I have wonderful neighbors. Other than my daughter, they are my favorite. After work, they generally eat out, have a few drinks and get home around 9:30 - 10. The deal is, they have a cute little dog that barks and barks and barks as the sun goes down. While they are away, she stays on the sun porch which even has a tv on to keep her company. We are having the most wonderful weather and can keep our windows open. I go to bed around 8:30. I would be able to sleep, but NOW all I hear is her rather high pitched barking to the point of wanting to scream. I don't want to hurt their feelings or upset them. They are a male gay couple and are very sensitive. She is their child and they completely dote on her. For those of you with dogs, what would be a nice way to tell someone their dog is annoying?
Record it and play it back for them. (And it sounds like the poor little thing spends a lot of time alone.)
My guys are always in at nite, and if they're outside at any part of the day, and are having a barking frenzie, and won't listen to stop, i bring them in.....sometimes i think that's what they want anyway. Go figure. .
My daughter suggested the same thing, but I just hate being THAT neighbor. Most people aren't trying to sleep at such an early hour. One of the guys is a school teacher. He spends 2-3 hours with her before leaving to meet his partner who owns a business downtown. The socializing is part of building his business. I think she wishes they were home, but she has a princess dog bed, every toy imaginable and they home cook her food. She has a more comfy life than I do. They dress her cute too.
I hate it when people have dogs and never at home, the barking in that case, is from being alone. Totally unfair.
We have other neighbors down the street who have a big dog who is actually left in a garage all day. The poor thing never gets walked or played with. It doesn't bark. I guess it's used to its life. I think if someone isn't going to make their pet a part of the family, they shouldn't have one.
We had a similar problem several years ago. We had neighbors with several large dogs that were always outside and barked all night. In the nice weather, we liked having the bedroom window open, but the barking kept us awake. What we did was buy on Amazon , one of those bark control devices and set it up on that side of our house next to the neighbors yard. Since our little dogs were inside, it was not a problem for them, and we turned it off when our dogs were outside so that they didn’t have to hear the device going off. Amazingly....... it worked ! The dogs either stopped barking, or at least went around to the other side of their yard to bark. The owners never had any idea of what we did, so it didn’t cause any problems, like complaining to them about their dogs would have done.
@Beth Gallagher @Bess Barber Record the barking, play it back loudly for a test run. If that don't work, play it back 24/7 for a awhile. Prepare to become alienated, or sleep-deprived if you do nothing. Frank
Bess, if they are friendly (and sounds like they are), just mention that the little dog seems to be stressed and barking a lot when they are away. They probably have no idea and would appreciate knowing. I never wanted my little dog to annoy people. Well... most people.
I generally put up with such things, particularly if the dog belongs to someone I like. After all, I depend on my neighbors tolerating my cat who is wholly unable to recognize property lines. In time, a barking dog becomes like the trains that used to pass by behind my house. I rarely notice them.
It's a tough call on deciding how to handle a dog barking constantly and in the evening hours. We had only lived in our house a couple of weeks before the police knocked at our door for that cause. It's not like we didn't know that it was a problem but at the same time the dogs needed to adjust to the new environment. On the opposite side of the coin, I would never call the police about it. I just yell out the door or window, "Shut up!"
What if the neighbor is the type who might retaliate in some way, anonymously, of course, no matter how you lodge a complaint? Remember, I grew up in Chicago.......People were always fighting over something...... Frank
Retaliation should always be thought of with any type of complaint which is why some people just deal with it. With me I didn't care if the owner heard me yelling 10, 11 at night or 1, 2 o'clock in the morning. They should buy a muzzle, I did.
@Bess Barber Yes, that is a tough situation. I have faced the same situation so many times. I have always gone to bed by 7 PM. so barking dogs can be a problem as well as neighbors that party, gun motorcycles, mow lawns, run blowers etc. One of my former neighbors had a dog that not only barked but cried. It was so lonely after the parents divorced and the young girl that cared for it, moved away with her mother. The guy and his new girlfriend were really nice people but had to keep the dog until the girl had a place for it.The dog would lose its voice and sound so pathetic. I talked with the guy and he said he was doing the best he could and this is why he kept the dog in the garage. The garage was next to my bedroom and with my open window, the sound came through loud and clear. He said sorry but nothing more he could do. I talked to the police as I felt it was an animal mistreatment case. The dog was heartbroken. The police investigated and said they saw no physical harm to the dog and the sound did not go above the allowable noise level, so only thing to do was SHUT my window. The girl finally came and got her dog, but they became bad neighbors after that making as much noise as legally possible. Your neighbors might be like the parents that defend their child regardless of the chills crimes or they might thank you for letting them know their "child" is lonely. The police would probably only act if the noise exceeded a certain level past a certain hour. I won't even suggest what you should do. I know about gay neighbors being sensitive. I had a couple that loved to entertain at least 5 days a week. I got use to the music and laughter until 1 AM and on weekends 3 AM. What I never got used to was all the party pukers came over to a small garden area which is as near my bedroom window as possible to vomit. It got so bad I could smell it and it drew flies. It was away from their firepit and patio, so they never noticed or cared. I spoke very kindly to one of them about it and they just looked at me shook their head and walked away. I spoke to Zek about it and he talked with a sanitation enforemnet officer that issued them a warning. It didn't stop, they just started burying it. They hated me after that and finally moved away. Good luck and sorry I don't have any good advice for you.