We are around 80% sure who did it, the neighbour on the other side of us (not the nice one).

What makes me so angry (if it is her) is that when we moved in there was a very low fence between the properties. We wanted a full 6ft fence put up as our dog was barking at anyone she could see over the fence. Our neighbour refused to let us put a 6ft fence up, which led to our dog barking a lot. We have now (1 year later) got our 6ft fence up, but as soon as our dog hears a noise she barks.

I can't say for sure the higher fence would have sold the problem if put up earlier, but I can't help but think about it.

A slight revision to the letter:


Dear Neighbour

We have recently received a very threatening letter that we wish to inform you about. The letter suggests that if we don't stop our dog from barking, harm might come to her. We have contacted the police who can use the letter for both fingerprint and DNA evidence should it be needed. We wish the person responsible for the letter was adult enough to either speak face to face, or write asking us nicely to stop our dog barking. We will not be intimidated by this threat. The use of offensive language was disgusting and unnecessary.

She is occasionally outside during the day, and she will bark when the postman comes or if a deliver van stops outside (I know this because I usually work from home). At night she is always inside and therefore could not be accused of 'excessive barking' at this time.

We hope that all our other neighbours don't have a problem with our dog, but as we respect you all, we intend to make every effort to prevent our dog from barking as much. However, as she is a big dog her bark is loud and there isn't anything we can do to change that. Our reason for choosing a big dog is partly because we've had intruders in our garden over the past 2 years and someone tried to break into the house. She does a very good job of keeping unwanted visitors away, although in reality she is a big softy.

I hope we haven't upset any of you (although one of you clearly has issues with it), but we will continue to work with her to keep her as quiet as possible. We are doing this out of respect for the decent neighbours we have, not because of the intimidation caused by one person.

If any harm should come to our dog, we will pursue this further and the person responsible will be prosecuted.

Kind Regards

Thank you. I wasn't sure it was a good idea at first, but now I want the other neighbours what sort of person we have living near us. The majority of our neighbours have dogs, so they should know that someone seems more than happy to cause 'harm' to their pets.

Firstly want to say what a gorgeous girl you have. She is a beauty. Secondly I certainly wouldn't be leaving a stunner like that outside in the garden. Far too tempting for dog thieves and people who might wish her harm. The letter writer has behaved very rudely and churlishly but on the other hand sometimes one gets to the end of one's tether listening to barking dogs, day in day out. We have lots of dogs around us here, most of the people who own them, live in the town and every night they bark and bark and bark constantly. It's very galling that these people leave the dogs out and clear off to their nice quiet village home leaving us poor b......s to listen to their dogs. To my way of thinking us dog owners do have a responsibility to our dogs and our neighbours. Dogs do bark - of course they do- but there is a limit. Personally I can't stand my dogs creating mayhem in the garden and as soon as they start they come in. There's not too much more vocal in this world than a German Shepherd if you ask me, double that and it's a pain in the neck....good luck with what you decide to do.

lovley dog,
all i can say is the people that complained should be glad they dont live near me,

any noise that isnt a normal daily noise sets next doors german sherpards of barking which sends the collie of barking then my two start barking then the bull dog over the road starts barking and then the old womans bull mastiff comes out barks once and its silence again,
lasts about 10 mins every time they hear something

I suppose it's easy to assume that the person complaining is the only non-dog owner, but that may not be the case.

There was a house in the next street where I used to live, where a dog was left outside for 2-5 hours at least twice a week, which howled and barked constantly, and as a result set off my dog, and created a knock-on effect which resulted in me getting complaints from one set of near neighbours.

I wasn't sure exactly which house it was as all the gardens backed on to one another but I narrowed it down to three. I printed off the Dogs Trust leaflet "Is My Dog Barking Too Much?" and another one about how to go about training a problem barker, printed them out 3 times and put them through the letterboxes of all 3 houses (Thinking: the people living next door to the barking dog, would probably also be a bit fed up and would be more in a position to say something to the owner than me!).

No malice, just helpful information.

I would love to say it helped, but it didn't! The dog carried on barking, I got more complaints so I concentrated on de-sensitising my dog, and a few months later the dog and its owners moved away.


PS: Just to add, it might be worth contacting your local council, Environmental Health, and asking them what they consider is excessive/nuisance barking. You could do this anonymously. Then you will have peace of mind knowing your dog is not breaking the law or causing a nuisance, and if you DO leave your name with the council it could be seen as a responsible action by yourself should things escalate.

Just a note, you need to think ahead.

If there has been a registered complaint against you for whatever reason, selling your house in the future could be impacted as you now have to declare if you have there are/have been any disputes with neighbours etc.

Good fences make for good neighbours, so does good soundproofing.

I was driven nuts by a neighbours dog several years ago, I managed to sort it amicably.

Andy, you seem to be dealing with the situation really well.

We adopted Mindy 4 months ago at the age of 8/9 months. She is barker.

We live in a very old house (built 1800) which has been made into apartments and stands in its own grounds. About an acre of land surrounds it. We live on the ground floor, and I am forever apologising for Mindy barking daily.

My response from the neighbours is ' Don't worry about it. We are glad she is there. At least we know when someone is around. She is a really good house dog.'

We are so lucky. I really don't know what we would do if we were in the same situation, because she is a beagle cross and Woooo Woooo's.

Good Luck x

I think the letter is a good idea.
If you have no other complaints it could be the occasional bark - no more noise than someone having children at home or doing DIY.
It might be an idea to leave a video recorder going one day though - just to check.
This is an overcrowded island and we have to learn to live together. On one side I have a yappy terrier, on the other side a boy who plays with his friend in the garden... but the noise that sets my teeth on edge is the squealy girl a few houses away who could shatter glass. I`m so looking forward to her teenage years when hopefully she will just slouch about looking morose....
People have different tolerances to different noises. It may be that your neighbour is anti-dog and dislikes the sound of barking because he`s afraid?

I delivered 12 of these letters last Thursday, and within a couple of hours 6 people had visited to say how shocked they were. They offered to help in any way they could and were disgusted by what we had received.

Then today, we got this letter from the neighbour who lives directly next to us (not the nice one who is going to look after our dog)

I was concerned that my letter maybe was little harsh, but since last Thursday 9 out of the 12 people we sent the letter to have been to visit and say how shocked they are. Not one person has taken the letter personally, except for her.

The majority of her letter is inaccurate and I can't help thinking it was her that sent the threat.