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Neighbor's barking dog(s)
Beltaine
BOO BOO DOO DE DOORegistered User regular
BOO BOO DOO DE DOORegistered User regular
So, I have this neighbor that has a few inside/outside dogs. He has a little Westie, a German Shepherd, and a Black Lab. He uses invisible fencing to keep them in his yard, so their physical presence isn't the problem.
The problem is that recently the Lab has begun barking incessantly. I'm guessing this has become a problem for the owner as well because the Lab seems to stay outside most of the time now while the other two spend most of their time inside. This really isn't a problem during a day, but at night it has become such a problem that its causing loss of sleep for me and my wife.
After an entire weekend of the dog barking all night, we finally have had it and filed a complaint with the local police today.
I'm not sure how effective the police will be in getting anything done as it seems the only training the owner has done to these dogs has been to strap on a shock collar and let the invisible fence keep them outside and out of his hair.
I'm looking into a couple options to implement myself and wanted to see if anyone here had experience with them.
1) Ultrasonic Bark Deterrent - I see devices for sale for $50-$100 that mount up outside the house and will emit an ultrasonic sound whenever it detects "barking" (aka a loud noise).
My concern here is that the ones that have the range I need are on the expensive end, and I'm not really keen on something that's going to emit ultrasonic blasts at every loud noise. (This is really no better than the barking as something as simple as a car starting may set it off and in turn set off the dogs.) Also, I have my own house dog who I also don't want to subject to being annoyed by the sound.
Something handheld, with a trigger would be ideal. I could sit outside in the garage and do my own bark training for a few days, but I need a range of about 100ft which is more than the handheld units I've found.
2) Soundproofing the bedroom windows - Basically every sound from outside comes into our bedroom from the windows. If there was some sort of acoustic deadening material I could cover the windows with that wouldn't look funny from the outside (even if it makes the room dark inside, that's fine) and would stop the sound, I'd jump all over it.
Thoughts?
The problem is that recently the Lab has begun barking incessantly. I'm guessing this has become a problem for the owner as well because the Lab seems to stay outside most of the time now while the other two spend most of their time inside. This really isn't a problem during a day, but at night it has become such a problem that its causing loss of sleep for me and my wife.
After an entire weekend of the dog barking all night, we finally have had it and filed a complaint with the local police today.
I'm not sure how effective the police will be in getting anything done as it seems the only training the owner has done to these dogs has been to strap on a shock collar and let the invisible fence keep them outside and out of his hair.
I'm looking into a couple options to implement myself and wanted to see if anyone here had experience with them.
1) Ultrasonic Bark Deterrent - I see devices for sale for $50-$100 that mount up outside the house and will emit an ultrasonic sound whenever it detects "barking" (aka a loud noise).
My concern here is that the ones that have the range I need are on the expensive end, and I'm not really keen on something that's going to emit ultrasonic blasts at every loud noise. (This is really no better than the barking as something as simple as a car starting may set it off and in turn set off the dogs.) Also, I have my own house dog who I also don't want to subject to being annoyed by the sound.
Something handheld, with a trigger would be ideal. I could sit outside in the garage and do my own bark training for a few days, but I need a range of about 100ft which is more than the handheld units I've found.
2) Soundproofing the bedroom windows - Basically every sound from outside comes into our bedroom from the windows. If there was some sort of acoustic deadening material I could cover the windows with that wouldn't look funny from the outside (even if it makes the room dark inside, that's fine) and would stop the sound, I'd jump all over it.
Thoughts?
Beltaine on
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The only other thing you can do is file a noise complaint every time it's an issue, when it's happening. Eventually the police will probably let them know neighbors have been complaining about his dog, and eventually animal control will probably step in after enough complaints.
For this reason, I don't feel that you're going to be able to undertake actually training the dog not to bark. It's not really barking as a reaction to something (by the sounds of it) so it will probably go back to barking after you go to bed or stop using the device (if it even works at all, I have no experience with one).
It's also probably will give your own dog a confusing and unpleasant experience.
My advice is to continue following this up with the local noise ordinance law stuff, it really sucks but I don't think you'll have too much luck training the dog from your own back yard. The thing needs probably 1-2 hours of varied exercise a day and to be kept in with the family instead of being on its own. Dogs are not usually good with solitary confinement.
I strongly urge you not to take this into your own hands, as this could get you into all sorts of trouble.
Best thing is to use the police. Call the cops every time the dog keeps you up, and make sure to keep a log of every time you call. Get the name and badge number of anyone you talk to on the phone, and if cops come to your house ask them for theirs as well as an incident report number. If the police fail to do anything after a significant amount of time you can use this record to your advantage if you end up having to take the guy to court. (Which you hopefully won't have to do)
Stupid question probably but have you tried just asking your neighbor to keep the dog inside at night?
This.
From your post, it seems like his dog just started barking a lot suddenly and after a few nights of no sleep you just up and called the cops? That's a pretty huge dick move, even though letting your noisy dog bark all night is also a dick move.
You should go over there and talk to the guy. If he acts like a goose and does nothing about the problem, that's when you involve the authorities.
And under no circumstances should you be buying devices to shoot at this guy's dog. This is an absolutely awful, terrible, ridiculous idea and will almost definitely result in an altercation with your neighbour when he looks outside and thinks you're hurting his animal.
Any hand held device you'd sit there using isn't just a ridiculously bad idea to begin with, it might even be illegal - using repellents or control devices on an animal that's confined on another person's property is illegal in my area, even if the dog is barking.