Why dogs bark persistently
Living next to a dog that barks for hours on end can be exhausting. Persistent barking usually has an underlying cause, which means it can sometimes be addressed, though resolving the issue is not always straightforward.
Dogs left alone all day while their owners are at work may bark out of boredom or anxiety. Some dogs bark to defend what they see as their territory. Others may have health problems causing them distress, or they may simply never have been trained properly.
Understanding the reason can help when you approach your neighbours about the problem. Under UK law, persistent dog barking can be treated as a statutory nuisance, though this is assessed on a case by case basis by your local council. You do have options if talking does not work.
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Before taking any formal steps, speak to your neighbours directly. Many dog owners genuinely have no idea their pet is barking while they are out. A calm, friendly conversation can be enough to prompt them to take action.
Pick a reasonable time to talk and explain what you have been experiencing. Be specific about when the barking happens and how long it lasts. Many people will be willing to address the problem once they know about it, though responses vary.
If speaking face to face feels awkward or you have already tried without success, put your concerns in writing. A polite letter creates a record of your complaint and gives your neighbour clear details to work with. Keep copies of any correspondence for your records.
While waiting for the situation to improve, you might find white noise machines or earplugs helpful for managing the disruption.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
Getting your local council involved
When informal approaches fail, contact your local council. Most councils have an environmental health team or dog warden service that handles noise complaints involving animals.
You will usually be asked to keep a record of the disturbance. This typically means noting the dates, times, and duration of the barking over a period of two to four weeks. Some councils provide diary sheets or online forms for this purpose.
Council officers may visit to assess the noise themselves. Some councils install monitoring equipment, though this depends on their resources and policies. If they decide the barking amounts to a statutory nuisance, they can serve a notice on your neighbour requiring them to stop the problem. Failure to comply can result in fines.
You can find your local council and their noise complaint process through GOV.UK.
Other options if the problem continues
If you believe the dog is being neglected or is in poor health, you can report this to the RSPCA. They can investigate welfare concerns separately from noise issues.
Mediation can help neighbours reach an agreement without further escalation. This involves a neutral third party helping both sides discuss the problem and find a workable solution together. Many local councils offer free or low cost mediation services for neighbour disputes.
As a last resort, you may be able to take your own legal action through the magistrates' court. This route can be time consuming and may involve costs, so it is usually worth exhausting other options first. A solicitor can advise on whether this step makes sense for your situation.
I am fed up with a lot of them and their owners. Yet not much you can do about noise, the law is vague on sound pollution and councils and police both like to pass the buck, as the police are only interested in realistic criminal cases they can prosecute and councils are not interested. If it's really bad you can move if you are in a position to, or fight back and match them with sound pollution. Entitled neighbours with no concern for others cannot be allowed to get away with their their arrogance. Either way noise pollution inevitably leads to poor neighbourly relations.
I feel as if my home is no longer mine. I'm unable to read or to concentrate, or to think even, whilst the dog whines and squeals in variation.
When did dogs become sacred cows with more rights than human beings? This situation is disgusting. It's time people were protected from dog noise.
What the heck is that, how rude??!!!
We'll buy and move to a new home like The vicarage because we don't want the neighbours like Clive and Emma, daughters and Penny the dog to come to our house at No.4 from next door.
