A wee tip if you’re worried about sounding cranky, have a big smile on your face as you speak, I always find it alters the way my words come out and I sound a lot friendlier.
Be prepared for them to complain about your baby in return.
That’s my prediction, anyway.
My much-loved angel dog Sasha had a bad habit of heading out the back door at full speed, barking her head off when we let her out. One day one of our neighbors tromped over to the fence (in the rain, with an umbrella over her head) and told us that the barking was waking up her husband in the mornings. We were mortified. It was a little tricky to shut her up, but we managed to keep the noise level down from then on.
We felt a little uncomfortable for a while when we’d see this neighbor (we don’t know them at all, really), but her complaint was just, and it was up to us to do something about it. I don’t let my dogs sit out and bark, partly because a barking dog drives me nuts. They’re not outside unattended for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time anyway.
Not that this will help but I had to tell this story. In my salad days in college I lived in a mobile home park and the layout of the lot put my trailer perpendicular to another row. One of my neighbors left one of those wind-up yappy hellhound-poodles outside while they were away. The dog barked continuously for 30 minutes. Not even sure how this is possible. I went out there with a garden hose and conducted my own Pavlovian experiment. Bark/squirt/bark/squirt/bark/squirt… It was a very satisfying experience. From that day forward I could shut the dog up (even if it was indoors) by saying “pshhht”.
I still smile when I think about it.
a) my baby cries maybe once a day
b) I can’t stop my baby from crying, but they CAN stop their dogs from waking us up.
Like I said, she is nice and friendly, and I’m not overly worried about her complaining.
Another contribution to the “bad” neighbor pot - my parents once complained about a barky dog in their neighborhood. This dog was kept outside all night and barked for most of it. After asking the neighbor nicely to please bring their dog in to no relief, they complained to the city.
Now that the neighbor knew who had complained they filed a report with Child and Family, saying my father was abusing us. The caseworker came out and found (obviously) no evidence of this frivolous claim, but it goes to show how crazy some people can be!
My neighbor behind us has Boogie. Boogie barks. Boogie barks and barks and barks. Boogie doesn’t know Boogies name. Boogie doesn’t listen. Boogie is not trained at all. Boogie makes my back yard inhospitable to me because I can not open the back door without hearing Boogie.
My side neighbor called them and asked them to not leave the dogs out due to the barking. They responded they didn’t have any dogs. My side neighbor on another day went to their house and asked them to bring in their dogs because they were barking. They said they didn’t have dogs. She then called the parents of the neighbors and informed them about the barking. The parents said he has no dogs. I finally called Animal Services who went to their house.
Since then, the owner has put up a piece of privacy fencing in the corner where Boogie barks. He comes out and yells at Boogie to hush, while Boogie continues to bark. So then I have yelling neighbor AND barking Boogie.
Evidently, it took Animal Services for this person to realize he had a dog at all. I wonder if they told him he has two.
FWIW, I have a large hound dog who barks when needed and an Italian Greyhound (Frito) to loves to bark. Frito knows if she barks more than a couple of times, she’s inside, and you know what else, when I say shush, she shushes. When I say come inside, she comes inside. It’s called training.
Since your neighbor used to let them out front, it shouldn’t be too big of a deal, unless she had a pressing reason (I count laziness as one) to let them out back. How old is your child? Mine is 8 months old and she LOVES dogs. She loves watching dogs, loves it when they bark, loves holding their tails, she is completely fascinated. Maybe one day when you are out and the baby is awake, you could take her out to watch them run around. You never know, those two dogs may one day, allow you to get a moments peace. 
Damn! I think I’m in love!
In a perfect world, all dogs that are able to affect people who aren’t their owners would be well-trained and picked up after. In the world Ilive in, I’m surprised when I see a well-trained dog because it happens so seldom. People just don’t get it; when you live in a big city, your right to life-style choices ends where it starts affecting my life-style.
(Not a complaint against you, Auntbeast. Kudos to you for training your pets.)
Here is something a former coworker of my husbands did with the pack of beagles living next door.
Beagles, in case you live under a rock, bay. Alot. Add a few more into the mix and it is an unholy riot.
The dogs were out 24/7 and had a large dog house to pile in. The owner never interacted with them and this friend wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with the guy anyways.
After a couple of years of baying and yowling, our friend would open his sliding door, take a bb gun and ping hit the butt of a beagle. It would shut up and go into the dog house.
Eventually, after a few weeks of this, all the dogs’ butts got pinged.
Soon, all he had to do was open his sliding glass door and the entire pack, usually in a full yowl, would shut up and head for their dog house.
This isn’t exactly the most reasonable solution. Yours in much better.
This is the kind of s–t that gets your house set on fire.
Tho the bb approach is tempting, I would not recommend it.
I’ve looked into the sonic devices that are sold, but I don’t think their range is sufficient to work for us.
Sure, so could NOT curbing your dog’s barking. Your hypothetical is a 2 way street.
People shouldn’t have to train their Neighbor’s dog(s).
If someone left a baby outside by itself to cry for 30 minutes I’d say that was a good reason to complain.
I agree with the second, but not the first.
You, I and our Fellow Dopers are civlized folks of reason who would not result to violence.
The other guy is invariably a testosterone poisoned…pick your own term of derision…who will do something nasty and expensive be it in property or the lives of our pets.
Quick poll of anyone who has been subjected to a neighbor’s barking dog.
Has the possible solution of a little rat poison wrapped in some hamburger ever-so-fleetingly crossed you mind?
Only if I’m allowed to feed it to the owner.
Yeah, but I’d feed it to the dog’s owner. Kidding! It’s not fair to punish the dog for the owner’s failings.
Our neighbors (one house over) raise Yorkies. They’d leave them outside (fenced yard) for hours at a time.
Whenever our other neighbors were outside where the Yorkies could see them, the Yorkies would yap continuously. It was quite a cacaphony. “Shut those dogs up!” “Bark bark!” “Shut the f***up!” “Bark bark.” Fun for everybody.
Neighbor complained and the Yorkie owner put up a board fence next to the chainlink fence, and this solved the problem. No see, no bark. Those neighbors aren’t friends anymore though.
Similar to Nanny911, an ill mannered pet is a sign of an ill-mannered owner. My hound dog is trained off leash. She was abused and needed to be socialized and excellent training certainly helped her. Just like kids, knowing what to do/how to react gives them comfort.
I never blame the dog or the child. I blame the owner/parent.
BTW, I saw the coolest temper tantrum yesterday. It was awesome. The kid and his mom were leaving the library and the boy was upset because he wanted MORE BOOKS. I wanted to smooch him AND his mom. Can you imagine? My heart is still warmed by it. The boy was in prime xbox age too.
Priceless.
You’re going to see a woman about a dog.