Neighbor Trouble

[jlr79]

Well, it finally happened. After having Abby for 7 months, we got a complaint from one of our neighbors. She nailed dh this morning when he got home from work (midnight shift) and told him that Abby was being taken out at all hours of the night and her barking was waking her up and she couldn't go back to sleep. I think she might be going to bed around 11:00 (maybe earlier) even though she is a teacher and is not in school now. I will have to admit I'm a night owl (especially in the summer) and usually take Abby out for the final time sometime between 12:00 and 1:00 am. It's funny because just the other day I was telling dh that I was really trying to be considerate of the neighbors and if Abby barks at night (which is not very often - but she is a Cairn!) I scoop her up almost instantly and we go inside. We have neighbors up the street who have three poodles who are out almost 24/7 and bark constantly and I didn't want Abby's nightly potty trips to cause the same problems. The complaining neighbor said that her husband didn't want her to say anything, but I guess she decided she would confront my dh no matter what. She even suggested we put Abby in the basement at night with newspapers! My kids will be going back to school in a few weeks so everyone at our house will be on a much earlier schedule. Until then, I'm going to be standing out there at night stressed out that Abby will make the slightest little yap!!

Has anyone had a similar problem? If so, how did you handle it? Oh good grief - I just looked and it's about time for the final potty break!! Wish me luck!!

Jan

[savannahsmom35]

We haven't had any neighbors complain but I always dread the last potty trip of the night because Savannah is going through a barking phase (HOPEFULLY a phase!) and as soon as we walk out the door she barks constantly at the crickets and frogs chirping. I have started having to take her out to potty (in the fenced in backyard) on her leash at night so that I can control her barking and don't have a problem getting her back in the house. I have asked my neighbors on several occasions if they hear her barking when they are inside and they have said no but I don't know if they really don't hear her or if they are being nice?

[Eliz222]

Scout is generally quiet when she goes outside, but Finch leaves the house like she is going to take on the world! We use the word "quiet" when she is barking and use the hand motion (finger in front of the mouth)hoping this will quiet her down. Does it work? Sometimes.....lol! We take our dogs out, for the last time, at about 10pm and I always worry about the barking too. I've asked our neighbors, also, and they don't seem to be bothered either.

I would try to take your dog out earlier in the evening (if that's possible) and if this doesn't work, just smile at your neighbor when she complains. You can't control how your neighbor feels, and some people just find a need to complain....I have one living across the street from me!

[Teri9672]

I have a similar situation, but noone has complained. My problem is taking Teona out for the morning potty. It's usually between 5-5:45

My neighbor across the street has a husky and they let him roam the neighborhood early in the morning. He always runs right up to our fence and it makes her bark. I'm working so hard on potty training and I know if I just take her back in, she will potty inside.

It makes me so mad that the neighbor lets his dog loose like that.

I was already thinking about e-mailing my neighbor to tell them I'm sorry she was barking so much this morning.

[wheezie23]

Thankfully, I haven't had that problem. Whenever the boys are outside and they see another dog, they'll start barking. Hey, it's what they're supposed to do, right? If they bark for more than a minute, I tell them to hush and they usually do. I think your neighbor is being overly dramatic about it, but do the best you can and try not to stress about it!

thela

[bradl]

During 'squirrel season' or when we're leaving on trips at obscene hours of the night or morning we take our boy out for duty on leash, at hours that would be disruptive to neighbors should he decide to go all Paul Revere about a squirrel sighting. We will probably have to do the same with Stella as she's more vocal than either Barley or Echo.

[Carolinasmom]

During 'squirrel season' or when we're leaving on trips at obscene hours of the night or morning we take our boy out for duty on leash, at hours that would be disruptive to neighbors should he decide to go all Paul Revere about a squirrel sighting.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Brad! You crack me up! I've never heard "go all Paul Revere"!

[MikeC]

We have neighbors on both sides that have really noisy kids. The agreement is "you don't complain about my dogs, I don't complain about your kids". It has worked just fine for several years!

Mike

[Marmielin]

Tink isn't a barker (so far) and she just turned a year old . She barks in the house when she is looking outside, but when she is outside she doesn't bark. Go figure. But Oliver, our previous male, barked something terrible and lived to be 17. My dh always said "dogs bark, what can you do about it." I knew that was a bad philosophy but it was his feeling. For some reason anytime someone complained it was always to me and not to him - 4 times in 17 years. Maybe if he had heard the complaints he would have gotten more involved . The last neighbor who complained had her bedroom right next to our fence, and she was a pilot working all hours. Somehow I finally was able to say "no barking" when I let him out, and he didn't bark. I don't even remember how I got him to understand, but he finally did. He was about 12 years old before I finally got control of the barking. Had I been persistent prior to that time we probably would have avoided a lot of problems. With Tink, if she ever starts the barking thing I'm going to "try" to get better control early in her life. She is much more docile than Oliver ever was.

