Noisy Dog Nextdoor

[Kaleidyscope]

So I recently moved into a new home with my partner, it's the first house we've ever owned. It's pretty much a dream house and when we inspected it, we couldn't find a single fault with the home or the neighbourhood. Until we moved in.

The neighbour owns a Jack Russell nextdoor, it yaps and barks 24/7. The couple that live nextdoor leave it outside at night and all day at work. I don't think this thing ever sleeps, it barks all night. The only time we get any peace and quiet is when the owners come home and bring it inside for a few hours at night, but then they let it back outside again at around 10ish, then it starts up again.
Our bedroom window directly faces their backyard, so we get a full earful of it. My partner studies full-time and works two casual jobs and has to be up at the crack of dawn, but she's only getting maybe one or two hours sleep a night because of this dog. And I work full-time and am finding it nearly impossible to get any sleep.

I've been nextdoor to talk to them about it on two separate occasions, they apologize and bring the dog inside for the night that I complain about it, but then the next day they're back to leaving him outside again.
Another neighbour of ours has complained about it too, so I know we're not the only ones.

Is there anything more that we can do about this? I'm a dog person, I do love dogs, but this dog is keeping me up at all hours of the night. A friend told me that I should report this to the council or even the police or something but I'm unsure if that would be too extreme. But then again I've spoken twice to these people and they still do nothing about it.

Any help would be awesome

[The Builder]

Environmental Health (local council) would be the ones to talk to Kaleidy.
I've had this myself in the past. It sounds like the best solution would be for them to keep the sh*tty .... er ...... dear little thing indoors at night at least.
EH do take this sort of thing quite seriously.

[AlBags]

I think the council is a great option here .. also let them know about the other complaint .. and who they are (if you know)
If you pester them .. they will probably monitor it .. or get you to with a recorder.

[Ratty2E]

Is it locked outside all night? If it doesn't have suitable shelter and access to clean drinking water the RSPCA might be interested too. The dog is obviously cold, lonely and bored and becoming distressed that is why it is barking. It's a mystery to me why people like this have dogs at all.

[AlBags]

RSPCA interested? No chance on that one.
Even though I can't get my head around people who leave dogs chained up all day at work .. then leave them outside all night.
They have a screw loose.

[Wak]

Our neighbours have a young collie dog which used to bark from the back gate at everything that passed by the house. Earlier this year they went on holiday and put the dog into kennels, I then realised how peaceful it was without the dog.
I therefore bought a Bark Buster (£10 + p&p) which emits a very high frequency sound each time the dog barks and it worked a treat. Now the dog barks once at the gate and then goes in the house to bark from the lounge window sill which doesn't bother me at all now.
The Busters have a range of about 6 metres and work from a 9 volt battery so I bought a re-chargeable one for good measure. I also made a weatherproof case for it from a plastic milk bottle and fixed it to the nearest fence. Some days I don't even have to put the Buster out so the dog must be getting the right idea!
You can't blame the dog as it's obviously bored and not happy with it's living conditions, it's the useless owner's who don't really know how to treat or train a dog.
As others have said, they shouldn't really have a dog when they are at work all day.

[AlBags]

Great idea .. Try one .. mount it near where the dog hangs out and see what happens.
GL whatever you do .. Al.

[237SJ]

That gadget sounds a brilliant idea. I had a neighbour several years ago that had two little dogs that barked. She used to open the door and 7am and they would both tear out into the garden, barking furiously. My neighbour the other side of me complained to the council but they were pretty useless to be honest. All they did was offer to mediate. All avenues at trying to reason with the owner had been exhausted anyway. When she send a note to the neighbours saying that she wished she could control everybody so her dogs didn`t bark at them we realised there was no reasoning with her. The only saving grace in the end was that she was renting and the landlord got to hear about it. Turns out there was a "no pets" clause in her lease and she left, taking her blasted animals and went off to blight someone else`s life.

[Kaleidyscope]

Thanks everyone for the advice!
I called the council this morning to see what I could do about it, but they weren't much help. They said if the dog's being mistreated then I could contact the RSPCA, but if it's bothering the entire neighbourhood (which it seems to be) then I should get the other neighbours on board, and try to present evidence of it barking i.e. a recording or something. Apparently more than a few witnesses complaining isn't enough.

I'm not sure if the dog's being mistreated, I have peered over the fence and it looks like it has its own kennel for shelter and a bowl of water and such, so I don't know how much the RSPCA would do there.

But that bark buster sounds like a great idea! I never thought of that, I might actually look into buying one. If not then I'll have to try and record it over night and get a council worker out here soon, this dog is driving me nuts even as I type this.

Once again, thanks everyone for the tips and advice!

That bark buster sounds like a great idea! I never thought of that

[Wak]

The Bark Buster I used was from Brightlife Products, Liverpool, but you'll have to e-mail them for a catalogue. (see web site)
Hope I don't get struck off for advertising, only trying to help.

[AlBags]

Here you go .. Bid on this ..
http://www.ebay.co.uk...s&hash=item43ab3e4c94

or buy .. http://www.ebay.co.uk...s&hash=item231486301d

Or shoot 'em ...
http://www.ebay.co.uk...0&hash=item23106f8f54

[Postdog]

I wouldn't just accept what your council said. Keep a diary (dates and times of barking) and make recordings. Then approach them again - whether it is a single complainer or may they have a duty to investigate and act if necessary.

[The Builder]

Never heard of a Bark Buster ............. great idea :o)

[B00]

I'm with rattygirl, why have a dog if you're just going to shove it outside day and night?

Honestly, sometimes I just hate people :-(

[ladybird49]

When it wakes you up go round and tell them , whatever time it is , better if its a ridiculous hour though ... : )

[Wak]

The first link from Albags is the one that I bought.
It has it's own frame for fixing to the wall/fence.

[woofgang]

Poor wee dog. Yes I would be round at the door every time the dog kicks off....and I am a dog owner myself. Barky dogs are a pain because they make other dogs kick off too.

[muff13]

I would not like to guarantee that the bark buster would work. We have collies in kennels who do, at times bark, so, when we retired from our isolated farm and moved where we had neighbours, purchased one of them so we would not disturb anyone. Sadly it had no effect on our dogs who do not seem to mind the high pitched noise it makes when they bark. Luckily, they are not too noisy and our neighbours not too near so we do not cause much of a nuisance. You do have my sympathy, for there is nothing worse than a dog barking incessantly and disturbing your night's sleep.

[Wak]

I admit that it won't stop the dogs barking if they really have a reason to bark such as someone near their front door but it does stop that willy nilly barking at anything that happens to move.
My bark buster has certainly calmed my neighbour's dog down a great deal, in fact I don't even switch it on some days.
Worth the money as far as I'm concerned.

[Dolly1308]

Or try ringing your neighbour if the dog wakes you up in the night -see if he likes being woken up .