I have not personally met our neighbors in the house behind us; our lawns are separated by a 50-foot wide patch of dense forest.
They used to have a dog that would bark quietly late in the morning - no big deal - but something changed recently, and now the dog is much louder, and barks much earlier. It starts anywhere from 5:15AM to 6:30 AM and goes on for 15-20 minutes at a time, one bark every few seconds. Our master bedroom is at the back of our house, and so sometimes this wakes us up and/or keeps us from falling back asleep.
It’s time to go have a chat with them. Our city has a noise ordinance (stay quiet before 7 AM), but I’d rather not open by beating him over the head with that. Diplomacy needs to be tried first; I’m not really expecting that to work, but at least when I call the cops after that, I can tell them “hey, I really tried.”
So…when I talk to him, I would like to be able to recommend resources and/or practices that will keep his dog quiet. What can you suggest?
As someone who actually has to live in the house with such a barking dog, I too am interested in advice.
I wouldn’t suggest anything. I would just let them know there is a problem. Coming up with a list of suggestions for them on how to keep dogs from barking comes across as condescending, especially if they know the dog is barking.
Keep the dog inside.
On followup visits, you can also suggest:
Keep the damn dog inside.
Keep the effing dog inside.
Keep the stupid mutt inside or I’m going to start calling the cops on your ass.
Let your response reflect your level of sleep deprivation.
Is the dog inside or outside?
When we’re inside our house, the dog is loud enough to keep us from sleeping. I’m pretty sure he’s outside when this is happening. Given that he’s either barking every few seconds (during these episodes) or utterly silent (the rest of the day), I assume the owner keeps the dog inside most of the time.
They might not know you can hear the dog through all those woods or that it wakes you, so just letting them know and asking them to resolve the problem might be enough. It sounds like you’re expecting resistance and assuming they’ll be uncooperative, which seems premature since you’ve never had any dealings with them. Try approaching them as a friendly neighbor with a reasonable request expecting affable cooperation in return and see how that goes.
I should note that I dealt with a similar problem not too long ago. All of a sudden my neighbors’ dog started waking me up really early, just like yours. Living in adjoining townhomes, I could tell they were leaving early for something, maybe a morning workout class, and the dog would bark until they returned an hour or so later. I wrote a polite note and left it on their door. A day later they stopped by to apologize and it was never a problem after that. I don’t know what they did to shut the dog up but it was their issue to figure out, not mine. I don’t think it would have helped at all to include a list of shock collars, muzzles, etc with my note. Now, you might have a few ideas in mind if they happen to ask, but I just wouldn’t offer it.
Another vote to just tell them what the problem is and leave it to them to figure it out. I would also let them know that you didn’t mind the dog barking when it was later in the morning and perhaps mention the time that you usually wake up – just to stress that it’s not the dog barking, period, it’s the dog barking at hours when you’re still trying to sleep.
Two words- box fan. Seriously, a few years ago I started running a box fan when I slept, and I haven’t been woken by a neighbor, dog, or family member since. It does take a few nights to get used to it, but when you do, heaven.