Barking Dog home alone.. help!

insanity

Hi all,

A neighbour of mine moved into the housing estate approximately 2 years ago, and within weeks had a puppy, which has now grown into a large adult dog,(Mongrel).

Within a few weeks the barking begun........ and hasn't stopped!!

Both partners in the household are out of the house from 8am til 7/8/9 pm 6 days a week, the dog confined to the side of the house for the whole day. Not only is it not ever brought for a walk.... (I have genuinely never seen the dog outside the front of the house), but it is also confined to the side of the house which is quite small in area.

So I have two questions.....

The first is what if anything can be done about the fact that the dog is never walked, left alone from 8am til late evening every day..(Not just Mon- Fri)? I believe that once the dog has adequate shelter. food and water provided that that is indeed all that's required, but does anybody know if you are in breach of any bye law etc for basically owning a dog and leaving it alone for up to 12 hours a day?

The second but more important is to do with my sanity!! 2 years, yes 2 years , of barking, which begins soon after his "owners" leave the house until late in the evening. Even then the barking doesn't stop... The postman arrives at about 0830 each day and that encourages more barking which wakes me up each day. Each time a person walks past the house, that starts another bout of barking... It genuinely is never-ending. Indeed on the owners return, if the dog barks late into the night, (And I'm talking 1 or 2 am) never is there an effort made to silence the barking, at any stage.

I'm fully aware that the dog's relentless barking is due to absolute boredom, with no interaction whatsoever... but that doesn't help me in my effort to get a good night's sleep.

I work shift work and can sometimes finish work at 2am, only to be awoken at 8am approx....... Other days I need to get out of bed at 5am to head to work, having been kept awake til 1 or 2 am ........... it just isn't fun anymore..(Is that a violin I hear:)

I have tried shouting out the window for the dog to shut up..(More in the hope that it's owners will "Get the hint".....but to no avail.

I have purchased one of those devices that emits an ultrasonic sound each time the dog barks..... to no avail even though it has been in use for several months now.

What used to be a nice quite area prior to these people moving in with their dog has genuinely become a nightmare at times.


No, I have not approached the owners and directly asked them to keep the dog quite, but to be honest, I'm thinking that since they have made no effort to silence the dog even with me shouting out the window at the dog, I don't know how much use it would be.

The neighbours at the other side of this person's house have young children.. I have no idea how they tolerate the noise to be honest.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

oh and yes he is barking as I type this.... 11:15am.

tk123

Speak to the neighbours about it or put a letter thru the door if you don't want to talk to them face to face. Don't shout at him either as it'll just encourage him. Our neighbours were the same - they'd go out and the dog was hysterical with seperation anxiety. Somebody around the corner who did shift work complained and the barking stopped - they took him into the house, didn't leave him alone all weekend etc etc

falabo

tell those lazy irresponsible dog owners to walk the dogs for 30 minutes every morning and pay a dog walker for half way through the day, sure even a teenager might be willing to make a few quids. if they are both working full time, I cant imagine not being able to spend €10 a day on this

also a walk in the evening, Kong toys etc and this should cure the problem

Taltos

Before you do anything are you 100% sure it is that specific dog?
The reason I am asking you to be cautious here is a friend of mine is being harrassed by her neighbour with similar complaints - however all of his recent complaints clearly rule out her dogs - it appears to be a small yipper across the road but the neighbour refuses to see sense on this one.

Just be really sure it is that dog.
So if it is - try talking to the neighbour if you can, letters are a great way to avoid immediate conflict but do come across a bit passive-agressive. Failing a reasonable response you would be within your rights to make a complaint I think to the Dept of the Environment (??) for noise pollution.

We have a similar problem with one of our neighbours - luckily not being on shift means our sleep is not being messed around. Try approaching them and stay reasonable - they might not be aware how bad it is - so go with a recording if you can...

Borderfox

Just seen if there has been any resolution for the OP on this matter, I have something similar although the person who owns the dog is not approachable at all. Whats the next step in making representation to the person to try and stop the dog barking?

Winston79

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/environment/animal_welfare_and_control/control_of_dogs.html

Hopefully this link is ok^ It gives information on barking and the law.

As said above let them know whats happening when they're away, they may have no idea, after all they aren't aound when it's happening. I got a note through my door not to long ago from neighbours, apparently one of my dogs has started barking all the time when we're not there (not 8-late 7 days a week, just a few hours at a time), I had no idea untill the note came through the door. Now I can address the problem and see to it that my pup gets the proper training so he's ok when i'm gone. Hopefully they take on board your concerns and do the right thing, for your sake and of course the wee dogs sake.

SineadMarie

Disgrace why do people like that get dogs if they're not willing to make an effort

Graces7

We have had this issue a few times.

Once, we put a letter through the door saying how concerend we were as the dog sounded distressed and did they want us to call a vet in as we were happy to do that. In that case they had no idea the dog was barking as of course it stopped when they came home.

The second time was a dog we knew was chained outside all day and night; owned by an old man in a rural place. We knew he lived alone so we asked another neighbour if he was OK as we heard the dog all the time and would call the Gardai to make sure the old man was OK.

The barking stopped in both cases. Must be the perceved threat of officialdom? In the first case the man was irate but he was an odd cove anyways....