I want to move to the country in a detached house away from all this noise …. I hate it
I love both dogs and children. We've had dogs from when our own children were very small and our eldest is almost 30, our little terrier died last month aged 14, she barked if someone knocked on the door but settled down straight away. All our dogs were like that. I work in social services so can work at home or office. I prefer office because the barking and screeching puts me off my work. Teams meetings were horrendous . But I'm more worried for my husband. The barking keeps him awake when he's trying to get his sleep. He drives a HGV overnight. The neighbours know he works nights and that he drives an artic up and down the country. Another neighbour approached them over the barking and they admitted they knew. I'm starting to feel so resentful with their lack of respect for my husbands welfare. I have to bite my tongue and can barely look at them because if I lose it, I will lose it big time.I love my garden and in good weather both of us like to sit out. Their 6 yr old kid constantly calls out demanding us to watch him or stands on his slide looking over our wall. We humour him at first, but then we just want to relax and spend time with each other as we often just cross paths with work. His parents never step in, he's so spoiled and never told no, then he starts to wind the dog up. The other 2 children are fine. Sorry for the rant, but I feel so helpless. I love my home. We were flooded in 2015 and lost everything. We have worked hard to rebuild and dont want to move. But this is making us consider it. Just like another poster said, who would want to live next door to a barking dog a nightmare child and new age parents who won't say no to their kid.
I sympathise with you completely.
Neighbour has a yapping Yorkshire terrier that I swear NEVER stops barking!
Left all the time in the garden all day long it also sets off another dog that also doesn't stop.
Tried talking to the neighbour but she never takes any notice and I believe now she is doing it on purpose to wind me up!
I tried one of the anti barking devices but didn't do anything - if you search on YouTube for dog whistles and play through a Bluetooth speaker this is meant to stop the barking which I will be trying soon.
To give a little background. I live in a nice area, expensive house in the countryside. One of my neighbours, who had a wealthy father who left her very comfortably off, has a collie. The bloody thing has a high pitched yelp like bark, and pretty much barks constantly. She (the neighbour) never does anything to stop it. She’s basically a drunk, and a very unattractive one at that, so she also takes in local drop outs as boyfriends. This means, on top of the yapping mutt there’s old bangers dumped outside my driveway belonging to the resident drop out partner.
She basically shoved the dog outside at all hours and leaves it for extended periods, during which it yaps constantly.
I’m a dog owner and my little Border is as good as gold. This being due to being brought up with love and proper training. Does anyone know of any device that will shut this nuisance mongrel up? The simple solution would be if she’d just drink herself to death, but I’m not holding my breath.
Any (sensible) advice would be very welcome.
Ps; if you’re just going to comment and play the PC Card I’d rather you didn’t bother!
Decent people have respect for their neighbours.
We have a neighbour who purposely encourages her dog to bark and also calls him a good boy while he is doing so. The woman is selfish and the whole neighbourhood dislikes her apart from the dog Barking. We live in housing accommodation but take pride in where we live. We are in the middle of putting a kitchen in but I now feel I can't enjoy it because of this woman. She has lots of men moving in and then proceeds to argue all night with them. Working is impossible for me as I work from home , self employed. If I don't work I don't earn. The environmental health do not get back to us, even though we have sent recordings and neither do the housing association. Where do you go from there!!!
That’s the answer to that question.
I tried for years and it got me absolutely nowhere except on my way to a breakdown.
Don’t waste your time expecting the council to do anything.
I have two rescue terriers who will bark if postie comes to the door or if someone calls around. It doesn’t last long but we also live on a cut through for access to a walking trail so people will walk past during various times of the day. This causes them to bark.
I’m at my wits end, I’ve had a behaviourist come to see them, we use a water spray when they bark, other than using a shock collar I don’t know what to do.
This has only really been an issue for six months or so and I’ve been threatened that unless I sort them out one of the neighbours will and this morning, the icing on the cake is a letter posted to me, not addressed or signed, saying the whole street wants rid.
I’m at here in tears as I don’t actually know what else I can do? Any suggestions?
Sorry, but this is completely useless advice. There has never been a dog owner in the history of mankind that would've been approachable in this way. Dog owners are fully aware that their dogs are a nuisance and they don't care. If they did, they would not allow it in the first place. How can anyone "not be aware" that it's a problem? It's obvious.
This person's mother was always a pain. Gossiping, unpleasant both her and her husband including telling my mother she poisoned her plants. We never did.
We used to avoid talking to her. We did try to make our peace but true to form she returned to her old ways.
The last time, she accused me of being mentally ill. I'm not. I have my faults but that I'm not. For sure. I said hurry up and die and thankfully she did.
