Neighbor's Dog Barking - San Diego,CA

That's happened to me before. I put an anonymous note in their mailbox, and when that didn't work, I called animal control. I know other neighbors complained too, and animal control came to their door and gave them a warning. The neighbor ended up getting rid of the dog because they were gone all the time. (They gave it away to another family.) P.S. I also called the cops but they told me they don't handle that - only animal control.

You could always call the cops and just say that you were walking by a house and heard a dog barking and were concerned.

I called Animal Control on my backyard neighbors about their barking dogs. They actually have a "report a barking dog" option. The nice thing about this approach is that Animal Control really made an effort to resolve the situation, not just warn or penalize the owners. I think the dogs just wanted to be inside and when the neighbors left the house they had no idea that the dogs barked incessantly. Anyway, I was uncomfortable approaching them because we had never met and I knew they would just feel attacked. Give Animal Control a call and see what they can do. No need to give your name in my city. This actually resolved the situation and the neighbor dogs are rarely outside and rarely bark now! Good luck!

Well, I am usually one for putting up with quite a bit and not arguing with neighbors. I mean, we all have them and usually they do something that annoys us.
However, we had neighbors that shared a back fence with us although their actual yard was down a bit of a cliff behind us. So....technically, their house was in a different neighborhood down behind us. Hard to explain.
Anyway, they had 7 shelties. I don't know if they were breeders or what, but those dogs were outside in a kennel all day, every day and all night long. The people both worked during the day and they were gone every single weekend off with their boat. The rest of us had to listen to the dogs. Constantly.
It was so bad that when I called to ask about whether or not it would be appropriate to file a complaint, the person on the other end of the line couldn't even hear me because of the barking dogs. My case was proven right then and there.
Complicating things was the fact that we weren't within "city" limits so it was a county issue. I was told to write an anonymous letter and send it by mail (keeping a copy for documentation). I was told to be nice about it, but state that the constant barking was in violation of noise ordidnances and if they couldn't keep their dogs quiet, there would be no choice but to file a formal complaint. I could have filed a complaint right away, but as a neighbor, I wanted to give them a chance to rectify the situation without it having to go any further, yada yada and thanked them for their consideration.
They were FURIOUS!!!! We could hear them yelling at their neighbors on their cul-de-sac never once thinking that it could be someone up the hill in back of them. So, the next thing we had to listen to was them yelling at their dogs when they were there. They got rid of some of the dogs and eventually things settled down.
I know what you mean...I felt bad for the dogs. Why would somebody have that many and then rarely even be there? I just came to the conclusion that they didn't have to hear the noise or deal with it so it didn't bother them in the slightest. But they sure did get mad over an anonymous letter in their mailbox.
That's how I dealt with my situation anyway. I wasn't the only person fed up so it's not like I was making a mountain out of a mole hill or being overly sensitive about something no one else cared about.

Best of luck.

Put a note in their mailbox and explain how long it's been going on. If it does not stop NOW, then call animal control. Also talk with your local police because if the dogs are disturbing the peace after the animal control employees are home, after 5, weekends and holidays, you and the other neighbors should not have to put up with constant noise.

This comes from an EXTREME dog lover/owner and I keep my dogs quiet. True dogs bark and cat meow and sometimes screme, but it should not be constant! It is up to the pet owners to train their pets and correct their pets and children, and respect their neighbors.

Blessings.....

During the day there is probably not much you can do about it, they may feel the same way about the noise of your children playing outside, but they have a right to play. If it is going on at night after bed time I would definitely talk with them, but in a non-confrontational way if possible.

You can call animal control and they will make a trip over to your neighbors' and ask them to put a stop to the dog barking.

I had to do this a few years ago when some neighbors were letting their dogs poop in my front yard. It was massive poop and I had stepped in it and so had delivery men, etc. My husband had asked them a couple times to please stop. I finally got tired of it and called animal control. They did visit, but the dog still pooped, although not as much as before.

Good luck! Barking dogs are hard to deal with. Unless mine is barking at someone walking down the alley I always ask her to stop and she does.

depending on your neighbors try talking to them or sending an annoymous letter first or just call animal control...one thing i absolutely HATED about being in the city.

We are the only family on our street of 6 homes without a dog, or 2 or 3 or 4....

