Neighbours Dog driving me slowly crazy- Help!

Hi, I usually post on the cat forum but this is a question for you guys and I really hope you can help.
I work from home so I'm in all day most days, this dog lives 5 doors down from me, and it Howls and barks from 8am to 5-6pm everyday and its constant, I think the dog is left outside now its summer but I could hear him from inside the house all winter too.

I can hear him howling now and I don't even have any windows open, when its hot and I have to have the windows open its so much louder, its driving me mad, its all day everyday.

Me and my b/f have both had dogs before so we understand dogs sometimes howl when there owners go out, but not this much, and the little jackrussel next door likes to join in sometimes when the other dog barks (great?!!)
I have spoken to enviromental health (not giving them any addresses) and they said they could get the dog taken away if it is causing this much noise, but I don't want the dog put in kennals because he might not be rehomed and then he'd be put down, I can't do that however much its getting to me.

So what can I do about it? I don't want to start an arguement over it, I understand the dog probably howls while he's at work and stops when he comes home, he might not even know.

So my question is: If this was your dog, how would you like it to be dealt with?

 

I think I would want to know if any of my guys were that much trouble to someone. First be sure you have the correct place and then I would look into the type of dog it is and if there is more then one. I think I would take down there address and get some info on separation anxiety and barking dogs copy it or type it then send it to them, address it to the residents (no name) of blank 1111 street name. I would not add any of my thoughts or name just the article you find, even a net site address to.
People today seem to take offence when confronted face to face and you have to admit we don't all use the correct words sometimes when we want to make a point as I have seen here.
We try to keep our guys under control, if they get that bad we bring them inside till they quite down but down the street from you they may not be home all day. If this does not work you may have to get a copy of the noise law in your area and send that to them.

2pyrs
P.S. Should I be checking my mail ? :lol:

 

Well I can give you a view from the other perspective--- I have a pug/beagle mix who does howl when she's left alone- I don't know how long she does it for, and lucky for us her howl is quiet, but some breeds just howl, there's not a lot that can be done about it. If the howling is that bad, the neighbors should probably leave the dog indoors, but beyond that, I don't think you have the right to get the dog taken away just because you don't like the noise. It seems strange to me that you can hear a dog barking inside 5 houses down. Do you leave your windows open all the time and never have the tv on? I mean, I would understand if it's in the middle of the night, but this is during the day, and neighborhoods are usually full of noises during the day, between kids, dogs, cars, radios, tvs and other sounds. My husband and I both work full time, and I feel that as long as I am leaving my dog in my home where it can't be a direct distraction to anyone, that I have a right to do that while I'm a work.

 

2pyrs - Thanks for the advice I think this is a good idea, I don't want to cause trouble just sort this out, also I feel that the dog is not happy, he sounds so sad howling like that.
And don't worry if it was your dog I think you'd have had complaints already, im in the UK and that would be a very loud dog if I could hear it!

puggleowner - I Don't want the dog taken away, I really don't, i couldn't live with myself getting someones pet taken away from them hes a healthy dog and I don't believe hes being miss treated, I just don't want to hear constant howling and barking, there also have been nights when he has howled till 3 in the morning!
In the winter hes indoors and I can hear the howling but it doesn't bother me because it quiet and like you say some dogs do just howl!
Now its summer I think hes outside, I open the window only when its completly nessesary these days, this went on all last year too, but this year its much worse.
I have music on all day to drown out the sound, my next door neighbours bedroom is right next door to my office and he works nights so I try to be a conciderate neighbour and not make to much noise myself.

I wasn't saying that he doesnt have the right to leave the dog alone while hes at work, but this dog is causeing a direct distraction to me and my business, I have no problem with general noise, there are 2 under 5 children next door with the jack russle and a main road near by that don't bother me at all.
I don't want people to think I'm being unreasonable about this, I want to find the best solution for everyone

 

I agree with everyone. I would tape it and send it to the owner. PErhaps if you see them you could just casually ask what kind of dog they have. And then if they want to know why, just (NICELY) tell them, well, he barks alot and I'm just wondering if it was a breed thing. Don't tell them its bothering you. Warm up to them first.
And with a little information, maybe they'll get the hint.

