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Here's the dilemma.About 11 days ago we moved into this new house. I have two dogs both small (one small mixed breed the other a 7 mo. old pug). I let them out every morning and afternoon and evening for about 30 mins to run and to play and do their business. Three times my backyard neighbors have complained that my dog, the mixed breed, is barking too much. The second day we moved in the husband came over steaming during the day and told me to put my dogs in b/c they had been barking for the last 2 hours (untrue) then 5 days later the wife came over during the day and said my dogs had been barking non stop for the last 30 mins. Today the animal control came over to issue us a warning stating the neighbors complained that last night our dogs had been barking for 2 hours. They are not even out that long!! I spoke to Animal control today and they suggested we borrow one of their anti barking collars. How safe are these things? We don't feel the pug has a barking problem so we are not getting one for her. It has come to the point that we will no longer let them play in the backyard for fear that these people will poison or do something to our dogs or sue us!!
I am at wits end. I love my dogs and the only reason she barks is when the neighbors' dogs (to the sides of us) are out too! I told the complainers that the are barking at the neighbor's dogs and don't they hear them barking too! It's just not our dogs. And they are certainly not out there for 2 hours barking non stop. Any ideas? I certainly don't want to be a nuisance to anyone. But really, these people know we just moved in and I apologized profusely but they seem really unreasonable and rude. In my last neighborhood noone complained, there were kids yelling and playing outside our dogs and others dogs barking...it's all part of living in the city!!
Thanks for letting me vent.
Yep, that is true about city life...and I am also convinced that people love to complain about anything. Especially, you being a new neighbor.
People are weird about new neighbors. So many people look at others with a jaundice eye and are just plain oddballs.
That is pretty sad and pathetic that we as dog owners need to worry about some freak poisoning our dogs or causing a situation where they slap a lawsuit....... Such a lovely world we live in.
If it were me...I would not be putting an anti-bark collar on my dogs, I'll tell you that!
You've only been there 11 days?!...these people need to relax! Maybe they should get a hobby or two while they're at it.
On a serious note:
Have you tried to introduce yourself and your dogs to these neighbors? The ones complaining and the others, with the dog?
Your dogs are getting acclimated to new surroundings. It's not even been two weeks?!!! I will say I LOVE 6ft privacy fences.
Usually dogs will bark if they can *see* something they don't like. That's where a privacy fence comes in handy.
I'm thinking if maybe you introduced them the barking would subside and they would start to get use to each other.
I make sure when I first move someplace new that I introduce myself and my dogs to the neighbors. If I notice the neighbors outside I take that opportunity to walk myself over there with my dogs in tow and give a friendly hello and introduce myself. And to show that my dogs are also friendly.
The one neighbor actually thanked me for coming over and said that most people are so standoffish and peer out from behind behind their drapes.
And then those same people make assumptions...I loathe people like that with a passion...
Maybe also training the dogs would be good...especially if the one is still a puppy.
So to summarize...introducing yourself and the dogs, being cordial, training, or a privacy fence....because bottom line...you've gotta live there.
*It would be nice if we could pick and choose our neighbors...I presently fell into a lucky situation where my best friend is on one side and the other neighbors are just really nice, genuine people.*
Well....my neighbors could complain occasionally but don't. If my dogs are barking, it's during the daytime. We don't even let them go out for very long by themselves, and I'm home all day. There are no nighttime workers around us that are trying to sleep.
I think trying to make friends with the neighbors is a good idea - your dogs are obviously acclimating. I wouldn't use a bark collar yet. See what your city statutes are on dog barking. Your animal control officer may have been undereducated on nuisance noise or something - generally they are pretty forgiving if it is daylight. But apologize profusely, say the dogs are settling in and you hope the transition will be complete soon, and then do your best to keep the dogs from barking even if you have to stand out there with them every time they need to go out. If you're not an animal lover it CAN be annoying (or so people tell me!).
Make sure the dogs have something to occupy them, like a Kong, when they are outside. Around the dinner hour I'd say to bring them in and keep them there except for the potty time, which should be supervised by you.
You might could save yourself a world of grief if you erected a short privacy fence that is very tight so your dogs can't see the neighbors or their dogs. Since you have small dogs, you might be able to make a doggy courtyard so they aren't anywhere near the fence where the other dogs are at...
Citybythebay gave GREAT pointers - let us know how it goes.
If it is the neighbors dog that gets youres going, why are you not out there trying to controll the Situation better? If you do this you will not need to Collar.
Sounds like you went from a noisy neihborhood into a quieter neighborhood, and you NEED to adjust youreself and youre Dogs.
I have 2 Dogs, and once they start barking I go out there and
A: Take them in or
B: Distract them with something
We have many Dogs here in the Neighborhood and we are in Country, there is times I wish my one neighbor would controll her dog's barking, but I am sure that he will calm down being he is a puppy. And its not a every day thing.
But I have also know my Neighbors for 11 years ..... if she was new, you bet I would say something.
alright
first off you need to teach doggie dear that a few barks are ok and then lock her up if she continues(only for a few minutes as a time out). let your neighbors know your doing this.
Cody has a "lets go" which means, you are done come in, you've barked to much go in, COME TO ME NOW!
Also, let people meet your dog, once they are in love w/ the dog, the bark is a hello and they melt when they see the dog. We have also told our neighbors to let us know if our dog is barking to much, because then they fill this need to me macho and say "no, we never hear the dog" HA! ...Cody is a barker, but we have it under control and let cody greet the neighbors at least once a week. I'll have him out on a long leash and when they get home we say "go say hi".
Train the dog and the neighbors. =)
also, we have a dog that barks at our dog through the 6 foot fence and both the neighbor and us are calling off our dogs when this happens, so then she knows that I know that she's working on it as much as me.
