Just received a barking complaint...

[Twyla]

I have the constant barkers as neighbors and behind me. My 2 aren't allowed to just bark, they bark they come inside. Now, with that being said, if it was one of their 'I mean business' barks, it's a whole different story, but they still aren't allowed to keep barking once I let them know that I've got whatever the problem is.

Dogs that are left outside just naturally get bored. They dig, bark etc etc. Maybe when you have to leave the house for a bit, bring the dog in. Save you getting another warning and it's you being the better neighbor.

[PatternDayTrader]

My 2 cents.
As a sophisticated businessman I recieve threating letters all the time.
I actually have an entire folder titled "threating letters".
Over the years I have learned not to let them bother me.
In fact all "threating letter" attacks are met with the "stonewall" defence.
Make them sue and prove damages or that you have broken a law. If they dont or cant then dont worry about it.

[asja]

Some people just like to complain.

Several years ago, one of my neighbors (who has since moved), called animal control to complain about my barking dog. The dog in question was my 13 year old three-legged dog who was dying and could not walk by herself. She loved to lay outside in the front yard and watch things go by. So on nice days I would help her outside to a nice grassy spot, and she would stay there for a while. We live on a quiet street, at least 100 feet from the street, up a small hill, so she was never near the street. And she could barely walk, so she didn't go anywhere. Still, my nasty neighbor complained about her being there. I told animal control they could come by and see my 13 year old three-legged dog and judge for themselves. I never heard from them again.

What really bugged me is this neighbor let their dog wander the neighborhood, and I've had to slam on my brakes more than once to keep from hitting their dog. So some months later, their dog wandered into my yard and pooped. I called my neighbor to tell her to come get her dog and clean up the poop. She hung up on me. I called animal control to complain. She glared at me after that. I am so glad that nasty woman moved.

[Alexandria610]

I am having almost that same problem, to a certain extent. I try to limit the time that Alexandria is outside, and make sure it is mostly times where I can watch her 100% or work with her, but I will be honest and say that there are times where I am doing something inside, or at school, or running errands, and she is outside on a nice day or evening.

That being said, she is very good about not barking, as when she was younger she attempted this at every noise she heard. However, there are two things (besides random people near the house/noises that upset her and lead her to believe someone is trying to break in the house or the yard, or get to her in the yard) that really drive her batty and 98% of the time make her go crazy with her obnoxious barking.

The neighbors directly behind us have a beagle mix and a little maltese/poodle small white/brown fluffy mixed dog. As expected, the beagle mix and the other small mix are both yappers - and boy do they just go on and on. There are usually times during the day that they are left in the yard, and will bark nonstop. This not only makes my dog anxious and pace back and forth growling at the fence base and barking at them, but it also irritates me and worries me that God-forbid one of them find a way to get under the fence, that Alex may harm them (if not, honestly, kill them). She likes small dogs - gets along great with my Chihuahua. But she is extremely possessive of my yard and has killed numerous rodents and attempted to kill an opossum once.

Anyway, that's the first thing she will go nuts barking at. When they let those little dogs out, for more than just her barking, I try to let her back in. If I have to go somewhere or can't keep an eye on her, she has her 'quiet time' in her kennel and usually ends up going to sleep and napping.

The second thing, which irks me to no end (and honestly worries me one day that they will just shoot her) are my side neighbors. These guys are the biggest white trash you can find. No lies. One of their friends came over one time, walking down the street with his pants on the ground, shirt off with a huge tattoo across his back that read "Hitler" and his beautiful (but sadly untrained and obviously aggressive) pit mix on a chain. No lie, a CHAIN. Yeah, like one you would find at Home Depot. The dog was barking at everything and lunging at the kids that were with him. It was indeed a face palm moment.

Anyway, the three guys that live there get drunk on a nightly basis. They aren't just your average loud, hang out inside and veg drunks, either. They are LOUD outside, beat on my wooden 6-foot privacy fence, yell at each other and their own pit bill (this poor dog, it is literally kept in a 8 x 8 kennel all day in the sun, and I have seen it only out once or twice, when it is tied to a post with a chain that's probably 6 foot in length, max) and slam doors when they are heavily intoxicated. All of this ruckus right against the fence upsets Alex, and she goes nuts. To say that she hated these particular neighbors would be an understatement.

Now ontop of her barking, she again, lunges at the base of the fence. But the only time she does this is when their large dog is out of his kennel and on the chain. And get this - one time while I was outside with her, and she did this? The guy actually started telling his dog "get 'em, get 'em, tear that mother f****** dog apart. Good boy, get that *****. Kill her."

And what did the dog do? Snarled, threw himself at the fence to the point that it shook (and this fence is extremely sturdy - went through two hurricanes and multiple tropical storms), and barked viciously. Alex lunged once when that happened and I called her to me, going inside. I was not about to engage in his little 'fence dog fighting' fun that he seemed to be having. Every time they party hard (every night) and make all of this ruckus, and she barks accordingly, I honestly worry for her. Yeah, I don't want people calling and sending me citations or warnings, but I don't want her getting shot, mauled by the dog next door, or mauling small dogs that owners don't realize are harassing my dog (and vice versa).

I apologize for the long-winded-ness of that entire post. But the moral of my story is, if you want to be a good neighbor, have your dog's highest well-being at mind, and avoid any future warnings, citations, tickets (whatever the case may be) then my suggestion is to find a way to crate the dog inside, or have the dog inside (crating isn't mandatory, just my preferred method when I am gone or cannot watch her) when those other dogs are out and causing a scene. Or, if possible, go out and play with your dog while they do that - take his/her mind off of the barking dogs behind you and perhaps in the future it won't be a problem.

Hope that helps a bit

[wyominggrandma]

When I was showing and breeding Shelties, they ALL bark, at EVERYTHING.I had 12x12 kennels outside for each one, closed off on three sides for when I was gone, a huge chain link yard and we live in the country. My neighbors had labs that barked night and day. I got a call one day that my dogs were barking and bothering the neighbors, they were going to complain to the Sheriff's office.Of course this was the same neighbors who had the barking labs, but according to them"they barked because the kids were ignoring them or not letting the loose" or whatever.
Funny thing is, my Shelties were all debarked as necessity for going to shows and traveling with 10 of them at a time. They sounded like a whispering dog. The sheriff showed up, I had him walked up to the fence, standing directly in front of the 12-15 barking shelties and he said" oh heck, they don't make a sound". Of course after this the neighbors quit complaining, but started letting the dogs loose. I called the up, told them if their dogs came into my yard again and bothered my dogs or horses, I would shoot them. Never had a problem after that.
It's never the complainers dogs that are causing the problems because they learn to ignore their dogs just like parents ignore their kids screaming and yelling in a restaurant.
Alexandria, if the neighbors little furballs climb under your fence into YOUR yard,if your dog kills them, most likely its not your fault or liability since your dog is fenced in your yard. My dogs have killed a rooster that flew into our dog yard(6 foot chain link fence), the neighbor always let them run loose all over the neighborhood..They had it dead and plucked in a few minutes, the neighbor knew better than to complain since he as not keeping his chickens contained.