The house was then empty for a while but now the daughter has moved in. They have a dog that barks non stop. I had to have cctv installed because she was abusive to both my mother and myself. After writing to her once. She tried to stop us installing cctv on a property we own but it was done to protect me against false allegations.
Anyway, she did make a false allegation which I was able to disprove via the CCTV which has audio.
Her dog is always barking. Because we have no contact with her and because she abuses me and did this again yesterday. I have now contacted the council to file a noise complaint. The dog misbehaves because she does not take it for walks. She is also bipolar and frequently drunk ( alcohol dependency) and abusive when such.
We have also been in touch with the community mental health team.
A dog is as noisy as it's owner in my view.
We wish they would move because disputes can making selling hard. We won't move as my mother is in her final years but neither does she need this stress.
Police were unhelpful so the cctv has caught the dog barking away as we have a camera in our garden as well.
We would not waste our time approaching her. When that unstable she will say anything and she clearly does not like us and it's mutual. If she died I'd have a party.
One can only hope.
I don’t choose to have a dog so why should I have to listen to your dog barking loudly and keeping me awake or even just disturbing my right to peace and quiet. If I stood shouting loudly in my garden or house all day and night I’m sure it wouldn’t be long before people started complaining or phoning the council and they’d be quite right!
There was a guy a while back who worked as a pilot and he ended up drowning his neighbours dog because he just couldn’t take it any more. He was physically and mentally exhausted due to the constant barking and although I can’t condone his actions I can understand how he cracked and was driven to it.
A barking dog can seriously affect someone’s mental health when they might already be struggling. There’s a reasons the council have laws against constant or excessive noise including dogs barking.
When my parents had their wee dog they always made sure she didn’t cause any kind of nuisance to their neighbours and maybe if more people took other people into consideration then we’d all get on better.
Yet she still receive the letter? my mother's worried sick. She is afraid to go into her own garden in case the neighbors complain about her .
They have a Jack Russell who is barking incessantly at night.It is now 3.30 am and I’m still awake and exasperated.I can hear the barking through earplugs .
Would the sonic device work through a wall .The neighbours are obviously sleeping through it
We’ve asked them politely a few times to see if they can reduce the amount of barking (it is a dog, so you have to expect it to bark!), which sadly didn’t happen. I consulted with the council who asked to take recordings and keep a log, which was very comprehensive over a 4 week period (some times 12 recordings a day for 30 secs long), yet this wasn’t enough for them to take action. With everyone working from home now the last few months have been unbearable with the dog barking.
If the owner and the council does nothing - what’s my next option? The RSPCA? Any ideas would be welcomed.
People will complain about dogs barking and not babies crying, because this is a human society not a kennel. Furthermore, if a baby was making 100db noise at night in the garden that would be 1) impossible and 2) get the attention of the authorities.
Dogs bark and people complain. That's what people do. If you wish to rob your own neighbors with the peace and quiet they are entitled to, perhaps you should consider psychotherapy, for anti social tendencies.
So my neighbour's have set up separate 3 outdoor pens for their dogs. They've started to leave them out at night and I can't see that there is any shelter for them in these pens. I could be wrong as they may just not be in my line of sight, but that's my first concern.
Second, they bark, constantly. For the last 3 days since they've moved them outside it's been barking until late hours and they start again early morning. This morning they've been barking since 8am and don't seem to be slowing down.
Usually I'd just tune it out if I can, but it's setting off my dog and she's now barking constantly. Whining and crying whenever she hears this and I can just see this becoming an ongoing problem.
They do seem well fed and cared for as they all look healthy. I just can't see any shelter and the barking is really starting to wind me up.
I don't know which house is it on their street and I'm not a confrontational person, so I'd be too afraid to approach them. And I've heard them be aggressive to other neighbors in the past.
