Barking - Abuse From a Neighbour

Hi,

Our Newfoundland is sometimes outside during the day. When she is outside, if someone walks past the front of the house she will bark (she is at the back of the house in the garden). She is never outside at night for more than a few minutes, so she doesn't bark then.

Today we received an anonymous letter in the post. Inside the envelope was a leaflet printed off from the council website saying over excessive barking can lead to a £5000 fine. On a separate piece of paper, writing in black marker pen was the threat.... "In other words shut the fu**ing dog up or face the consequences". Obviously there f word was used in full.

We have taken this as a threat and contacted the police who have asked us to keep this as evidence. We are very annoyed that whoever sent it didn't send a note asking us nicely.

Does anyone have good ideas on how to stop the barking? She has lots of toys and things to distract her but as soon as someone walks past the house it sets her off.

Please help

Andy

Hi Andy and welcome to Dogsey.

You have done the right thing contacting the police. There are ways to go about things and your neighbour has gone about it the wrong way.

You say your dog is outside sometimes during the day. how long is she left outsied during the day? can you not keep her in doors?

Do you have to leave her outside? Not only does it expose her to more triggers for barking but it puts her at risk of dog theft or malicious attacks, e.g. someone throwing over poisoned or otherwise dangerous food (sounds very petty but has been done many a time before by nuisance neighbours).

Realistically, the council will only persue excessive noise, and a few barks during the day won't count as excessive, but regardless of the neighbours, I would look to address the cause of the barking for your dog's sake. Is she bored, distressed at being alone, feeling the need to guard the garden (which may stress her out)? I would definately consider having her indoors when left, if that really isn't an option then perhaps a kennel or a fenced in area in the garden where she doesn't constantly have people walking past?

Sometimes she can be left in the house, but it depends how long I'm out for. I have been working from home for 4 years so have been able to let her in and out quite often, but I have now been made redundant. I hope to get a job soon, but it might mean working in an office, which would then mean the dog being outside all day. If we left her in the house all day there would be a mess (in more ways than one)

How horrible! I'm glad you contacted the police as there are some nasty cowards out there. Evidently your neighbour(s) are among them.

Do you speak to your neighbours or have any idea which one is the culprit?

We had issues with neighbours one side of us effing and blinding when one of our dogs barked. One of ours went through a phase of barking a lot, but it was NEVER excessively. We actually wrote them a letter (which seems silly when you live next door, but it is often easier to get thoughts out on paper than it is verbally) and then spoke to them about it calmly. For the past year we haven't had a problem with them complaining about anything so presumably the calm and rational approach worked. I still think they are morons but I'd rather keep the peace as we have the misfortune of living next door to them!

Could you look into a dogsitter to let her out for toilet breaks while you're out? Now would be a good time to get her accustomed to being left indoors and to curb any destructive tendencies, before you go back to work.

She can't see people walking past. It's the sound of people walking past the house that sets her off.

We have a fenced area with a kennel, but that doesn't stop the barking and it makes her jump at the fence. Something we need to avoid as she has hip and elbow dysplasia and arthritis.

We only have a few neighbours, and we have no idea which one it could be. Our dog never barks at night, only during the day. It's our neighbours dog that barks at night.

I wish they had tried the rational approach, this has just made us angry and upset.

Is she kenneled or left loose in the garden?

As you know what your neighbours are like I would REALLY reconsider leaving her outdoors when you are not around. You need to address the reasons she can't be left in the house and leave her indoors.

How do you stop a dog from needing a wee and/or poo though?

I feel it would be cruel to lock her in the house, but maybe we need to do it.

I agree with this totally.