i pit people who let their dogs bark at people on the sidewalk/street

The BBQ Pit
1

We happen to live on a street that is the direct route between a good access point to a bike path and the nearest free parking area. There is a sidewalk down our street, on our side of the street, which is relevant because the inspiration for this thread lives across the street.

Every day with even slightly nice weather there are dozens of people heading down the street to take advantage of the bike pathway: walkers, walkers with strollers, joggers, joggers with strollers (is that really good for babies? anyway), adults and kids on bikes, push-scooters, roller bladers, heck, I’ve even seen a couple on a tandem bike and one guy on a unicycle(!) in addition to the all the people on regular bikes.

This is fine by me. (Heck, I often walk on that bikepath, too. It’s lovely on it!) And these people have all been perfectly well-behaved and nice: no trash left on yards, no uncollected dog-poop, they stay on the sidewalk or street as appropriate, if I’m out in the yard for whatever reason they generally nod or say good morning or whatever. Just overall nice, regular people, right?

Well, not according to the Hell Hound across the street. Every single time someone comes down the street he runs up to the street edge of his owner’s lawn and starts barking madly. From the second the bypasser is in sight until maybe 30 seconds after they’re no longer visible.

Given how many people pass, this means the damn dog is barking virtually EVERY SECOND he’s outside the house. :mad:

Why can’t they teach the HH that he doesn’t need to bark at people who aren’t in his yard, in fact, are on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD. The dog is clearly not terminally stupid – he’s learned not to leave his yard – but I guess he feels compelled to guard a buffer zone around it, too. :frowning:

Yes, I have mentioned this to the woman who owns him. She just sort of giggled and said “He’s very protective.” So I got more explicit, and told her how annoying it was to listen to all the time. Her response?

“Oh, I keep my windows shut. I can barely hear him then.”

You smug bitch. :mad:

After that I complained to a town cop I spotted one day. He just shrugged, apparently dogs barking are only considered their problem if it’s late at night.

So… what else can I do? I’m not really violent, and I know the problem is the owner not the dog, but never being able to enjoy being out in my yard really gets to me. I’d never do anything violent to the dog…but I wouldn’t cry if something happened to him.

2

Let’s see why that owner might have a dog there.
Maybe it’s an area (so close to public traffic) that has been targeted by less than honest pedestrians. Maybe they use the dog to keep their property safe. Maybe those passing by taunt the dog. Dogs generally bark for a reason.

My dog always barks when someone enters my yard. That’s his job, he’s a part time watch dog and a full time friend.

3

The OP specifically said that none of your suppositions are true in this case. If we can believe the OP, the dog’s owner perhaps uses the dog to feel safe without any consideration of how the neighbors are affected by its inappropriate and unnecessary barking. Kind of like those car alarms that go off if you look at them crossways.

OP, you know that your problem is really with your neighbor and not with her dog, please save your ill wishes for the cause and not for the improperly trained animal.

4

From the OP

“Every day with even slightly nice weather there are dozens of people heading down the street…” That’s enough to trigger the instinct to protect in a dog, especially when the people walk in the vicinity of the dog’s domaine.

5

But with that logic, there should be nonstop dogs barking all the time…which would be seriously not cool.

6

Do you have their phone number? Every time the dog is out barking, call them and inform them of it. Be polite and neighborly. You’re helping them out since, they can’t hear the dog with the windows shut.

7

That’s a perfect analogy! For the sake of a minuscule addition to your safety, you feel justified in disrupting the peace for everyone in the area. :frowning:

And, truly, this neighborhood has virtually NO crime. Well, no robberies/burglaries/assaults/home invasions. It’s a small, white-collar bedroom suburb. I’ve lived here for years, and I talk with my neighbors. No one has ever mentioned an incident, even something that happened to someone else. The delivery companies leave packages on the porches and they don’t get taken. I take a walk every day, varying routes, and the only vandalism I’ve ever seen has been smashed pumpkins around Halloween and TP’ed trees around graduation time. Every week they list the ‘police log’ in the local paper, and it’s a litany of stuff like noise complaints, fender bender accidents, and such. People might be cheating on their taxes or embezzling from their offices, but dogs can help prevent that.

So to keep her “safer” she lets her dog annoy her neighbors and every passerby??

That is a wonderful idea! It’ll probably just get her blocking my number soon, but at least I can ‘annoy her back’ for a while.
:smiley:

8

Sounds like the dog is doing a great job. :slight_smile:

9

Barking dogs suck. There used to be two barking dogs two doors down the street from me. Every time I went out into my back yard to do anything, they’d bark at me through the series of fences separating us. To be fair, the owner would fuss at them each time and they’d shut up for maybe five minutes. But then they’d start up again.