What should I do ?? with lockdown and working from home at the moment it's also really starting to disrupt this for me as my customers can hear the dogs
.is there anything else I can do?? I’m always down and ratty as no sleep , pls help
Thankyou
and still causing trouble almost 3 years now- we have to-
stop being nice - the sooner you get authorities onto it - the better-people that are doing this constantly are more than selfish uncaring and narcistic-they are BULLIES
She has an associate who actually whines, whimpers, etc.. at the dog, making it bark loudly & often.
1 day recently the owner put it in the back garden.. where it was barking almost all day.
I sincerely sympathise with you. I and my other neighbours suffer from inconsiderate and anti - social dog owners in the local vicinity.
You mention that you are ' Passionate ' about standing up against this kind of behaviour. With respect.....Passion can sometimes be mistaken for ' Obsession ' , brought on by feelings of vengeance.....not a healthy state for anyone , either physically , emotionally or financially! Anti - Social Laws in this country are really poor and non - committal ( Civil ). These are usually designed to actually deter people from actually complaining , due to lengthy nature of process..etc! More importantly ( for local authorites ) it means they save money in their budget , not deploying valuable resources having to investigate said complaints. Red Tape saves money!
Best wishes to you.
It is so brightl if you walk out on my front porch at night you cannot even see to walk down the steps as the light is so bright my manufactured home is up on blocks and very nice over a $100000 we paid for it along with the $$$$ for the property We moved here for some peace and quiet and to grow old together and retire. So much for that idea The neighbor remarked to me one time when they moved in oh I'm sorry about the dogs theyll stop once they get to know you. Why should I have to get to know someone else's dogs that moved in next door to me as we were here 1st and they have made no attempts to do anything about their dogs barking nonstop they say nothing to the dogs when we were outside doing anything and I'm on my last straw on top of that I'm disabled I lost my leg in a motorcycle accident and all I wanted was some peace and quiet a piece of land for my grand kids to have fun ride 4 wheelers grow old on and instead we are miserable. We are not really on speaking terms with Neighbors as they are rude uncaring about us having to listen and deal with the nonstop Barking of there dogs. I wish somone could help end this agrivating situation.??????????
We're on the opposite end of it. Our neighbor complains constantly about our dog. We have the bark collar and a two way camera that alerts us when he barks and he rarely does. We live in a townhouse and their always seems to be a dog barking somewhere and she blames it on us. Anytime we log into the camera, there he is chewing on his bone. Our neighbor has gotten vulgar towards us and the kids. Any ideas?
All who suffer from dog noise pollution, must write and keep writing to politicians. If enough of us do this, perhaps politicians will take notice. But if we do nothing, this menace to our society will continue.
It takes 5-10 minutes to write an email to your local politicians. If we keep up the pressure, change may come.
I feel awful though, its not this poor dogs fault, and unfortunately my well behaved dog also had a few scares to. He's a well trained boy who only barks if someone knocks on the door, so my poor lads being punished for lazy dog owners.
Never have I seen these dogs leave the house unless it's to go in the rubbish and poo infested garden, they bark the second anyone is walking past, we go in the kitchen, open our door and we can't think of going outside, the kids are terrified as these are big dogs who lunge at the fence at them. All while the owners sit inside pretending it's not happening. These people can't be reasoned with at all, and our other neighbours have apparently also tried.
So we hid this in a Bush and pointed it their way, we can't hear it, but the second those dogs bark they run in tail between their legs and we don't see them for a good hour. Unfortunately our dog runs to us for reassuring as he thinks he's done something wrong. It's only day two but fingers crossed after a few weeks they'll take the hint.
Now i know dogs bark but my neighbour has a habit of leaving her dog in the garden for 20 minutes at a time!!
The other night she left her dog barking its absolute head off at 11pm at night woke everyone in my family up i wear earplugs too and wakes me too. Can never have our Windows open in yhe summer because the noise is so bad
Never tried the council as in the past they do absolute nothing to help.
Just wish people would be more conisderate especially late at night and early morning
I can myself getting arrested soon??
