How neighborly would you say Portlanders are? (mover, house)

[Minervah]

Yankeemamma and Metlakatla, consider yourselves repped in spirit.


To the OP, the key is to be a good neighbor and not give people living around you reason to complain. As you can see by the posts here, this type of situation may be handled in different ways. How your neighbors handled your situation is not endemic to your area but rather just one way anyone could have dealt with the problem whever they may live.

It's better to admit there may be a problem and fix it before it happens. I think this is especially true if one is new to the area and is looking to make friends. People like to make excuses for that which is theirs. But others aren't going to see it in that light. If your neighbors there considered your dogs' barking a nuisance they probably will here as well.

I googled noise laws and refering to section 4 there is no particular time of day it's okay to allow continual barking. It states in fact the criteria is ten minute intervals over a period of a half hour.

......(The dog must bark repeatedly for 10 minutes or intermittent episodes lasting a minimum 30 minutes)......

It does not limit these intervals to day or night.


http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/dbcs/pets/barking.shtml

You have a jump start on nipping a potenial problem in the budd. Good luck. If you can take care of the problem before it occurs, you will be ahead of the game.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

But the Key, IMHO, the barking occurred during the Day, when people (and children) are allowed to make noise (within some reason.)

You were saying?

Sorry to have to break it to you but your opinion is in direct conflict with the actual laws in Portland concerning dogs put out into the yard to yap. I hope it's never your elderly father recovering from illness and surgery who has to deal with the "mindset" that because it happens "before bedtime", it's acceptable.

Kindly curb your snark towards me in future comments, especially when you're wrong.

To the OP--someone complained about your dogs barking for the "better part of a week". You knew that it was a problem and yet you put your party guests above your neighbors, and then blamed them when they complained again. They have given you two chances to fix the problem before they call the cops. I don't see anything at all unfair about that.

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

...Kindly curb your snark towards me in future comments, especially when you're wrong.....

I most emphatically don't consider myself wrong on this. No way, no how, zip, zilch, nadda.

The replies in this thread speak for themselves on the subject of unfriendly neighbors in the Portland area. I think the phrase is "PNW Feeze" or something.

[Minervah]

But the Key, IMHO, the barking occurred during the Day, when people (and children) are allowed to make noise (within some reason.)

They Key is "within reason." Continually barking dogs is not within reason. No one said anything about kids playing but no matter what time of day, screaming, shrieking kids is also not within reason. General noise from children playing is another storey.

You did give some false information; that as long as the noise was within certain hours it was okay but that is not what the law says. Keeping to the subject at hand, if the laws state that a certain amount of noise, no matter what time of day, is not acceptable it's not acceptable.

I think the OP's question has been answered. If someone is the cause of a disturbance there are regulations in place for others to remedy the situation. Whether or not those being bothered choose to use a petition or face to face discussion will depend entirely upon the nature of the person with the complaint.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

I most emphatically don't consider myself wrong on this. No way, no how, zip, zilch, nadda.

The replies in this thread speak for themselves on the subject of unfriendly neighbors in the Portland area. I think the phrase is "PNW Feeze" or something.

That's too bad, because you are wrong. The barking dog laws in Oregon are not specific to time of day, and all the emphatic consideration on your part doesn't change that. Neither do your petulant snarky comments.

And Minervah is right; the OP's question has been answered.

My mother is down in Lake O. for chemo just now and I must say that the neighbors there have been wonderful about voluntarily keeping their yappers quiet.

[sueisme]

Thank you, thank you, thank you Metlakatla, Minervah, and Yankeemama. We've got two dogs near us that bark for *hours* on end when their owners leave them outside. We've talked to these folks, who are very nice, but somewhat clueless about how their little darlings miss them when they're not home.

[Yankeemama]

I always thought common courtesy for others, in this case, one's neighbors, means being respectful of others' space. These people who don't care about their annoying yappy dogs are also the same people who let their kids kick your chair on airplanes. They also don't watch their toddlers pushing mini carts in Whole Foods making the rest of us cringe when you see the little cart just barely miss running into the stacked olive oil bottles or worse, your foot! Unfortunately, PDX has plenty of inconsiderate people. It's everywhere, though, but people tend to think of Portland as a utopia so it's more shocking when the dread locked, sling wearing, PETA sign under arm MOM almost runs you over to get her tofu in New Seasons and does not say excuse me or sorry.