People with constantly barking dogs need to live out in the country somewhere. They don’t make good neighbors.

10

People walking down the sidewalk on the other side of the street is not a legitimate trigger for a well-trained dog.

I am going to project a little here, based on your responses in this thread, including the fact that you own a dog: you are feeling a little defensive and possibly thinking this is (or is going to turn into) another anti-dog or anti-dog-owner thread. I don’t think you need to worry about that. The OP is only complaining about the behavior of one dog and its owner, and her complaint seems to me to be legitimate.

I see the smiley face but I don’t believe it. The main thing the dog is doing a great job at is bothering people who shouldn’t be bothered.

11

I hate barking dogs and I hate their owners. Don’t you dare look at me crosseyed because of my lawn or whatever if you let your dog bark at people not even on your property. The damn little rat mutt across the street barks at me when I am at MY door going into MY house - while he is inside HIS door.

If you let your dog bark constantly you are a bad neighbor. if you then proceed to go inside and shut the door/windows you are a bad neighbor. More than likely the dog is barking because he is bored and wants entertainment. Give him some. You bought the thing, entertain it and treat it properly.

12

Actually what the dog is doing is telling those people, good intentioned and bad alike, is to stay the fuck out of his yard.

Constant barking is certainly annoying, but so would be coming home and finding your TV and other valuables missing and your cat sitting there licking his ass on your sofa. But constant barking isn’t what the OP is describing. The OP has clearly identified the stimulus for the barking.

13

On first read, I missed the fact that this dog isn’t behind a fence - he is racing down to the edge of his property and barking at people who have no protection from him should he decide one day that he is going to do more than bark. This is truly asshole behavior on the part of the owner, and if she is ignoring the barking, what good is the dog doing WRT “protecting” her? If it were me, I’d be tempted to record the barking and the play that back over the phone to her.

The Chihuahua next door used to come into my yard and bark at me when I had the gall to come out my front door. I say used to because the last time it happened, I didn’t notice he was there until one of my big dogs had charged after him and chased him off. I didn’t call her back until she reached our property line, and the little dog got the message.

I don’t care if barking is “constant” or not, unless someone is actually threatening life or limb, it just isn’t necessary and it quickly gets annoying.

14

I’m guessing the dog stays in his yard due to an electric fence. You might suggest to your neighbor that an electronic bark collar would work for his nuisance barking as well.

Noise complaints can sometimes be filed with whichever agency handles animal licensing, instead of the police.

FTR, I think the dog belongs with her, not outside by itself barking.

15

There are good ultrasonic bark stoppers, up to 75’ range.
My fav is Dog Silencer by GoodLife.
It is automatic to 75’ and can be activated by remote up to 300’
It can run on battery or AC, and a 60’ extension cord is available.

If the neighbors on either side of the target are also so inclined, they can make the mutt’s life miserable.
Which is fair play

The Gaurdian line also work, at shorter distances.

The BarkOff line is useless in my experience.

One of the good makers offers a flashlight version with directional beam, which may also be of use. Haven’t tried it. .

16

No it isn’t!
Installing an electric shock collar on that owner would be fair play. Especially if it was sound-activated whenever the dog barks.

17

You also have to remember, too, that there are breeds whose primal instinct is to bark whenever anything moves. Guardian breeds – shepards, for example – are hardwired to do such, and no amount of training will ever breed that barking instinct out of them.

My housemate’s Belgian shepard will go into a barking fit if she so much notices a speck of dust floating in the air. She still stop if you tell her to, but she’ll ignore you if she doesn’t already know who you are.

18

It is also dangerous. A dog that rushes up to the edge of the yard in an aggressive manner can give someone a heart attack, cause bicyclists to lose control, and make other dogs go apeshit.

19

I think you may be jumping to the wrong conclusion. Complaining to a random town cop and calling in an official complaint are two different things.
If I were you I’d try making a call and inquiring about filing a formal complaint over excessive noise from you neighbor.

20

This. With some breeds, getting them to stop barking is really frickin’ hard. Not saying it’s impossible, but it can require an awful lot of time, effort and skill to do.
We had a dog once when we lived in an upstairs flat - this flat had stairs going to the ground floor, and a window above the door. She could sit at the top of the stairs and see people walking past outside, and she’d sit there barking at them for hours if you let her. As she was inside, it was no bother to anyone but us, but whatever we did, we absolutely could not get her to stop.

That said, I’d have more sympathy for the OP’s neighbor if a) she had a better attitude about the whole thing (and, y’know, apologised at least), and b) she was making some effort to train her dog or curb the noise in some way.
There are ways to stop the barking that don’t involve training - what we did with our dog in the end was I had to cover the window over so she couldn’t see outside. That solved the problem, but it felt like we’d failed in her training.