A bit messy but it worked for me.
Now I know they both work and have no choice during the day , but they have started going out in the evenings and Saturdays and leaving the dogs to bark.
Our living rooms are joined , the walls are thin , and it is just like the are barking from behind our sofa. This week they have left a teenager in the house to look after the dogs whilst they go on holiday , got home from work last night after being out of the house for 12 hours , only to hear those dogs again until gone 9.
Its bad enough that I can not have a day off to spend in my own home, or have a day off sick , last year I was working from home and had to sit in my bedroom with ear plugs in all day.
Its driving us mad , I am now getting anxiety attacks and dread going home .
Earlier this year I contacted the local council and they sent me a form , but unless we are there 24/7 its no good.
Last night a wrote a very polite letter and put it through their letter box saying , "Please can you not leave the dogs barking in the evenings and weekends." we will see if that makes a difference. But deep down we know the only way away from the noise is to move house.
I will never understand why people think that their dogs have more right to bark than a hard working human being has to peace in their own home .
.
What Id suggest is really pressing politicians, to work at countering this anti social menace. If enough of us repeatedly request action, eventually action will be taken.
If we go on trying to get the council to deal with it, it'll just be more of the same.
Remember also, you can take legal action yourself, get your legal fees back. If you loose value on your home due to anti social scum, you can sue for compensation.
Last year reported my neighbors westie dog to the council it barked for a minimum of 5 hours a day, it was tied to a drain pipe in baking heat. For weeks on end. It started at 6am & went on often until midnight.
I initially asked at 6am in my nighty if the dog could stop barking.. told them it’s getting me down - they said it’s getting them down too! So that was pointless.
After contacting council they sent me a noise app - I had to record from all different rooms all times of day, which I did, they then had the evidence to send warning letter.
It didn’t go totally quiet but it was certainly better..
Feb 2019
It is nothing to have this dog barking for hours again.. It’s 10 only feet from my lounge - what is wrong with these people!
Nice weather again & dog tied up outside..
called council they sent noise app again..
Surely they should be fined for second offence ???
I’ve spent £1000’s on garden after living in flat for 14 years but can’t sit out there :(
We're making a documentary about people who keep rather too many animals in their house. Sometimes they're breeders. Sometimes they've kind of set up an unofficial sanctuary. This isn't a current affairs programme so we're not setting out to expose people or suggest the animals are mistreated or anything like that. It's just that sometimes it can have a really negative impact on peoples' lives. Once the tone of a bark gets into your brain your whole life at home can be spent on edge just thinking about it happening again.
We'd be interested to hear from people who are experiencing this sort of problem.
Thanks,
Marcus
This wakes me up everyday!
Surely this is not acceptable.
Who should I inform ?
Regards
SCSC
The neighbours dogs ransacked our garden last yr by going through the wooden fence. we did not even get a sorry, all we got is they are little ba****ds aren't they, now the dogs have started to do a sort of death howl when they go into the back garden and it is worse if we are in as they try to jump the fence to get to us to play.We have had to plant thorned roses to stop themtryingt o get over into our back garden what would you suggest we do any advice gratefully accepted
My neighbour has 3 Chihuahuas and one mixed breed dog. They all bark from morning till night. Whenever she goes out at night, the mixed breed will bark until she gets home which is sometimes 1am. But however bad this is, it's not as bad as me not being able to be outside in my own garden as they bark at us. I have a 9 year old son and 2 dogs myself. My dogs are never allowed run of the garden even in the summer as her dogs will attack the fence and my dogs will retaliate. My dogs are otherwise really well behaved so this is very unusual for them to do. My dogs get told off and brought inside straightaway, my neighbour leaves her dogs to bark. I asked her once why she doesn't do anything about the barking as it's not nice for the neighbours. Her reply was she didn't care what the neighbours thought and the barking didn't bother her. She locks her dogs outside from morning til night all weekend which means I let mine out to do their business and they come straight back inside. My son and I can't play outside as any noise we make sets off my neighbours dogs and they go mad and attack the fence again and they don't stop until we go back into the house. I hate it. I feel trapped in my own home. My dogs are trapped inside in gorgeous weather whilst hers are having fun barking and running around outside. She won't do anything to help. All I get is abuse.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Our council has allowed a neighbour to start a dog boarding and walking business from their home. This home is in a very tight, close proximity council estate, our gardens are all backed on to each other like a giant circle. All be it, they have a big enough garden as do most of us. But, we are constantly being disturbed most days if not every day some weeks. It can be as early as 6/7am the noise starts, then it goes on and on.. Intermittently through out the day. I have spoken to the neighbours in question and they basically told me it wasn't their dogs and when it is they quieten them straight away.. It is their dogs, I know this as my garden is attached to theirs. I have spoken to the council, I said, did they not think the other neighbours deserved a choice on this business happening, apparently, not. We don't have a choice.
