still have no evidence of them barking.

tanya

Could you put up a camera on the outside of your house to see if they are bugging the dogs? I would also put one up in the house to see what the dogs are doing. Think they can be hooked up to a vcr...If said just ignore :)

Oh Marianne  i am so sorry to hear that your horrible neighbours are still causing problems - you really need to put a rocket under your solicitor and get moved out to the countryside - I really don't have any other solutions as it seems that what ever you do they will complain. People can be so stupid about barking dogs - we live in a lovely rural spot next to a river - with the good weather we've had quite a few walkers using the banks and walking past our  house. One lady ( with her dog) always stops outside our kennels and 'talks' to the dogs - they of course go ballistic - if she thinks we're not here she stays there peering through the fence and saying things like " ohh arn't you noisy -don't you like me then ? !!!!"-finally moving off when the dogs are totally wound up ! - It's not a problem to us as we have no neighbours but just illustrates how idiotic with dogs some folk are.

Chin up girl - you'll look back on these sad people in a years time as nothing more than a bad memory - now get on the phone to that solicitor and GET MOVING :D :D :D

Yvonne

If you think there looking in through the windows can you close the curtains? Do you have a hifi downstairs if yes leave a tape recording and go training. Do what you did last time and stuff as many dogs into the car leaving 2. On your return listen to the tape to see how long the dogs were barking for. This will give you a rough indication if they do bark. Also any neighbours accross the street your friendly with? I know you cant trust them with your dogs but can you trust them to keep a look out for any unsual goings on etc.... hth

Poor you - I guess I'm pretty lucky that the worst our neighbours do is block our car in sometimes! :oops:

Trouble is, like I said, I feel so scared now. .............. but my heart still beats like mad. (And the dogs all started barking but I said one "enough" and they shut up!)

Been there Marianne years and years ago, I so so sympathise. In this case my neighbours hated "alsatians" :rolleyes: and had a downer on me when I had just the one fluffy BSD pup who hadn't even been out in the garden without me. I asked them round for coffee but they just told me to "keep that thing away from me". So not a very good start really

Some people truly are idiots and many think that a dog barking just occasionally is "too much".

I'd think the neighbours may be supporting each other but how sad when you are moving anyway! What is the point?!

I'd say that as things are dragging with the house, you need to just see for yourself what happens via camcorder or something, but set things up so you can see what the neighbours are doing and what the dogs do and also so that you can keep tabs - I'd want to get around the block and see and hear exactly what happens after a short time. You could maybe get someone to stay near the house out of sight to report on how much the dogs are barking and who couldring you on a mobile if you need to get back to stop them.

I do know my dogs soon hated these neighbours because they seemed to sense it, and also the neighbours did wind them up.

Have a {{{{{hug}}}}}} as you need one!!

Lindsay
xxx

I'm going to hide my step son next week, smuggle him in, and have him act as if he wasn't here at all, to see what happens. Got to be worth a try.

Would normally have been at dog training tonight but of course no such luck, think I'll go and do some training in the garden now! 

i was going to suggest that, give him a camera, i bet it will be interesting.look forward to the results!

Please dont let your dogs suffer because of a pair of moronic neighbours!! Not taking your dogs out and you staying home all of the time is not going to help anyone,and by doing this you are only giving them satisfaction   and yourself and your dogs grief :(
Let em' complain and be miserable myrtles,i bet even if you stay home 99% of the time they will STILL find something to complain about.People like this are never happy unless they've got some kind of drama in the brewing!
Dont let a pair of strangers run your life,let them know you are looking into WHY your dogs are barking and that they must be patient whilst you get it sorted!Tell them you are setting up cctv and sound recording devices,this should hopefully stop them in their tracks if they are the ones egging your dogs on. If she's looking through your window,draw the curtains,if she's banging on the fence,turn the radio up,but above all dont let these cows turn you into "a prisoner in your own home".

Is this behaviour not harrassment? Can you not complain to the local council/police that you are now being harrassed? If it is making your life a misery then you are obviously being harrassed and I would think you could have a case, especially as it has already been proved that your dogs are not a nuisance. Do you not have another neighbour that you could mention this to, knowing that it would get back to the complainers? ;)

I agree with Lindylou, surely this behaviour from your neighbours is harassment.  It is a tough situtation though with the house sale because if any disputes arise you have to state this in your contracts.

