Crazy neighbor thinks dogs should NEVER bark.

[Germanshepherdlova]

Dogs bark, humans talk. So why is it that every single time one of my neighbors dogs bark they go running outside and tell them to be quiet? I will tell you why, because of another neighbor who loves to complain. I can understand that a dog barking all day in a yard is annoying, but seriously-to wait by the door so that you can tell your dog to be quiet the second he starts barking is IMO ridiculous.

The person who started this is an older man who owns a little dog. His dog barks and he tells him right away to be quiet. He hardly ever even lets his dog out in the yard either. But this older retired man obviously has so much free time that he takes it upon himself to go around the neighborhood telling people that he doesn't want to hear their dogs barking and gossiping about others.

My dogs are usually supervised while out in the yard, but once a day I do leave them outside to run and play alone together for about a half hour or so while I am doing my school work. If the dogs bark for a minute or two and then settle themselves down, I just leave them be. If they really get going then I will tell them to quiet down. Anyhow this neighbor told my DH that our dogs were making too much noise. We aren't breaking the noise ordinance in our city, the dogs would have to bark for more than 5 minutes straight before someone could call the police. My DH apparently told him like it was and so now this neighbor doesn't speak to us and goes around the neighborhood trying to rally other neighbors against us. I know this because other neighbors have told me what he is doing, and have also told me that my dogs are not disturbing them at all.

Sorry for ranting on and on but has anyone else had a situation like this? Would you not allow your dog to bark at all? How would you handle this neighbor?

[dawnandjr]

I have a neighbor like this...our road is rather private...off the beaten path and only the residents drive on it...they have listened to his barking beagles (15 or so of them) for 30yrs....now that he only has a few (being forced to reduce the number)...and they are young and dont bark....he thinks he is the dog police....he also displays typical sociopathic tendencies. See the link below for a description.
Profile of the Sociopath

[Liesje]

When we first moved in I was really careful about barking. I didn't want to be "that neighbor" that moves in with three dogs and terrorizes the neighborhood. The house to the west of us had two dogs and one of THOSE dogs barked CONSTANTLY. Not at my dogs but at us. I mean, that dog would be in their house barking at me inside my house! I didn't really bother me but at times my dogs would bark back through the fence. I blocked off the parts of the fence where those dogs had access and also a corner in the back with a Rottweiler (that would charge the fence and bark at us). I noticed that the Rottweiler owners did the same on their side. I apologized to the neighbors to the east and explained that it really wasn't my dogs doing the barking and that I had blocked off part of the fenceline to prevent fence running. They said they already knew that the other dogs barked constantly. Well those dogs moved away and it's been peace and quiet! My dogs will play outside for hours and every once in a while give a "woof!" at a squirrel or an excited bark during play. If there is rapid barking, I shush them or go out to see what's going on. The only times I feel there is a lot of barking are very rare times I have my helper doing bitework in my yard, but this is less than 5 minutes and I make sure to do it early (no babies in bed) and will hold off if I see neighbors eating dinner outside. My neighbors to the east told me that they are very impressed at the lack of noise/barking coming from out house. Most of the other houses on the block have way more barking. Luckily there is a dog about every other house so we don't stand out other than being new.

[Germanshepherdlova]

All you hear from the other dogs around my block is basically half a woof and then you hear QUIET! I feel like yelling out-when you stop talking then your dog will stop barking.
The exception to this is a family that just bought a house near us recently, they have a small dog that barks sometimes. I guess my dear neighbor hasn't gotten ahold of them yet.lol

This older man told me five years ago when we bought our house and didn't have any dogs yet, anyhow, when he first introduced himself to me he asked me if we planned on getting a dog. I told him that I didn't know, that we hadn't discussed that yet, and he said if you ever do get a dog, get the kind that doesn't bark. I think he has issues.

[crackem]

I hate barking dogs. We lived by a place that would tie their Rottie out about 40 yds from their house and 20 feet from our door and living room windows. All you would hear all day is that dog barking because he wanted someone to come out and give him some attention. I can certainly appreciate not listening to barking dogs. Most people aren't the considerate type when it comes to their dogs. My brother is one of them. Let their dogs out so they don't have to deal with them, then all they do is bark. If I was his neighbor, I'd have been over already and probably called the cops.

My dogs dont' bark, they don't bark anyway. They bark at things I tell them to and that's about it. They dont' bark at each other, they don't bark at neighbors, or other dogs. If they do decide to bark at something else, I will tell them to be quiet. I also will do hold and barks in our back yard once and a while just for fun, but that's like once every couple weeks. That way the neighbors think it is more "cool" than "annoying"

[Stevenzachsmom]

My dog is never left outside unattended. Well, she is too old to even walk out and potty by herself now. But - when she was younger, she was only outside when we were. That way, I could nip any barking pretty quickly. We have lots of neighbors and I know some are easily annoyed. Just want to stay on good terms. LOL!

[Lucy Dog]

A bark or two here or there is fine. Like you said, they're dogs, they're going to bark.

What i can't stand are the people who let their dogs outside and all they do is bark. We have a neighbor like that and it's extremely annoying to everyone. Really, anything over like 20 seconds of continuous barking is just extremely annoying, at least in my opinion.

After a couple barks outside, I'll immediately give Lucy a "leave it" command for the sake of my neighbors. No one wants to listen to a dog bark and I try to be consciences of that.

[ladyfreckles]

Originally Posted by Lucy Dog

A bark or two here or there is fine. Like you said, they're dogs, they're going to bark.

What i can't stand are the people who let their dogs outside and all they do is bark. We have a neighbor like that and it's extremely annoying to everyone. Really, Anything over like 20 seconds of continuous barking is just extremely annoying, at least in my opinion.

After a couple bark outside, I'll immediately give Lucy a "leave it" command for the sake of my neighbors. No one wants to listen to a dog bark and I try to be consciences of that.

Seconded. My friend never taught his dog the quiet command because he thought it was normal and acceptable for dogs to bark constantly. He was weirded out when he met my Uncle's dog who only barked for a reason and, unlike his dog, did not sit around the house barking because a car drove by.

My Uncle let's his dogs bark at the door bell, at squirrels, etc. He trained his dogs not to bark at people, cars, clouds... and with good reason.

[mysweetkaos]

In Wisconsin we had a neighbor like that. His non tolerance of our dogs was just one of many signs he wasn't right. We caught him more than once standing at the fence line calling our dogs name and then when the dog would bark he would scream and cuss. One day I let the dogs out, he started cussing, I called the dogs in (they'd only been outside about 10 minutes) Long story short, he got foreclosed on and moved out, the following week we took K in for a grooming appt. The groomer said Kaos was very sensitive and reactive when they were bathing him which was unusual....they called the vet in to look at him and they found 3 b-b's imbedded in his back. So yes some people just aren't right. We learned that the hard way. That neighbor is lucky he was gone by the time we found out. Now we live in St Louis and quite honestly are dogs are by far the least bark-y in our subdivision. Of course it helps that they are both lazy and inside sleeping unless we are out there with them.


Another thought your crazy neighbor isn't named John by any chance, is he?

[1sttimeforgsd]

We live at the dead end of a dead end street. We have 3 1/2 acres with woods on 3 sides and at night time it is very dark here. We have buildings on the opposite end of our property from the house that have been broken into and property stolen twice. My question, we allow our dogs to bark at anyone who walks by or passes our property daylight or dark. If they are not allowed to bark at people when they walk by during the day, I feel they would not bark if anyone was around at night. Right or Wrong?