This has been running for months now.. Possibly a year.
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.
I appreciate dogs barking in the early morning can be a nuisance but his behaviour is nothing but childish, .
Note : no-one around my area can stand the man either, because of his attitude and bully type behaviour.
2nd note, no one else has said, complained or even mentioned when my dog barks.
Thank you.
Another neighbour said it was driving him and his wife mad, and one neighbour sold up and moved saying the dog was part of the reason they were going! So I've finally bit the bullet and complained to him after it was left barking until beyond 10pm on two occasions. His reply? It's acceptable until 11pm, I've only had cause to complain twice in two years and other people on the street have dogs that bark! No matter how I tried to reason with him he wasn't interested, "no one else was complaining" (plenty want to but would rather leave it to others), "other peoples dogs bark" (I did point out apart from his there wasn't a sound) and it's not acceptable , even during the day to which he replied " you do what you need to do but the dogs are staying".
I didn't want to be the grumpy bloke who complained but last night it got the better of me! And today? Not heard a sound all day, and I do mean not one bark, but I'm not expecting it to last.
When it starts again (which I think it will in a few days) I'm lost as to what to do next. Don't really want to go down the road of formal complaints to the Council unless I can get a few of the other neighbours onside.
Thoughts anyone?
They have two pedigree dogs (male & female) which they advertise on breeding websites. People bring females to the house to mate with their male dog (in the garden...more barking, which can go on for a couple of days as their male dog doesn't seem to understand what he should be doing) and their female has just had a litter of puppies.
They have a small backyard, no grass. Every morning between 7-8am both dogs are put out for up to 1.5 hours and they bark and whine constantly to be let back in. The female also paces round and round, with her ears flat to her head, panting and looking through the patio doors at the owners, who either ignore them or shout at them to shut up.
This daily disruption is driving us nuts.....
Once they've been let back in, they're only let out again a couple of times during the day to do their business and they bark a couple of times, which i think is normal and not an issue.
At no point since we've moved in have I ever seen our neighbours take these dogs for a walk, despite the fact we back onto a park and the park entrance is about 50ft from our house.
We have spoken to them and it ended badly, with both parties shouting and he became really aggressive and threatened to shoot our cat. We've since found out a previous owner of our house complained to the council about the dogs barking several years ago, so this problem seems on-going.
We've been in touch with our local environmental office who have agreed to write to them, so I'm now waiting for their reaction.
I'm worried to leave the house incase the neighbour says or does something and I'm worried that, in the end, there will be nothing that can be done. I love this house, but it's totally ruined it, I feel like selling up to be honest....
If the person only has a tiny garden, as you said there is a smell, sounds like they are not collecting the dogs waste, which is a health hazard to the dogs and people with flies etc. Maybe contact your local environmental health dept to enquire about all this and see what they say.