I hope that helps.
the best thing to do is have your dog on a long leash for a while and when she barks to much pull her in. Do this for a while and eventually she will catch on. When she barks to much call her ONCE and start pulling her in, after a while this becomes habit. When she comes in on her own or even comes in as you pull her in praise her ...this also teaches good recall. It took cody a few weeks as it was new surroundings, house, adventures, dogs people, etc.
Here's the dilemma.About 11 days ago we moved into this new house. I have two dogs both small (one small mixed breed the other a 7 mo. old pug). I let them out every morning and afternoon and evening for about 30 mins to run and to play and do their business. Three times my backyard neighbors have complained that my dog, the mixed breed, is barking too much. The second day we moved in the husband came over steaming during the day and told me to put my dogs in b/c they had been barking for the last 2 hours (untrue) then 5 days later the wife came over during the day and said my dogs had been barking non stop for the last 30 mins. Today the animal control came over to issue us a warning stating the neighbors complained that last night our dogs had been barking for 2 hours. They are not even out that long!! I spoke to Animal control today and they suggested we borrow one of their anti barking collars. How safe are these things? We don't feel the pug has a barking problem so we are not getting one for her. It has come to the point that we will no longer let them play in the backyard for fear that these people will poison or do something to our dogs or sue us!!
I am at wits end. I love my dogs and the only reason she barks is when the neighbors' dogs (to the sides of us) are out too! I told the complainers that the are barking at the neighbor's dogs and don't they hear them barking too! It's just not our dogs. And they are certainly not out there for 2 hours barking non stop. Any ideas? I certainly don't want to be a nuisance to anyone. But really, these people know we just moved in and I apologized profusely but they seem really unreasonable and rude. In my last neighborhood noone complained, there were kids yelling and playing outside our dogs and others dogs barking...it's all part of living in the city!!
Thanks for letting me vent.
You are new and there are new sounds for both the neighbors and the dogs. I would be friendly to the neighbors. Explain to them, you just moved and the dogs are adjusting but they'll settle down soon and you'll try and watch them so the barking doesn't get out of hand. If the neighbors see that you're a nice guy, it'll be harder for them to complain. And do keep an eye on the dogs. Sounds like you may not realize how long they are barking for. Keep them inside and only let them out when you are with them until you all adjust. Have faith, and be positive that things will work out.
from what i read there is a collar with spray that goes off when the dog barks. It startles the dog, and after a while the dog learns not bark.. I have read it works
better than the other type of collar. however some dogs get so smart, they learn
they can bark when the spray is gone. check out this one. also with some dogs, such putting on the collar stops the barking. for your pug, that other collar I think is way to big for a tiny dog. read reviews on the both types.
Animal Control cannot do anything without proof can they ? Unless the person (or they) record the dogs barking for hours they cant do squat IMO.
I don't know about that! A while back we had Brooklyn playing out in the yard and he was playing with the tire swing we have. He will jump up and grab the tire swing to try to get a piece of it off and once he gets a piece of it he just lays down and chews on it (We always take it from him before he can really chew it up because I doubt that's good for him ). He's not being aggressive or doing anything wrong. He's just playing like dogs do. Anyway, the neighbor that lives behind and to the side of us called animal control and said that we were "making our dog attack a tire!" First of all, we weren't making our dog do anything, second, I wouldn't call that attacking, he's playing! He wouldn't attack anyone unless someone attacked me first! So they gave us a ticket that we had to pay. It wasn't a big deal, just a ticket, but I couldn't believe that they could even do that! We didn't do anything wrong!
Here's the dilemma.About 11 days ago we moved into this new house. I have two dogs both small (one small mixed breed the other a 7 mo. old pug). I let them out every morning and afternoon and evening for about 30 mins to run and to play and do their business. Three times my backyard neighbors have complained that my dog, the mixed breed, is barking too much. The second day we moved in the husband came over steaming during the day and told me to put my dogs in b/c they had been barking for the last 2 hours (untrue) then 5 days later the wife came over during the day and said my dogs had been barking non stop for the last 30 mins. Today the animal control came over to issue us a warning stating the neighbors complained that last night our dogs had been barking for 2 hours. They are not even out that long!! I spoke to Animal control today and they suggested we borrow one of their anti barking collars. How safe are these things? We don't feel the pug has a barking problem so we are not getting one for her. It has come to the point that we will no longer let them play in the backyard for fear that these people will poison or do something to our dogs or sue us!!
I am at wits end. I love my dogs and the only reason she barks is when the neighbors' dogs (to the sides of us) are out too! I told the complainers that the are barking at the neighbor's dogs and don't they hear them barking too! It's just not our dogs. And they are certainly not out there for 2 hours barking non stop. Any ideas? I certainly don't want to be a nuisance to anyone. But really, these people know we just moved in and I apologized profusely but they seem really unreasonable and rude. In my last neighborhood noone complained, there were kids yelling and playing outside our dogs and others dogs barking...it's all part of living in the city!!
Thanks for letting me vent.
Wow! Some people are just ridiculous! Really all you can do is get your dog to stop barking. When your dogs are out are you outside with them? If so, I would suggest that you keep your dog distracted. Play with him so he doesn't even notice the other dogs. You could also try the bark collar, but I would try playing with him the whole time he's outside first. Or you could just take them for walks instead of letting them play in the yard. That's what we do. You could just taken them for one or two walks a day and they could get their exercise that way.
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for fear that these people will poison or do something to our dogs or sue us!!
City life...
A while back we had Brooklyn playing out in the yard and he was playing with the tire swing we have. He will jump up and grab the tire swing to try to get a piece of it off and once he gets a piece of it he just lays down and chews on it (We always take it from him before he can really chew it up because I doubt that's good for him 