Lindab

[Guest girliejr]

I'd love to know how to control a Cairn barking! Jack barks at every noise weather he's outside or inside! What a watch dog he is!

I don't have complaining neighbors, but he does bark at the squirrels and the noises he hears and I take him out between 10 and 11 at night. Keep the tips coming on how to control this!

[jlr79]

Thanks so much for everyone's responses!! Abby really is not bad about the noises she is used to hearing outside (air conditioners, etc). She doesn't pay much attention to them and is most generally quiet on her nightly potty trips. But if there is a noise that is out of the ordinary she will bark. If I can't get her to stop quickly I get her back into the house. Dh and I just can't help but feel that this woman is overreacting and wants something to complain about. None of our other neighbors has ever said a word and they all seem to like Abby. Oh well. Like suggested, I'm just going to do the best I can and try not to stress out about it!!! Thanks again everyone!!!

Jan

[Carolinasmom]

I think that lady needs to lighten up! It's not like your dog is barking all night or even for 20-30 minutes straight. I assume Abby is just barking off and on when she's out for a few minutes? Sheesh, it could be much, much worse for your neighbor! Dogs bark sometimes. That's what dogs do!

[ParNone]

I never had any neighbor issues when it was just the Cairns. Both of mine have been unbelievably quiet. Although I did have to institute a curfew for Murph, when he was younger, because he'd wanna go out at 2am, to bark at all the night critters. A couple of times of me chasing him around the backyard at 2am, whispering "be quiet", "be quiet" and his last potty run for the night became 10pm.

I had an issue just this week over the Collies though, that upset me. Although they really don't bark a lot, they are extremely loud when they do. Knowing this, I don't even let them bark for long inside the house, because I feel like the neighbors can probably hear it, much less outside. They get seconds to bark, before I intervene, not even minutes.

Anyway, I had come home for lunch around 1pm one day this week and let all 3 outside to potty, leaving the back door open so I could make my lunch and still be able to call'em back inside if they started barking at something. All of a sudden there was this out of control, over the top barking from all 3, which is unusual in itself, because Murph rarely barks outside.

I went flying out the door, so only seconds had passed. I was calling for them to "Stop" and moving to usher them back inside. So it was obvious I wasn't just ignoring the problem. Then I heard my neighbor start clapping at'em and yelling for'em to "Shut Up, You Stupid Dogs!!!". Yeh that'll work... Man, if somebody can't handle 15 seconds of barking at 1 in the afternoon, what'd you do? I don't think legally he's a leg to stand on, but I just worry that somebody that unhinged would be the type to toss poisoned meat over the fence.

For the dog's sake and also because he has his house up for sale, I'm not making an issue of his behavior and just trying to be outside with the dogs at all times to head off any barking before it can even start now. I tell ya though, it's more then a lil' annoying trying to live your life in silence (and impossible I might add). I've never had such a bad neighbor before. Man, I hope he finds a buyer soon.

Les...

[Guest mrskti]

Boy am I glad we live in the middle of 80 acres!!! Our closest neighboor is probably 1/2 mile away!! Although while out this a.m. with the girls, i noitced i heard a rooster at the new neighboors!!!

We have some barking with our two, it's mostly at birds!!! Can you believe they dont bark at the rabbits??? It's birds for them!

[jlr79]

Les,

I had to laugh at the thoughts of you chasing Murph around the yard at 2 am whispering "be quiet"!! Seriously your neighbor sounds downright crazy!!! I'm glad you're going to be staying outside with your dogs now until he moves. It's hard to tell what he might do. It's so surprising how little some people can tolerate!!!

mrskti,

How wonderful to live in the middle of 80 acres!!! I'm totally jealous!!!

Jan

[savannahsmom35]

LOL...Les, the visual of you whispering "be quiet" chasing your dog around at 2 am hits really close to home. I was doing that same thing last week. I think doing this made Savannah bark even more because she thought we were playing some sort of game. Her thought process seemed to be "Mommy talks to me really soft then I talk back REALLY LOUD...fun!!!"

Sounds like your neighbor has issues. Even before I owned dogs, a neighbors dog barking during the day never has bothered me. They ARE dogs, that is how they communicate...

Edited to add a quote from one of my neighbors, if people have a problem with a dog barking once or twice during the day, they need to move to a neighborhood or apartment that doesn't allow pets.

