Neighbours and barking dogs

We get on fine with our neighbours. They keep themselves to themselves mostly but we have a bit of conversation in passing and they are good neighbours both sides of the fence.
On one side is a window cleaner, a down to earth no nonsense 'man's man' who says it as it is. A very practical, common sense bloke and we're good mates.
They have always had a dog. The last one was a lovely staffie which sadly passed away after many years and now they have a great little British Bulldog who has the best temperament of any dog I've ever come across.

On the other side is a family who are nice and pleasant but rather unsociable with everybody, they speak to us because we're next door. He is an accountant and talks about the weather and that's about it. He has no common sense whatsoever and does no DIY. They have bought the most irritating, annoying, yapping little black wooly terrier you can imagine that cannot shut up. It goes against the grain of their personalities somewhat.

We are getting very fed up of its constant barking to the extent that it is driving my wife mad and she wants to report it. But what can we do? Fall out with our neighbours? Thing is, it will annoy me soon as summer comes and we want to relax in the garden in the afternoons. I fear a war brewing....

I'd like to hear from both sides here please - those who agree about noisy animals and the dog lovers who say we should put up with it. Thanks.

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

Is it still a puppy Floydy? If so it might calm down a bit as it gets older. I've never owned a dog so I'm not sure if anything can be done but I'm sure others here will have suggestions. I wouldn't report it though but I would mention it to the owners they might have a solution.

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

I would mention it to your neighbours first, Floydy. You didn't say if they both work - if so - they may not realise about the barking. Does the dog bark when they are both at home? Perhaps it just needs to settle in a bit and 'learn' how to behave.

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

New neighbours arrived last year , we are a row of small 2 bed Jerry built houses . New neighbours left a large dog barking for hours (didn't know they had one ) the noise through the walls was bad poor dog left from 2 to 6pm , then again it happened the following week and again one night until midnight . I went round the next day politely told them , they informed me it was their mothers dog , had no idea thinking he was asleep . Thank God it's stopped because I was distraught with the noise .

Nip it in the bud , they may take offence but they need to know it disturbs you

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

Put a stop to it now (at least I would) as this could only get worse as the time goes on. Saying that, I'm unsure how you would do this with any diplomacy or tact.

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

Barking dogs are a pain in the neck, I feel like disposing of the things if they disturb me. Our next door neighbours are a lovely elderly couple, but I wish their yappy small dog far enough, like the other side of the universe!

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

You shouldn’t have to put up with it. Contact your local council and ask for advise on who to speak to. They will send someone round to monitor the noise pollution and take it from there.

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

That's what I was going to ask ST. My neighbour was shocked when I told him his dog barked non stop for two hours every morning when he left for work.

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

I'm a bit on the other side of this I've had complaints about mine barking.

Now from my perspective the initial complaint was shortly after our late Mollie died, Betty had to be here alone for first time in her life for three hours a day and according to complainant barked constantly. They reported us to council we had no clue until letter plopped on mat that we had a problem at all.

We solved the problem by initially taking her everywhere with us then got a puppy our Elsie to keep her company.

Next complaint came because apparently Elsie was barking all day everyday. Which puzzled me as I am home all day my husbands here in the evening and we hadn't heard anything

But by now we had a threat to evict us.

So I enlisted all the neighbours to write diaries for us and about four kept really detailed accounts, we then hired equipment to listen for loud noise.


After that we presented the findings to the council and got a repreive.

We've had notes through the door since we know who is complaining the council accidentally sent a letter addressed to them to our address

My dogs actually only bark if we have workmen in, gas man servicing the boiler particularly winds them up and when I come home from work or my husband does, oddly they get excited when Nathan does but don't bark.

Now why I tell you all that is we have a very annoying feud going with the complaining neighbour. If they had just knocked the door before reporting us we could have been put on alert Betty wasn't happy, we aren't monsters we don't want to upset our dogs or our neighbours.

Talking to dog warden and council they all say the amount of barking from our property is normal dog ownership and living in flats it's something we all have to accept.

The fued flares up every time the people live in houses behind us leaves their large Dalmatian cross in the back garden, that barks it's head off for hours but my neighbour insists its us. Luckily the dog warden came round when it was barking so is OK with us.

You may notice I don't mention Jenny our latest sadly she's a bit deaf so doesn't bark hardly at all as she misses most of what's likely to set her off.


Anyway my advice is speak to them and try to offer a helping hand perhaps they aren't even aware it is a problem. Once an official complaint has been made it can escalate and reverberate back for years and years.

Re: Neighbours and barking dogs

Yappy dogs really are a pain even for their owners, but you shouldn't be expected to put up with it particularly as you work nights and need your kip.

However, I think it is so important to be able to get on with your neighbours so the personal approach should always be tried first, and I would probably start a conversation with your neighbour asking about the pup generally, saying what a smashing little thing it is but crikey it's vocal for it's size, we can even hear it over here! Then the conversation would develop of course dependent on their reaction, and you would have a clearer idea of their attitude to it and their intentions...