Originally Posted by sueisme

Thank you, thank you, thank you Metlakatla, Minervah, and Yankeemama. We've got two dogs near us that bark for *hours* on end when their owners leave them outside. We've talked to these folks, who are very nice, but somewhat clueless about how their little darlings miss them when they're not home.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by sueisme

Thank you, thank you, thank you Metlakatla, Minervah, and Yankeemama. We've got two dogs near us that bark for *hours* on end when their owners leave them outside. We've talked to these folks, who are very nice, but somewhat clueless about how their little darlings miss them when they're not home.

The petition on the website I posted looks like a good thing to use that may get the point across to them.

Good luck.

[Yankeemama]

I was wondering when you were going to chime in since you live in Sellwood, which tends to have a lot of at-home workers, right? It is hard to get work done and concentrate when the neighbor's pup barks for hours.
[
QUOTE=sueisme;18787552]Thank you, thank you, thank you Metlakatla, Minervah, and Yankeemama. We've got two dogs near us that bark for *hours* on end when their owners leave them outside. We've talked to these folks, who are very nice, but somewhat clueless about how their little darlings miss them when they're not home.[/quote]

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by Yankeemama

I always thought common courtesy for others, in this case, one's neighbors, means being respectful of others' space. These people who don't care about their annoying yappy dogs are also the same people who let their kids kick your chair on airplanes. They also don't watch their toddlers pushing mini carts in Whole Foods making the rest of us cringe when you see the little cart just barely miss running into the stacked olive oil bottles or worse, your foot! Unfortunately, PDX has plenty of inconsiderate people. It's everywhere, though, but people tend to think of Portland as a utopia so it's more shocking when the dread locked, sling wearing, PETA sign under arm MOM almost runs you over to get her tofu in New Seasons and does not say excuse me or sorry.

Haha! This is so funny because it's so true. Dreads mom is probably from back east somewhere, originally though...


Back to the original question...

Overall I have to agree with Metlakatla. I am not a dog owner anymore, but it is just inconsiderate to let your dog bark all the time. One off day where they are barking a lot? Sure, it happens. One "off" week on the other hand... Ehhh...

Anyway, I'd say Portlanders are mostly pretty neighborly. My girlfriend's family in NE has a couple of big, barky, wannabe-watch dogs that bark everytime someone walks by the house. They're all neighborly up there and everyone knows everyone on the block--it is mostly a more established neighborhood with lots of homeowners. They have no problems talking to each other and clearing up problems with, for example, the dogs barking--although that issue has never been brought up with them to my knowledge, and they try to keep the dogs quiet.

When I was living in Woodstock neighborhood, my housemates' music could get a little loud. Our neighbors on one side had a young baby and came over to ask us a couple of different occasions to turn the music down. They were friendly and cordial and so were we. We turned the music down and everyone lived happily ever after. Our neighbors on the other side would have a party every week it seemed like. If I was trying to sleep, I'd read for an hour and by then they'd usually quiet down and it wasn't an issue anymore, but I would have gone over and politely asked them to turn it down, explaining my work schedule, had I needed to. They were friendly folks though.

Now, where I am at currently (also in Southeast), we heard a woman screaming one night about 10 PM. Half the people on the block came outside and looked around and talking to each other about what was going on (and none of us had ever talked before--half of us were from an apartment complex). Didn't figure out what happened, but it was nice to know that strangers could come together to look out for each other and their neighborhood where they live.

So these have been my experiences with neighborliness in Portland. I think there are aggro's everywhere and there are friendly folks everywhere. Portland or Arizona, no matter. Though I have to say, folks here are much more apt to connect with their neighbors, in my experience, than in Southern Oregon, and perhaps other places too. For example, my parents have been meaning to have the neighbors next door come over for a barbecue since the neighbors moved in.... 10 years ago! My parents are outgoing, and the neighbors are friendly people, but everyone down there keeps to themselves a lot more, it seems.