Why not just approach your neighbour in a nice diplomatic way (don't go round when angry) and speak to them. Most dog owners are not aware that the dog barks, howls, etc when they are out and I'm speaking from experience here. I was off sick work with Flu once and my neighbours dog kept waking me up doing absolutely crazy when the postman came and howling on and off. It was so bad, I thought the dog would break through the window and get out. At first it really annoyed me and I was going to send round my rather angry boyfriend to "have a word".
I thankfully changed my mind and when I was feeling better, I went round and spoke to my neighbour, who, was absolutely mortified. He was so apologetic and was totally unaware his dog did this when he was out. He promptly dealt with the situation and on my next day off I hardly heard a thing, other than the odd bark, which to be honest you'd expect from living next door to a dog owner, but nothing like before. So why don't people just approach the neighbour instead of crying to the council and totally pissing them off in doing so?
I have asked my parents to be considerate , not to speed or block people's drives. I think she's just being mean. She also moans about children playing outside, I have no idea who some of them are as they are nothing to do with me but it all started when I moved in apparently.
Me and my mum are both due to have our babies less 5-7 weeks!! And they have house party's every weekend playing music assume loud up till 3/4AM!!!!! Even though they know we are expecting our babies!! Even during the week they do it!! But it's not only that they have other people's kids running around screaming upstairs while the adults are drinking and singing and shouting loudly down stairs! There dog is always up at our fence which the dogs has already broken 4 fences and they have only replaced 2! The dog howls and barks between 10pm 5/6AM!! They don't tell it to be quite nothing we have asked them politely to sort this... And nothing has changed its been happening for well over a year..
Do I have any rights or do I have to like it and lump it.
The neighbours are worried about making a formal complaint in case of this fella taking advantage of his position.
Any thoughts?
They have had to foster a relatives dog because of eviction issues to the relative. This dog upsets the owners elderly dog and they bark continually for hours every day, while our neighbours are in town drinking. Neither dog is ever taken out for a walk and when they are home they just shout at the poor animals
my neighbour got 2 Jack Russel Terriers in the garden, they cause a tremendous noise as soon as I go outside or open the garden door... I cannot use the garden at all, I cannot hear my own voice, and the summer is only starting :-( anything I can do? The only option I have is to stay indoors, and also keep my dog indoors. My dog, as well as the dog of the other side neighbour, ignore those dogs and don't make a single noise, but cause the two Jack Russels to bark mad as soon as they are outside. Not sure what to do about this, the lovely Easter weekend had to be spent inside rather than in the garden! Any suggestions?
At first, relations were fairly amicable but the number of dogs quickly increased and so did the noise level.
Neighbours don't just put up with incessant barking at all hours of the day and night, but also high pitched squealing and continual whining from the outhouses.
Then the 'business' expanded to the house immediately next door to my parents (one of the breeders' sons lives there) and things became much worse for my mum and dad. They can't move in their own garden without setting the dogs off barking and sitting outside in the summer is now a thing of the past. As well as this, they are plagued by bluebottles and often an awful smell which means they often spend hot sunny days shut up in their house.
Several neighbours tried to appeal to the breeders, but the reaction was hostile. A few letters have been sent to the council with signatures of neighbours, but somehow the breeders got hold of one of them and threatened those whose names and addresses were on there (this included my parents - both retired).
Several neighbours have been issued with noise recording equipment over the years, at great inconvenience to normal life. Such rules as having to keep all doors and windows shut and having to keep still and quiet during recordings is just not possible over the whole period and it seems as if the process is set up to deter anyone from taking their complaints any further.
The very annoying (and suspicious) aspect to all this is that whenever someone from the council or EH visits one of the neighbours, the dogs are taken away in vans beforehand and returned shortly after the visit has finished. To add insult, all have been told by the environmental health people the the noise level is not considered to be unacceptable. The only thing they did agree to was that the garden immediately adjoining my parents' home could not be used for dogs.
Even though it was established from the beginning that the breeders had no licence to breed dogs and were operating illegally, nothing was done to rectify this. The council said that the breeders had just applied for a licence and that the best thing would be to grant them one so they could be monitored properly. My parents were assured that this would ease the problem considerably.
