Advice to Stop Neighbor's Dog from Barking

[LillFilly]

HELP!!!!!!

Next door neighbor, not 20ft away, to the right. Elderly lab that he lets out for an hour at a time; as soon as the dog is out, it's constant barking. This happens about 4am, 8am, 8pm and 11pm.

This dog gets the little pom-a-poo thing to the rear, about 30-40ft away going.

THAT gets the 2/3 lab/boxer mixes to the left of us going, about 40-50ft away.

THAT IN TURN gets the husky down the street going, about 200ft away.

Really, the lab to the right is the biggest problem. It's constant for an hour at a time. A steady "woof...woof...bark...woof...bark............woof. ..woofwoof...bark....

I'm looking at spending $100 on THIS thing to stop it.

Any other recommendations to stop the dogs barking that doesn't cost as much? Free happy thoughts if you can help!

All of us in the house need to be to bed by 8-10 to get up 4-6. I'm thinking of getting that thing and mounting it on a swivel in the tree in the center of the yard; we could then aim it at whatever dog is barking. Having this think wouldn't be an issue for our dog, since she doesn't bark (except maybe twice a month).

[Lachrymose]

I had nearly the same problem.

The next door neighbors (before moving out) had two dogs that would do this exact thing.

It was to the point where I couldn't even go in my own back yard due to the constant barking.

And I live in a fairly densely packed neighborhood of single family houses, with many dogs that constantly bark because people don't train them.

I bought that same exact thing you linked to. Had it outside for several months. Didn't work at all. The people moved out not too long after that. (And, ironically, I became friends with them after that. Never brought up the dog thing since there was no point at that time.)

However, I did read the reviews and it appears to work for some people.

I don't think I still have it or I would send it to you. Who knows, it might work for you. But it is definitely pricey if it doesn't.

ETA: I just searched my house. Can't find it. If I come across it I'll let you know.

ETA2: Any chance of talking to the neighbors? I was so scared to do it not knowing how they would react so I never did.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Try calling the police (non-emergency number, of course) or animal control department and ask what you can do? I would imagine there is some kind of ordinance against allowing dogs to bark for extended periods of time. The owner needs to do something about it.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I own one of those devices and it works to an extent. However, in my case, because the owners were keeping their lab in a tiny kennel less than fifty feet from my back door and kitchen window, it just got more and more neurotic until the thing no longer worked.

I ended up having to have a heart to heart with my neighbor. We simply could not allow that to continue. I really do recommend talking about the problem.

They might get upset, but if someone has to be upset, it might as well not be you.

And yes, look up your local laws. there's probably a noise ordinance.

[Seshat]

Dogs bark for a number of reasons.

Chronic barking or nuisance (to humans) barking is usually a sign of a problem with the dog's environment.


Vi gets bored; and when she's bored, she'll sit at the window and bark at anything that moves; or go out the back and bark - again, at anything or everything. Or she'll bark just to hear the sound of her own voice. Basically, for brain stimulus.

Bored dogs tend to bark.

Lonely dogs bark. For much the same reason that lonely humans talk to themselves.

Neurotic dogs bark.

... and so on.



Anyway: the dog has needs that aren't being met. Punishing it for barking will just cause other displacement behaviours.

The actual solution is to get its needs met: but that's its owners' responsibility. So yeah, I agree with 'talk to the neighbours'.

[Automan Empire]

I always thought it would be awesome to set up a microphone and speaker with a delay, so the dog's own bark is played back to him in decaying echoes. Dog and neighbor should fast learn empathy this way.

I really hate when people let this go on. I mean, CAN'T YOU HEAR YOUR OWN DOG BARKING???

[Kheldarson]

I really hate when people let this go on. I mean, CAN'T YOU HEAR YOUR OWN DOG BARKING???

Sure I can (I've got a barker, unfortunately). But I work nights and am asleep during the day. Or in the middle of taking care of my son. By the time I get to her, she's done barking at whatever's got her worked up. Which means any discipline I do is wasted.

It's why we've got the bark collar on her. She still barks through it though; she's a bit of a slow learner :/

And we do try keeping her entertained, but she wants attention all the time. And we've got a 5 month old :/

[Teysa]

I agree with the talk to the neighbors thing too. I've found my dog has different kinds of barks. She has the 'hey look at me bark', the 'you're getting too close to my territory bark', and the 'get any closer and I will chew your face off bark.'

