Neighbor's WOOF dog WOOF is WOOF making WOOF us nuts (Austin: home, backyard)

[marmom]

I feel for you, as we have been in the same predicament. We spoke with our neighbors and they agreed to fix the problem, but didn't. They became very defensive and angry. We were on the verge of filing a complaint with the city when suddenly the problem improved. I figured other neighbors must have taken action. Unfortunately now there is bad blood between us and our neighbors, where there was formerly an amicable relationship. At least now I can sleep at night though.

I really don't understand owning a dog if you're not going to take care of it. We had a dog in the past and when I would take her out in the yard in the mornings she would gleefully run and bark for the few minutes we were out there. We received an anonymous letter stating that this few minutes of barking was enough to wake up one of our retired neighbors prematurely every morning. I felt terrible and from then on kept my dog on a leash while she did her morning duty. It's important to respect the impact pets have on neighbors. Good luck!

[FueledByBlueBell]

I might avoid confronting the neighbor directly and first leave a nice letter stating concern for the dog and if nothing is done then call the police/animal control or something. Be the squeaky wheel for the dog's sake!

[CarnivalGal]

If you have an HOA, use them. Report the problem to them. I would be afraid of creating bad blood with a neighbor, which you can avoid by going through the HOA instead of confronting them.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by motherofthree

I mailed an anonymous letter when our neighbors left their dog outside for 10 days while they were on vacation. All I heard was machine gun style barking from sun down to sun up. I guess the letter worked because we have never heard the dog barking again.

This happened to me several years ago. A dog was left in the back yard while the family was on vacation. (I looked over the fence, and someone was bringing the dog food and water.) It seemed like a friendly dog, but it barked all night for 2 weeks. I put an anonymous note in their mailbox stating what had happened and that I was concerned that a repeat performance would put the dog at risk - not from me, but who knows? (My husband had lived in a town where barking dogs got strychnine burritos dropped over the fence.) It never happened again.

[Austinitegirl]

I would just skip the talking-to-the-neighbor part and go straight to animal control (or the HOA first if you have that option). You really don't know what could be going on to make the dog bark so much, and you don't want to participate in any kind of a "neighborly" feud.

Whenever I've EVER tried to directly confront a neighbor about ANY issue - it's never ended well, and I would always worry about retribution. You just never know - some people might be cool about it, then again, if they were considerate neighbors to begin with - they wouldn't leave their barking dog outside all the time.

Keep yourself in the neutral Switzerland zone, and let some other "agency" handle the problem.

You also don't know if the dog is injured/abandoned/etc - another good reason to call animal control/SPCA.

Good luck!

[timfountain]

Originally Posted by Austinitegirl

I would just skip the talking-to-the-neighbor part and go straight to animal control (or the HOA first if you have that option). You really don't know what could be going on to make the dog bark so much, and you don't want to participate in any kind of a "neighborly" feud.

Whenever I've EVER tried to directly confront a neighbor about ANY issue - it's never ended well, and I would always worry about retribution. You just never know - some people might be cool about it, then again, if they were considerate neighbors to begin with - they wouldn't leave their barking dog outside all the time.

Keep yourself in the neutral Switzerland zone, and let some other "agency" handle the problem.

You also don't know if the dog is injured/abandoned/etc - another good reason to call animal control/SPCA.

Good luck!

+1 I have had the same experience 4 times, most people who let dogs bark, make noise late at night, have feral children or live in a dump don't seem to respond well to a grown up rational approach and carry a grudge towards you from that day on. I have also found hoa's to be completely useless when it comes to noise. I'd call the cops and keep calling until you get a result....

- Tim

[maastrichtian]

I live in a very similar situation. West Lake Hills - there is a dog that barks every night around 11pm to about 3 am - every night. It's really sad, but it doesn't actually bother us - we can barely hear it (but we can hear it). We're on an acre in the woods by a creek, so same kind of thing - it's impossible to tell where it's coming from. Based on the situation and our neighborhood we assume it's a very old and very hard of hearing person that owns the dog.

I've had this happen in other places (I have 3 dogs btw), and I always go and talk to the offending party - nicely. Of course this isn't possible in your case, so, I would suggest just talking to ANY neighbors. Someone is bound to know who it is and can give you an idea of what their situation is (nice old lady, armed meth lab, etc.) Maybe the person you talk to has been bothered by it as well - then you have some strength in numbers. go from there...? that's what I'd do... Just be nice. It's hard being a dog owner. No need to call the cops, I would say, unless they just don't care after you talk to them. This anonymous stuff - calling the cops behind people's back - it just needs to stop, in my opinion.

[maastrichtian]

Sounds like there's a lot of support for the "call the cops" option. I think the problem is the "confrontation" part - you don't need to confront your neighbor - just talk to them - nicely. If that doesn't work - sure, call the cops.

Of course, it's a free country, right? You and everyone else can do what they durn well please.

[astichateau]

I'm on the other side of this fence... I have dogs and lots of them too...
If they are barking its for some good reason like alerting for danger, stray animal invading the farm yard attacking caged rabbits... or a strange vehicle creeping along.... or the time I fell off a ladder inside the house and made a hellasious racket yet they didn't hear me after that (my head was spinning and ringing)

There can be other reasons, owners work 3rd shift and leaves poor fido outside
and is blissfully unaware the beast is yammering... or took off and abandoned said dog to die of starvation/thirst

If anything was bothering my neighbors I would want to know - and the sooner the better so no-one's feeling got in a stew...

[chuck_steak]

Originally Posted by llkltk

How do these people own pets and not care that they are disturbing others. I really think that if the dogs can't shut their traps, the owners should be forced to give them up.

Wow.

You know that is what dogs are supposed to do right? They bark. They are just doing their jobs.