 

Do you like dogs? You could offer to doggysit the little critter during the day for some extra pocket money.


Jamiya

 

Ginger, I was in that situation ont he other end. I didnt know Jake was barking during the day or night when I was not home. One morning and irate neighbor from down the street came banging on my door I dont know where he lived or who he was, but he gave me an earful, becasue we got home around 10:00 pm that night before, I thought hes got the wrong house. Jake never barked when we were home. a few months later, we went out after work so we got home about 10: pm a few days later, I got a notice from police, a complaint, they send out liek 3 notices before they take action. so we made sure we were home right after work. then one day I was running errands and left Jake outside, my new neighbor left me a note of the door Jake had been barking straight for 2 hours. So I am thinking darn now he is doing it during the day. so I went to my other neigbor asked if Jake barked all of teh time. she said yes.
We installed a dog door into the house and tht solved our problem. but this had been going on for almost 2 years and I was clueless, buggin my neighbors because they were afriad to say something.


So I would try with a note first, maybe they dont know the dog barks, and would be nice about it. If the dog continues to bark and they dont take action. I would call the police or whoever handless this in your area to report it


honeybear

 

Ginger: This is a hard subject for lots of people. I thing 2pyrs idea is great. Also with the taping. I personally think that something needs to be done to stop it. I know how annoying it is when that happens, but the dog is also at risk from a mean neighbour seeking revenge.

My moms lab stays in a run outside, but every house on their block has a dog. A couple of years ago when I still lived there I cam home to find him gone. His collar had been cut and he was let out of our yard. Luckily the high school near by saw him in the field and got our phone number by checkin ghis tattoo etc etc. Anyways, it turned out our neighbour worked nights and was sick of all the dogs barking when a car drove into the alley and since we were the closest house to him, it was Charlie he took his aggression out on. It could have been much worse, he could have beat him, poisoned him, too many things may have happened that day.

There is a noise bylaw that protects you from this racket all day long.
I think its very nice and responsible that you asked for help and acknowledged the fact that you do not want the dog taken away, and there is a good chance the owners don't know.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

Geez, honeybears. I really hate it when neighbors suffer silently and then get angry at something that you didn't know about!! Ours went ballistic once over some leaves we didn't rake. They left a note on our mailbox that said they had been driving them nuts for NINE MONTHS! (I have no idea why - they were out of sight and couldn't blow on their lawn or anything. They are possessed.) Anyway, I was steamed. I wanted to leave a note on THIER mailbox that said, "Then why didn't you tell us NINE MONTHS AGO?!" Sheesh.

Our outside terriers that we had before our current dogs barked a lot. The neighbor two doors down used to complain, but our immediate neighbors said they never noticed. It was weird.

The dogs didn't bark much during the day (I was home full time) so at night we always locked them in their garage kennel so they wouldn't bark. A few times when we went out of town and had friends caring for the dogs, the friend would decide not to come over and lock them in for the night. Inevitably we would get phone calls in the night about the barking - but of course we weren't home! That used to really piss me off too - that our FRIENDS could not be more reliable. I ended up paying neighbor kids to do it from then on and it worked out better.

Our neighbors once threatened to let the dogs out if they were barking. What the heck?! Morons. I always suspect them when I find the gate inexplicably open, even now that we no longer have dogs that bark. And when my dog died suddenly last summer, I honestly suspected them of poisoning her somehow - even though she didn't bark much, and the one that did had run away two years before.

Anyway, it was a huge mess and I never even say hi to those neighbors anymore. They are more concerned with raking leaves than with living creatures. If they moved away I would have a party. I keep thinking of getting very large "yard art" in our front yard just to piss them off. :0025:


Jamiya

 

Oh Jamiya!!!! I would get this HUGE Ball like 6' tall, bright YEllow with a BIG smily face on it and put it in your yard so they have to look at it all the time!!! And make sure you pile the leaves all around it!! he he he!!!!

That'll teach them!

 

Jimiya, I know, it eats at them and then they explode. Now my new neighbor at the time left me a nice note, explaining Jakes barking and not a screaming note. I went over and introduced myself thanked him for letting me know of the problem and that I would fix it.