Now the breeders have been given a licence and things are even worse - they've even put dogs back in the next door garden. Several times they have had to alert the breeders or their son to the fact that dogs have come over the fence into my parents' garden (via a pile of mud against the fence) and even then have been sworn at for complaining.
rhey have been given a number to ring as soon as they have concerns, but no one ever calls back or follows up messages and my parents have now given up. They have been subjected to verbal abuse from the couple and their
Cheers
For months a dog has barked from 6am until 10pm at night, 7 days a week. It sets all the other dogs off in the area and disrupts my sleep no end as a night shift worker. I approached the owners and was told that it was none of my business (well, words to that effect in not such a polite manner).
I then reported it to environ health, compiled the evidence log as asked and sent it back. The response was that the people I was complaining about didn't own a dog and I was mistaken... I sent them back videos of the dog barking in the garden. Ironically, this is the only place I've seen the animal as it never gets walked and is a collie, which no doubts explains the barking.
After receiving the video I was again asked to fill out a log of the noise... The reply came back telling me that the occupants had stated that they'd been on holiday and their dog in kennels during that period... Funny how on every day they were also seen with their dog in the garden by at least 2 separate neighbours...
And then the retribution started. All of the immediate neighbours have been getting reported to either the police or the RSPCA for various ficitious crimes which is causing no end of uspet amongst us and we can only assume the route of these allegations, but it's just a little coincidental.
This has truly been an example of the system not working, where people can lie as much as they want and then waste the authorities time and cause severe damage to people through slander, seemingly with no comeback and reverse the attention onto those that are the victims.
I've tried to raise this with our police, but it's all a "civil matter" apparently. Queue me being the biggest purchaser of ear plugs to go under defenders as I try to get some shut eye...
However, since we moved in 2 months ago the barking of several dogs can happen at anytime, day or night.
It is driving my husband and I, round the bend, we lack sleep and at our wits end.
Today, I contacted the local Environmental Health Officer who is going to pay us a visit.
I am very worried he will say, like it or lump it. Does anyone have any experience of a similar situation?
Thank You
I live in a semi-detached house and next doors house (attached to our side of the house) has got lots and lots of dogs. Neighbors that live there are not exactly younge and are seemed to be in their 60's and on (Mother and Daughter). More on to the point, their dogs through out the day are constantly barking and barking , I'm surprised that they still bark late at night when they've been barking all day!!! Don't get me wrong, me and my family absolutely love dogs! we even used to have a dog our self but sadly had to be put down due to ill health few years back.
My parents work 4 days on and 4days off meaning they work 12hour shifts 2days e.g. 7am-7pm and 2nights 7pm-7am. It's really not faire on them when they are trying to get some sleep when they can't because of the the dogs!! . I understand that dogs do bark, I get that ,but the owners don't care!! We never hear them telling to be quiet or anything. I've also notice that are they are in their OAP years (even though non of them have ever work a day in their life's out of choice and lazyness) they are all ways out, on holiday and never looking after the dogs.
It annoys me the fact that because of my mom and dad's stupid work pattern, we have said that It wouldn't be faire on the dog,if we had one, being on its own and with me in college and out pretty much all day , it wouldn't be faire on the dog. Yet them net door neglect the dogs and all ways on holiday .. So there is no one there to look after the dogs, only one person who I see who goes there per day!!! It's really not on and It surtainly isn't faire on my mom and dad who only work them stupid shifts to put a roof over my head and the keep the house warm!!! ;((((( please help by giving any suggestions, it's gone on too long now ;((
None of the complaints are justified, 3 of my dogs bark when people walk pass the front window but none of them bark when i am in the garden with them, they are all kept clean and well fed andi am on top of the dog mess. Due to the amount of complaints the cousel are going back on their word and saying that i needto rehome 1, is there anything i can do? I truely feel like i am being targeted and have nowhere to turn for advice/support.
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