The town code says the following about “habitually barking dogs”, how would you definite it?
I ask because my across the street neighbor complained that at the same time everyday my my dog barks too much when she’s outside. While I do put her out at the same time everyday, I don’t think I leave her out there for too long and I don’t think she barks excessively.
But I was curious what the Dope thought and whether me feeling offended at his request is justified.
I didn’t want to say in the OP because I thought it might sway the response, but for the record I put her out before I go to work from about 7:45 - 8:45 and then again in the late afternoon at about 7 - 7:30 for maybe a half hour to 45 minutes. At that point in the day she’s itching to run around and rough-house, but being outside alone worries her because she’s still a puppy.
If your dog’s barking disturbs your neighbor, why wouldn’t you want to do what you could to lessen it, if only to act in good faith? Does “who’s right” matter more to you than being a good neighbor? If so, why is that?
Yes, there are loads of examples of neighbour disputes turning bitter (and even leading to expensive legal disputes). :eek:
Couldn’t you look for someone nearby or a friend who would walk your dog / look after it.
That way both the dog and your neighbour would be happier.
Dogs are pack animals after all.
If she consistently barks while she’s out there at the same time daily, I would consider that habitual. I had a neighbour that did the exact same thing, and if it had been up to me, I would have said something to them (for reasons beyond my control, I couldn’t). They would leave their dog outside for about an hour at a time by itself, and it would bark, and whine constantly. Not once did I ever see them walk it. Just because you are awake, and the noise doesn’t bother you, doesn’t mean it’s not a royal PITA. I worked shift work, and would be just settling down to sleep and then they would put the dog out for it’s morning yap-a-thon.
Why not walk your dog, or go out and play with her, so she will be less upset/afraid and stop being a nuisance to the neighbourhood?
In this case, I believe my neighbor is being extremely unreasonable. My dog is outside in the morning for no more than an hour. She does not bark for this entire hour and he lives across the street anyway. Beyond that, the neighbors to my right own three dogs, the neighbors behind me own two dogs and both of their neighbors also own two dogs each. It would be impossible to single out my dog from the cacophony of barking in the neighborhood. They all bark and they often bark at each other.
Also, the neighbor on my left has two small children that scream and scream and scream whenever they’re outside. I would love to complain about them, but I don’t because little children scream and they’re not out there all the time. So it would be unreasonable to complain.
Finally, I also believe that part of it is an attempt at bullying due to my age (I’m 26). My across the street neighbor has several young children but almost looks old enough to be my father (he looks to be in his early to mid 40s). I think there’s a tiny bit of “I am an adult and you should do what I say” going on.
I’d interpret the law as “if your dog’s barking annoys someone, you’re in violation.”
Since being outdoors alone stresses your puppy, can you go out with her? You probably can’t spare 45 minutes in the morning, but it shouldn’t take that long for her to do her business anyway.
There are a lot of dogs on my block, and the only ones that bark are the ones who are outside alone.
ISTR that Justin_Bailey’s dog is a representative of one of those breeds that gets lumped with the label of “Pit Bull.” Given the presence of young children being added to the mix, I’m afraid I am inclined to interpret the neighbor’s complaint as being anything that he can focus on that he might be able to use as a pretext to get the dangerous dog removed from his neighborhood.
IOW, I’m not sure that there’s anything that would be enough to satisfy this neighbor.
I agree that reasonable and good faith measures are often worthwhile to make when dealing with neighbor disputes. I just want to emphasize that such measures are only effective if both sides are approaching the issue from a good faith perspective.
ETA: Auntie Pam - different dogs behave differently. The loudest barking dog I knew was an Aussie who loved to play fetch. And she’d go wild barking while doing it. A lot of chronic barking is attention getting behavior, but not all.
I have 2 beagles and they will get loud under the right circumstances. One day my neighbor said they were barking a lot. There was a rabbit jumping around in his back yard. No force on earth would quiet them at that time.
If a critter gets in the yard they will go nuts. Sorry.
I walk them everyday.
Oh yeah. The neighbors have a Labrador and a Yorkiepoo. The Lab never barks when he’s outside but the Yorkiepoo won’t shut up. Yippy little fucker, thinks he’s tough, guards the whole neighborhood.
They both bark nonstop when they’re indoors and the neighbors are gone. Someone finally complained, and now they keep the windows closed. The dogs still bark but we don’t hear them unless we’re outside.
Funny dog story: One day last week I surprised Boomer with his ear to the floor and his butt in the air. Looked silly as hell. A few seconds later my husband pulled into the driveway on his motorcycle. It was like Boomer had his ear to the ground, listening for the vibration.
Word of warning: IF the dog in question is indeed considered a “pit bull” type, I wouldn’t leave said dog outside unattended for any length of time at all, especially if a neighbor has evidenced antipathy.
Pit bulls are frequently subject to attempts to kill them by neighbors – poisoned meat thrown into the yard, hanging, shooting, opening the gate near the road, and so on.
Your dog is happier with you anyway – why not go outside yourself and spend the time with the dog, providing protection, bonding with him/her, and incidentally being precisely aware of the barking situation.
I have a friend who works for Animal Control in a large Canadian city (so obviously YMMV), but he said that they don’t ticket people for barking dogs unless:the barking is habitual and ongoing (i.e. pretty much continuous, and for longer than half an hour or so).
Also, he said that his department never tickets people for the first violation, but they give a warning. Usually you’d need to get a couple warnings before they write a ticket (the fine is $100).
I couldn’t find a procedure for my town, but this is the same procedure I found for many other towns in New York state. The barking is not continuous and it’s after the “reasonable hour” for noise, so I think I will kindly ignore this jerk until he wants to make an issue of it.
Also, I don’t believe my dog being a (half) pit bull has anything to do with my neighbor’s dislike of her. Whenever he gets a cell phone call he comes outside and starts pacing in front of his garage as he talks. He does this all day everyday. I’ve seen him out there at 1 AM and once spotted him sitting on the sidewalk in front of his house at 3 AM having a cigarette. Basically, he uses his front yard as his office (probably because his kids are loud and he’d rather go outside than make them behave) and he thinks I’m somehow intruding on that.