Distraction works with mine on the first two types but not so much on the last one. For that one, she'll stop on her own once the perceived threat is gone.

[dalesys]

Now, if we could just put the bark collar on the owner...

(Range boost: 50+ miles)

[Kit-Ginevra]

Corks.Large.Jam one up each end of offending dog.That'll shut it up...

[Seshat]

Corks.Large.Jam one up each end of offending owner. That'll shut it up...

Fixed it for you.

[Sapphire Silk]

Try calling the police (non-emergency number, of course) or animal control department and ask what you can do? I would imagine there is some kind of ordinance against allowing dogs to bark for extended periods of time. The owner needs to do something about it.

Most jurisdictions have ordinances against nuisance dogs. They are rarely enforced unless the animal itself is in danger; Animal Control just has too much on its plate to play referee between neighbors over barking.

I found that out the hard way when I bought my house five years ago. I had two idiot neighbors with barking dogs, both vicious. I could not enjoy my deck or back yard at all for the first two years.

I tried talking to the owners. One was indifferent and did nothing about his dogs, the other was a complete asshole about it.

Calls to Animal Control did little good; the cops simply don't want to get involved in this stuff. They would ignore the calls after awhile; I got told by dispatch that this was a "civil matter" meaning I would have to take the idiot and the asshole to court.

These dogs barked . . . all . . . night . . . long. The other neighbors were upset too, but no one wanted to confront the asshole.

Finally, I found this: the Pet Safe No Bark Birdhouse It saved my sanity, and it is less expensive than the model the OP is looking at.

It runs on a 9 volt battery, and has three modes. I found that with my neighbor's dogs, the highest setting was required for it to work. These devices send out an ultrasonic sound with every bark. It teaches the dog that to stop the sound, they must stop barking.

I had mixed success. The idiot neighbor's pit bulls and the asshole's mutt would still bark a lot when I was in the back yard, but the constant night time barking stopped. I was able to sleep at night, so I chalked that up as a win.

It worked very well with another neighbor's dog who is territorial but not vicious; he stopped barking right away.

I also discovered that if I complained about the dogs being left without shelter, no food and water, I got better results from Animal Control.

The asshole split from his wife and took the mutt with him. My guess is the little beast wound up euthanized in a shelter because the asshole probably was eventually forced to give the beast up to stay in an apartment due to the beast's non stop barking and sheer viciousness.

The idiot got his dogs taken by Animal Control. He had them in a kennel, but with no shelter and frequently without food and water. They were trying to dig under his fence and mine, which would have been bad for the dogs: I have a shotgun and would have shot them if they ended up on my property. I told the owner this when I complained about their digging even as they were doing the digging right in front of him, and he finally fixed the fence to stop it. But after listening to them howl one too many times in bad weather, Animal Control finally stepped in.

He got another set of dogs the next year as puppies; when they grew up he put them out in the back yard again. They howled like they were being killed it was awful. Animal Control acted; again there was no shelter and the dogs disappeared. He didn't have a dog for a couple of years but finally got a new one last summer. He doesn't leave it out all day like the previous dogs, but EE talked to him when she was running Goldie and Copper in my back yard, and found out his wife doesn't like dogs at all and will put the dog out when he's not home so she doesn't have to deal with it. But it doesn't happen too often, so barking has not been an issue. This dog is not vicious, but Copper doesn't like him and will bark at him when he's out.

So I've had to pull the Pet safe bird house out again. Copper will bark at people in neighbor's yards, especially if they're black or dark skinned (sorry, not my fault he's racist) nonstop, so I've had to pull it out to try and stop him. He'll stop if I tell him, but will start up again if I'm not constantly on him. He knows he's not supposed to bark, but he's a stubborn knucklehead of a dog.

The past couple of days I've been here when the dogs were here, there was no barking. Too soon to tell if it's working, but I don't think Copper likes the ultrasound, so I think it will help to control his barking.

Sorry about the long rant, but I really sympathize with the OP: I've had years of dealing with disruptive dogs next door and I totally get how frustrating it is. Like I've said, the ultrasound devices can work, but it takes some patience while the dog figures out that no barking = no ultrasonic noises, and even with the device there may still be some problems.

Check out http://www.barkingdogs.net/. This is a very worthwhile site about options for barking dogs. I got a lot of good ideas from them. Some work better than others, and it's usually a mixture of efforts that gets the job done.

Good luck!