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.

Ask your neighbours if you can borrow the dog for one night, and tie it up in your back garden......See how they like it.....

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...

You beat me to it, was going to suggest that myself.

Buy a recording of an angry rotweiller and play it at full volume every time it yaps.
Should do the trick.

I am of the opinion people who have dogs, which bark all the time, disturbing other people, should have them put down if they cannot shut the things up.