I can sympathise with you though Marianne our old neighbour used to constantly put notes through the door/ tell us Jazz was barking constantly.  Heres what we did:

-Put the radio/tv on for him (which Iknow you already do)

- Tape recorded him whilst we were out

- On returning home from being somewhere I would get OH drop me off around the corner so Jazz didnt hear the car and walk towards the house

- Use video recorder whilst you are out - Our finding from this where that yes Jazz did bark when  we were out, but not constantly like they had said.  He would bark for the first 5 minutes or so and then setlle down.

If when I walked to the house and Jazz was barking I just used to go inside, take my coat off etc and make no eye contact with him and not talk to him for 10 minutes.

I understand your situation is a difficult one, I would also try smuggling your stepson in ;) .  You should not feel like a prisoner in your own home though and that will imo make the dogs worse if there is a problem.

If your neighbours confront you again, tell them that you are going to video/ tape record the dogs whilst you go out, see what response you get.

I hope you are not too long with the moving process now, keeping my fingers crossed for you :)

I wrote that first thing this morning, without going into it fully, so here goes.

When I moved into my home here 6 years ago one of my neighbours (next door) went round all the others with a petition, asking for them to sign it so that I had to get rid of my dogs. They were laughed at. All the other neighbours had dogs ;) From then on every time my dogs barked (even just a quick 'woof' I had letters of complaints via the local council. It finally came to a head one day when I received a letter stating that my dogs were continually barking. So, off I went to the council offices, dragging a couple of different neighbours with me. I didn't tell them why I was going :) As soon as I got hold of a council official I mentioned the letter and my 2 neighbours both burst out laughing. One was my next door neighbour from the other side :) What it came down to was that they didn't hear any barking, or any barking that they did hear was 'friendly' barking. You know, the 'come and speak to me' bark. I then told the official that I felt I was being harrassed and was going to take legal advice (ok, via my step-brother, who is a solicitor :D ) and if I received any more unwarranted complaints I would be taking the council to court. Not once did the council come out to see about the noise. :( I never did receive any letters. Mind you, I think word got back to my neighbours that I was staying and that I was considering legal recourse. I know they couldn't pay for legal help :)

So, to cut a long story short, it sometimes only needs the threat of legal action for the harrassers to take note. Good luck in your move, when it comes. Hope all goes well.

Forgot to add. My neighbours now have a JR/Poodle that yaps all the time. I don't think I'll get many complaints from them now, do you :D

Interesting LindyLou. We asked Trevor Cooper who specialises in dog law and he said we can't do a thing. We've told the council over and over that we are being harrassed and all they say is that's none of their business, they just deal with complaints and have to send out letters. They even DENY we have had 8 despite us having kept every single one as proof!

The silly thing is, virtually everyone here have dogs as well, including those complaining. And I hear theirs bark a lot, especially when they are out. And the dog across the road is extremely loud and I can always tell by his bark when the postman arrives for instance. Yet my dogs seem to get the blame -probably because of the number of them.

Well there are some news now! Yesterday was of course Wednesday and normally I'd be at dog training, but stayed at home as hubby was at work late and couldn't drive my step son here in time. But it seems the neighbours expected me to be out as usual. At 7.30 pm the house probably LOOKED empty. No car there, I was not at the computer (which is right by the window so people can see whenever I am here), and I had brought the dogs indoors as I was watching TV and having dinner. All of a sudden, BANG! There was such a loud thump at the front door that I swear the house almost shook. Really made me jump. Then lots of laughter. I wasn't quick enough to see what had happened. The MOST interesting thing though -the dogs didn't make a noise. They acted like it was something they were so USED to hearing it didn't warrant even getting out of their beds for, as none of them did.

My husband fetched his son over late last night (they arrived at midnight) as this morning my daughter was in a school play I didn't want to miss. (My kids live at the other end of town 8 miles away, and buses are really bad here so I needed a lift.) So my step son was here (gone back now) but nobody saw him arrive. We left the house at 8 am and were back at 11.30. When we came back he told us one of the neighbours had been whistling to the dogs and calling to them, and when they started barking, he heard them say to somebody (he said he thought they were on the phone) "Yes the dogs are barking again now". (Needless to say, after one woof he brought them indoors.)

So definitely something going on, but no chance yet to catch them in the act.