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Got home from a bbq at the in-laws last night to find a note through the letter box from our next door neighbour.
Apparently our two dogs were barking all evening and stopped their children from getting to sleep. Not only that but all last week in the heat they had to suffer with closed windows to keep the barking out and they feel they can’t use their back garden because the dogs constantly bark at them.
Now, our youngest dog is a Pomeranian and does have a shrill bark. She will bark at the postman, or when in the garden at cats or people coming and going but we are quite conscious of not disturbing anyone so will quickly stop her, take her back inside or whatever to quieten her down. The older dog barely makes a noise at all and even then it’s a grumbly noise not a bark
When we are out she doesn’t bark at all really (can tell from home cctv recordings) again, unless the postman drops something through the letterbox.
Now, I’m sure that a barking dog, especially when you have a toddler and a newborn is quite infuriating and even what we think is minor could be enough to cause them stress which is why we try to minimise it.
The dad thing is though that the dogs were away with us in our motorhome all last week and were at the bbq with us last night so I’m not quite sure who was doing the barking?
Wife was quite upset, I just wonder if there is any reasoning with them if they are going to blame us/our dogs for noise when they aren’t there even if there is also a genuine issue at other times. All I can think of doing is showing them the cctv footage to prove the point that we weren’t in last week/night and that the dogs are largely silent at other times.
Are you sure your dogs are silent when you’re out though? There is a house near me that had a dog barking non stop last night from around 5;30 to 11pm - I guess they went out and left the dog outside.
I think I'd talk to them and agree that a constantly barking dog would send you mad but then calmly point out that your's were not in the house when the alleged barking took place so they may need to look elsewhere.
It's hot, people struggle to sleep hence having a short fuse. Talk to them calmly and explain that your dogs were with you so it has to be somebody else. Wouldn't mention cctv at all at this stage. Just cut them some slack.
Be nice, knock on the door, treat them with respect, and just ask if you can help them find the source of their issue because it can't have been you as your dogs were with you all day.
Ahhh....if your dogs werent at home then I’d let them know it couldn’t have been your dogs.
My house backs on to the local police station but it's the only police station in the area with kennels.
Any stray dogs, dogs taken in when their owners have been arrested / murdered or, presumably, dogs that that have been arrested themselves are held there for the entire division.
About once a week we have to endure constant overnight barking.
We just tune it out now.
it can’t have been you as your dogs were with you all day
The neighbours will be able to confirm this by checking the dogs Instagram accounts where they'll find a few instabangers of barbequed sausages and the like.
Have to say, many people don't believe their dogs bark when they're out, but many do. Got a couple of neighbours like this. One doesn't bark but it whines endlessly and can hear it one end of the house. Another, soon as the dog realises they've gone, barking non-stop. When the car turns up it hears it and stops (same with the whining dog), so they assume they've been good as gold.
Would CCTV really show it's not barking? Does it just show the dog asleep, or just strolling about? Dogs can have loud barks but not noticeably making much movement.
I also get dogs in the estate nearby barking endlessly and they must really be annoying as I can hear them from a fair distance.
Then I've got the party neighbours, especially in BBQ weather. Invite loads of family and all their screaming kids, BBQs, party music and up until midnight at least, kids still screaming. Now I've got bouncy castle neighbour, screaming kids of course and the sound of a monster air machine all day (probably all night). I've had to close the windows, which is not great in this weather! Though I feel more justified in installing a big ass air conditioner, the kind with the outdoor machine just to piss everyone off, plus keep the house cool.
This. OP even admits in first post that his dogs bark often & have to be quietened down [i]when he’s home.[/i] And yet apparently are totally silent all the time when he’s out? Give over! 😂Have to say, many people don’t believe their dogs bark when they’re out, but many do.
Yes, it wasn’t OP’s dogs on THIS occasion (and I would tell the neighbours this so they can focus their ire on someone else temporarily). Sounds like the dogs make enough racket normally though to make the neighbors’ lives miserable the rest of the time. Glad I don’t live next to OP as I can sympathise, constantly barking dogs are ****ing annoying, enough to wear the nerves very thin given enough time.
Our neighbour (a lovely old bloke) was astonished and mortified to hear that his dog barked and whined constantly during the day when he was out. It was good as gold when he was there - maybe it missed him terribly.
I think you’ll find of you read what I wrote that one dog doesn’t make a noise but the other does on occasion, when disturbed by something. Certainly not ‘constantly’, I’d use the word ‘occasionally’ and perhaps should have in the op.
I also did say that we take all measures we can to stop any nuisance noise as soon as possible rather than just leaving the dog barking as I know how much of a nuisance that can be!
Cctv shows dogs sleeping, moving to other bits of the house, sleeping some more etc.. but w don’t watch it on a live stream all day so can’t say if that’s all they do.
Other side neighbor, retired couple who are the sort to tell us very quickly if we’ve left the bin out by the end of our front path a day too long have said they don’t hear/notice anything from the dogs. They have lived there for 20 plus years. We’ve been in ours for about 8, with dogs from the get go. Complaining neighbor has been there for 3 years or so and never mentioned it before.
Lile I say they have a newborn and are presumably suffering sleepless nights but it’s the complaint from absolutely nowhere when we and the dogs weren’t even in the house that’s got me puzzled.
You sound like a considerate dog owner which is commendable.
And if your dogs were out all day then I would politely explain this to your neighbours as it wasn't your dogs barking on this occasion.
Your neighbours are barking up the wrong tree.
Which might be the noise they're hearing...