[ParNone]

aw wow 80 acres. I'm envious too, mrskti. That's my goal to someday be out of the burbs and be somewhere in the country with some space between me and my neighbors and room for the dogs to really run.

hola jlr79 and savannahsmom35! Glad you guys got a chuckle out that. The Murph Dog has always had a knack for making me look foolish. He's almost 15 and he's still got me opening and closing the back door 3 times, before he'll come inside. I'm almost sure he's snickering at me, when he finally comes trotting inside. Gotta love that Cairn sense of humor.

Les...

[Tuff&Tippy]

Boy am I glad we live in the middle of 80 acres!!! Our closest neighboor is probably 1/2 mile away!! Although while out this a.m. with the girls, i noitced i heard a rooster at the new neighboors!!!

We have some barking with our two, it's mostly at birds!!! Can you believe they dont bark at the rabbits??? It's birds for them!

Me to! we don't have 80 but we are on 2 1/2 and most of the people around us have dogs. or other animals that make noise, we all are use to nature noises.

[Scully'sMom]

We live in the city in a townhouse and are up at 4:45 weekdays. I hook Scully up to go potty and then go into the kitchen. This last week she's been doing her "I'm REALLY ticked off and I'm gonna bark REALLY loud" while I was in the kitchen.

Here I am running through the house trying quietly to say "STOP." Some guy has been walking his HUGE dog down the street at that time and Scully's gone nuts barking. I feel like asking him to PLEASE go down a different street in the morning.

[Guest webstar]

Molly is a barking terror but she seldom barks on her nightly potty run. The other night though, about 1AM a distant neighbors dog was out barking for an hour and from inside the house Molly was answering the call of the wild, FROM MY BED. I don't know who I was more upset with, Molly or her echo. We have a lot of barking dogs in our once rural neighborhood, (I've been here over 50 yrs) developers have hit our location in the past 10 yrs and everyone feels now that now they are out in the country they should have a dog or 2. Other then the barking they are responsible dog owners. Some do have to be told to pick up the poo now that there are no open spaces. They don't let them run they walk them every morning and night. Actually it was worse years ago before there were leash laws even though there were fewer dogs. The dogs barked all night long, and because We had a dog, a pony and chickens the dogs used my yard for an outhouse.

[kayharley]

I happen to live in a dog infested neighborhood...just about everybody has a dog although not every neighbor is courteous, considerous or law-abiding when it comes to their pet.

For my dogs last business run at night you can be assured that either Winnie, Madison or Elliott is going to drown the night with sound. But I do not let it go on any longer than a minute or two. They are quickly shuttled inside.

We have people up the street who tie their dog out every morning at 5:00 am and leave it for almost 45 minutes to bark non-stop

Then there are the neighbors a couple houses down who left for a week vacation, tied their dog outside and had the next door neighbor feed/water the dog and bring it in at night....great but this dog barked continuously for the 8 hours it was outside.

So if my crew happen to have a poor spell every once in awhile and bark a bit more than usual, I say...tough!

[toomanypaws]

For my cairns nighttime "potty", I don't let them outback in the large backyard. I have a side door off of my garage and I fenced in an area about 10 X 10 just for them to go out late at night or early in the morning. It works out great because I can just run them out a kitchen door, through the garage and out the side door to this little area. I bought some cheap runner carpets for the garge that are machine washable so everyone stays clean. We live on a cul-de-sac on fairly large lots. My neighbor on the side of the fence says she never hears them, but doesn't mind dogs and use to have 5 herself. The other side is too far away and never seem to be home. We're on a lake so we don't have anyone in back of us to complain. Guess we're staying in this house for a while being it works out great having 3 cairns.

[suedelu29]

This has been an issue of mine early in the morning and on walks. Mine are loud and uncontrollable once they get started. In the morning I am out in 10 seconds but it is enough to wake people up. On walks there are various dogs, skate boarders, etc. that trigger them off and they go nuts. No control. I know we had this discussion once before but a shock collar (or at least a very strong noise collar) is going to have to be used. Anything else for a "quick" stop?

[bradl]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but ... obedience training.

Once you have established a WORKING relationship with your dog, you can demand his attention on walks. It's simple: you turn away from the distraction and put your dog in a down-stay. Or whatever. You don't let your dog stare at things you KNOW are going to set him off. You get and keep his attention in stressful situations. You look ahead and control your dog's environment. You give him a job to do that is incompatible with freaking out. You circle away from 'threats' until he is able to handle them without fear. (Most of the so-called aggression people report is actually fear.)

You get there by baby steps - you don't just head out on a long walk and hope for the best. You practice and 'proof' your dog in short walks around the block - up and down the driveway if necessary - until he is reliably listening to you. When he's working reliably with just you, you ask or bribe a neighbor kid to skate by on the opposite sidewalk while you work on getting your dog's attention, etc. When that is mastered you work on distractions on the same side of the street. Etc.

[Guest girliejr]

We'll pray the the new owners are dog lovers!