Its strange what pet peeves people have for instance my husbands, it drives him crazy. we have a neighbor that gets the daily paper, and its delivered at the end of their driveway on our road. they just let them pile up. he cant stand that. we were walking the dogs last week-end, he picked them up and threw them in the weeds. I see him knocking on their door screaming at them "why dont you pick up your #****#!! newspapers :shock:

honeybear

 

Jamiya you think your leave raking incident was bad? Let me tell you before we moved to Illinois to the country we lived in Denver, CO in the burbs and we had the neighbors from HELL!! They called the home owners council on us because when we mowed our lawn our grass cuttings blew into their yard and onto their privacy fence in the backyard. That was only the beginning of the war of the neighbors! They complained because when we took our trash cans to the curb they were to close to their property line! Then they called the police on us the 4th of July for allowing our kids to use those little snap it things which have no fuse and are perfectly harmless just a little noisy. Because they claimed we were lighting fireworks! Which we were not! Fireworks are illegal in certain areas there because of the serious problems with wild fires.
Oh these people were monsters! They hated us mainly because we had so many dogs and were not "country club material" they also called the police one other time because at the time I was fostering a litter of puppies and they thought they were mine. So you see it is also illegal there to breed dogs without a permit so they thought they had me. Boy were they mad when they found out they were only fosters.
I was never so happy to move in all my life!

 

Talk about neighbours from hell!!

Me and Curt just bought our first home last summer. We live in the middle of 2 40 something single grouchy women. They hated us from the moment we were moving our stuff just because of our age. We had a Canada Day party (our first night in the house too) and let them know ahead of time (like a week before) and said if you think we are too loud please phone of come over and we will stop immediately. That was fine.

Then 2 weeks later we had another couple over. The 4 of us were standing around our fire pit talking no music, not loud at all. The police come and ask when everyone from the party left. When we told them it was just us, they laughed and said the person said there was like 30 ppl over!! Ha! Our house isn't that big!!

On another time we were watching a movie (all windows closed) and the neighbour came rapping on our door and threatened to call the police on our bass. Dumb woman! It was all the cars driving down our street with those boom boxes. (god those things are annoying!)

Oh,my, I guess we all have our neighbour stories!! :wink:

 

maybe we should start a new thread "our neighbors from H**L"

wow you guys have some horrible neighbors.

One of my neighbors was freaking out because everyone was burning their downed trees due to a horrible snow storm, the smoke was blwoing in his property, he was threatening to call the cops and my other neighbor said, its legal, here is the # to call for burn days.

then he decides he will burn and pours so much gas on his fire it exploded into his face and he had to be rushed to the hospital. it is funny and it isnt , but people need ttd vke chill pill.

honeybear

 

I have asked my neighbors if my dogs make noise when we are gone, and they all said that when they were young they whinned and howled for about 10 minutes and then stopped after we left. I have had a neighbor come and tell me that she actually came over and searched around my house one day because my dogs were barking while I was gone. She said she knew the dogs barks...and that they only did it when I came home or somone was on my property...like the mailman. I was surprised that she paid that much attention to the habits of my dogs and wondered if they were a bother to her. She exclaimed "OH NO!" and told me that she is grateful to have them right next door...as they warn her when something is going on outside. My other neighbor told me pretty much the same, they know when I get home, when the mailman is coming etc. Your question was..how would I like to be approached...I would like to know. Your neighbor may not even know that it is going on or maybe assumes it stops a few minutes after he leaves. Maybe they don't know what to do about it. I would talk to them and offer up some advice if they need it and seem open to it. I would think if aproached in a way that says you just want to help resolve the issue and they are not put on the defensive ...that the results would be the best for everyone involved.
The dog may have separation anxiety and maybe they don't know what that is. I say talk to them and be ready to offer up ideas for solutions.

 

Thanks for all of your replies, good ideas and its great to know what its like from the dog owners point of view and its going to help loads :lol:

Funny thing is after I posted my first post on this issue literally hours after I posted, the dog was quiet and hasn't barked all weekend or today at all, I feel a lot better about the whole situation for getting a break!

I hadn't thought that my other neighbours could be less reasonable than me and could hurt the dog or let him loose while the owner is out thats a good point and I wouldn't want that to happen.

Thanks again for all your comments , youve been great!