It really is staggering to me at least surely why op would not just go do what chesterrockwell suggested.
But yh dogs are a pitarea.
They by sounds of it are bitter but have a point even if trying to go about it in the wrong way evidentially.
I probably will pop round there later. Hopefully they won’t be to embarrassed to have blamed us despite our being absent on these occasions.
Think I might ask them to make a note of if/when they hear (or think they hear) our dogs and let us know. Even if we can’t change what our dogs do at least it will appear that we are trying to do more!
Jammy dodgers anyone 😜
Even if we can’t change what our dogs do
You most definitley can, our neighbours took their dog to training classes because it used to bark every time someone walked past their gate when they were out. I haven't heard the dog bark for a long time. Good people our neighbours.
HERE HERE!!
Now that should edukate the op.
🤪
HERE HERE!!
WHERE WHERE?
Just go and see them with your dogs, let them see you are a responsible owner and let them hear them bark so they know it is not yours.
My neighbour sadly is a terrible dog owner, just leaves the dog out all year in the cold, heat, rain. Poor dog barks all day with separation anxiety. I have told him many times but he is in denial....i just believe in karma.
WHERE WHERE?
THERE THERE!
Cover your hands and speckle your face with fake blood then go round to the house and say "happy now"
when we and the dogs weren’t even in the house that’s got me puzzled.
So when you say “drama” you mean your neighbours have got their wires crossed and you just need a chat with them?
Your neighbours are barking up the wrong tree.
Have you tried planting different trees?
perhaps one with a different bark?
Cover your hands and speckle your face with fake blood then go round to the house and say “happy now”
Don't forget to give them a nice homemade curry at the same time, to smooth things over.
Interested to see how this plays out. Sounds like the OP is innocent.
I’m not so sure, we have only the word of the OP that his dogs were with him.
Wife spoke to neighbour. They were apologetic that they had ‘falsely accused’ us but did say that it was something that had been happening for some time.
Couldn’t identify different dog bark sounds (not a scientific test with sound samples or whatever, just weren’t able to say if it was definitely Lola or a different bark. Hers is very distinctive.) so still not sure how much of their previously heard barking was our dogs either!
Wife asked neighbour to make a note of if/when they heard the barking when we weren’t in, so we could see if it could be our dogs and try to identify the cause. They also agreed that there wasn’t much to be done about the dog barking at the postie/cats but that it wasn’t really an issue as it’s only fleeting.
Completely different to the language and description in their note the other night of course!
So somewhere in the neighbourhood is a phantom barking dog... I do wonder if one of the other nearby neighbors looks after a dog for someone on occasions or similar...
Anyway, like so many middle class suburban ‘disputes’, the passive aggressive note through letterbox stuff served to make me angry, but actual human contact made it easy to sort out and left us all happier to live alongside each other. Sorry for the rubbish conclusion...
I’d be more concerned about the letter thief who appears to have struck your neighbour.
Gah! Flipping Americanisms. Thought I’d corrected them all but not the title!
I shall see if the missing vowel has been put through my letterbox...
We actually moved house when a new neighbour moved in with three dogs that barked and whined in the garden all night. The experience gave us a phobia about barking dogs and now when my neighbour's young black labrador goes outside and has a barking fit we get upset, through she soon hauls it back indoors.
But my neighbour is a good example of why many people should not keep dogs - she and her three children are obese, their last fmaily dog died obese, the family are out all day, this young puppy gets no exercise beyond a short walk up the street once or twice a week, it is nervous and barky and will get fat when it enters adulthood. Why do they need a dog?
The experience gave us a phobia about barking dogs and now when my neighbour’s young black labrador goes outside and has a barking fit we get upset
Really? You are collectively phobic about dogs barking?
Really? You are collectively phobic about dogs barking?
I have also moved house because of barking dogs. Willing to bet johndoh is a dog owner with close neighbours...
Yes! Why can't you understand that? People find barking stressful and irritating. It's different when it's your own dog or a dog you know well and like.
^ Not liking dogs barking is one thing, developing a collective phobia about it is a whole new level.
And yes I am a dog owner but I *HATE* hearing my dog bark when she is outside so she is always immediately brought inside if she starts barking (which is normally when someone walks down the ginnel beside our house - especially if they are walking a dog themselves).
When a neighbour's barking dog wakes you up or disturbs you during the day, making your pulse increase or annoying you, isn't that a phobia? We have another neighbour whose cockerel crows every five minutes all day long and I've heard that other neighbours are really angry about it yet it doesn't bother me in the least.
Dogs, cockerels and other noisy beasts are not appropriate for people living close to neighbours. Lack of consideration by close neighbours is one of several reasons why we are moving to rural Scotland next year.
isn’t that a phobia?
cockerals
Is that half Spaniel and half German Shepherd?
Given the OP has stated that his dogs weren't even at home when the barking was happening, I don't understand why people are getting on their case?
If the OP has any doubts, why not speak to your other neighbours first and just ask them straight if they've heard their dogs barking. If the answer is a no, then go round and have a polite chat with the complaining neighbours and explain that its unlikely to be your dogs if they've been out with you all day and the noise must be from someone else's dogs.
making your pulse increase or annoying you, isn’t that a phobia?
I have a work phobia, quick, to the GP!
Maybe they just don't like Americans.
I have a work phobia, quick, to the GP!
You're lucky.
I think I might be a paedophobe!
My kids annoy the shit out of me.
Drama? This is a drama!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-25/man-allegedly-murdered-in-parkes-over-barking-dogs/11243612