Does your hometown allow Dogs to bark non stop? (barking, noise, best)

[Dingler]

The people who live behind me have three dogs that the owners will let run outside and BARK AND BARK AND BARK. I first went to the owner of the house and complained nicely but he slammed the door in my face. Then I started calling the Police but nothing was ever done. Then I got the other affected neighbors to write a letter to the owner of the Dogs, it was ignored. Then the rest of my neighbors affected started calling the Police. Their calls were ignored also. The man with the barking dogs seems to be in the position of power. It appears nothing can be done.

What would happen in a similar situation in your hometown?

[kettlepot]

In my hometown the law is that more than a few barks constitutes a nuisance. However, for the police to actually do something about it requires you to get three surrounding neighbors to complain together to the police, but in writing as opposed to phoning it in. That I think is the key to what you need to do. Start writing letters together (first to the dog owner and then to the police) so you can develop a paper trail of complaints. If you still get no relief, make a video tape (with sound!!!!!!!). Go to a city council or county supervisors meeting, depending on your jurisdiction, and make your case with your A/V aids in the non-agenda portion of the meeting. Every regularly scheduled meeting will have this section, and the council or board will have to listen, it's in the constitution under "Redress of Grievances" and the Supreme Court has ruled that council members have to be in their seats and attending to your words... Really. Make sure your neighbors are part of your presentation. Quantity of people matters, but the remarks of the additional people should be very brief. Politicians get sore backsides from sitting in long meetings and look more kindly upon people who don't wear them out. Be sure to have on hand and to mention the dates of the several letters you wrote to the police department that resulted in no action. Write the letters several weeks apart. The police have to be given time to act before you complain again. It's important to show you went through the proper procedures first, and gave everyone a reasonable period of time to take corrective action. And have that videotape. It will be your ace-in-the-hole to show 1) the length and volume of the barking, and 2) that you weren't tormenting the dog into doing it. Good luck.

I'm not a lawyer, I've just seen a lot of council meetings in my city.

[junkman18]

Originally Posted by Dingler

The people who live behind me have three dogs that the owners will let run outside and BARK AND BARK AND BARK. I first went to the owner of the house and complained nicely but he slammed the door in my face. Then I started calling the Police but nothing was ever done. Then I got the other affected neighbors to write a letter to the owner of the Dogs, it was ignored. Then the rest of my neighbors affected started calling the Police. Their calls were ignored also. The man with the barking dogs seems to be in the position of power. It appears nothing can be done.

What would happen in a similar situation in your hometown?

We would take of the problem are selves. It would be swift and quick.

[msjbrent]

Originally Posted by junkman18

We would take of the problem are selves. It would be swift and quick.

And how would you do that?

[GreggB]

Barking Dogs are my number #1 Pet Peave. And i't the owners that let them continue to bark that really pi***s me off!!!!

[ontheroad]

My former home town, and in fact, nearly the entire State of NM, is a dog permissive society.

Not only are dogs permitted to bark, they are permitted to do nearly anything they desire: bark, run around in circles or square, eat your garbage, hump your dog, just anything.

In fact, I think it is encouraged or is something in the mountain air.

But, one of my neighbours did take a bb-gun and shoot in the direction of a pack of dogs one day, and funny thing it worked better than nearly anything else--especially the authorities.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Here in north Florida, it's more a dog dismissive society.
I think dog problems are occasionally solved with firearms, and I am not talking about birdshot or bbs.
In Denver, there were several neighbors who, for one reason or another, let their dogs bark all night long and/or in the early morning hours.
It took awhile to get these situations under control.
It was a combination of talking with the neighbor and then eventually animal control and finally one neighbor took another to court. Sleep deprivation will do that to a person.

[LoveJesus]

I would take a barking dog over a neighbor who blasts gheto music so loud you can hear it down the street. Or people who have bass noise pollution pounding from their cars.

[KimoJimo]

We had the same problem when we moved into this neighborhood a year ago. We called animal control, not the police.... They sent a letter to the owner of the dog warning him that animal control would follow up with a major fine if the owner did nothing. The dog was then kept in at night, and there has been no problem since. We apparently were lucky. Too often it causes bad problems between neighbors,

BTW this same dog owner often plays "ghetto" music very loudly, but never after 9PM At least we don't lose sleep!

The police may not have time to devote to animal complaints.

Best of luck!

[Dingler]

Good advice so far but they fired the Animal Control staff in budget cuts and now it is a Police issue that they do not care to do much about and they basically ignore all barking dog calls.