There is always a dog barking or pooping or chasing a squirel...

Unless your neighborhood has some covenants or ordinances I don't know that there is much you can do. My husband constantly threatens to shoot the dog barking at 2 am.

I think the only polite way to broach the subject is to do it face to face and if you can't/don't want to do that then you have to leave it be and live with the barking (much like we live with cleaning dog poop out of the front yard ourselves b/c we aren't going to bring it up with the neighbors!). GL!

ugh! for years now i've heard my neighbor's dog barking in their yard..i never said anything..their dog also killed my beloved cat when we first moved here and she got out..
some nights he is barking some nights not..if it really bugged me i would buy a chew toy for him and put it out there or leave them a note..or call the police and complain..

i now have 2 dogs that have access to outside at night..they're fixed..before they were fixed they were more yippity..if they do start barking outside i always hear it and handle it..by giving them something to chew on which gets them back into the house..
you could suggest your neighbor gets the dog some toys and treats to occupy his lonely nights.

D.

Contact your local Animal Control & request to remain anonymous ( which means, you give THEM your info - but they will not tell the neighbor "who" called ).

They will give you an estimate of when they will be able to send someone out & you can call a few days after that & request an update on what happened.

As someone who has a dog that just won't shut up and has dealt with neighbors on it, here's my suggestion.

First, not all dogs are good inside when folks are away at work and school. My lab doesn't know how to be quiet outside, but cannot stay inside by himself. He EATS everything...toys, wall molding, speaker wire, etc. He has to be outside. He's grown out of a lot of that as he's gotten older, but not the barking.

The owner of the dog may not be aware of it...we weren't when it started because he didn't bark when we were home, because he was inside with us. We noticed he would bark when we got home, but whose dog doesn't when their owner arrives home?

My suggestion, write a note and sign your name. Give them your address so they can talk to you. Eventually, with neighborhood gossip you figure out who the anoynymous complainer is. The woman in our neighborhood who did the annoynmous letters also managed to write them on two of the worst days...the day I was in the hospital losing my babies and the day my husband lost his job. Dogs are sensitive and I know "Jack" knew there was something wrong the day I was in the hospital...I'm sure that's why even with his bark collar on, he was barking. If she had put her address down, we could have explained this to her...and by the way her note was so rude I didn't care she was annoyed. I'd kind of like to take a blow horn and blow it outside her house all night.

So...write a nice note, let the neighbor know and then tape it to their door with your name on it. If you can't man up to sign your name, then you shouldn't complain. Chances are they have no idea and will do what we did, tried a citronella collar, that didn't work, thied a shock collar, that did...and my husband tested it on himself too before giving to our dog.

So, there's my two cents...

-M

Wow, I feel your pain. When our first neighbors had the barking dog (their yard is right along all our bedrooms), we mentioned it to them. They even came over once and asked when our dog was outside because she was making their dog bark! (Yeah, right! Our dog went out about 3 times a day for 5 minutes or was with us. Their dog barked incessantly.) They made it seem like they realized it was an issue and were doing something about it....they didn't. We left messages for them when they would leave it outside for weekends, and ended up calling animal control.

The next neighbors, we mentioned the dog, and our sleeping baby, no change. Called animal control, and the neighbors were really rude to her.

This third neighbor, we have yelled at the dog to knock it off when they are outside while the dog is barking, and they do nothing. We have also called animal control.

I know that I am getting less and less patient with each neighbor, but it seems to be a requirement in that house to have a barking/howling/yapping dog that isn't part of their family and is treated badly. Oh, and they also seem to have to have a trampoline. :)

I had a neighbor call on me cause my dog was barking, I had a german shepherd who was an indoor outdoor dog, and a very good watch dog. But my dog was always in for the night by 10:PM and she only barked if she saw someone out in the neighborhood from the window or if she heard something, when animal control came i told him I told him with all the dogs in the neighbor how can he say it's my dog and when my dark barks after 10 PM she is in her own house. I was mad and not very nice, i told him (Which was wrong) that if anyone has a issue with dogs barking to take it up with God, since he is the one that created dogs to bark. Again i was wrong to say that, But if you feel the dog is being abused ot neglected you can call, but if it is just an barking issue, I know where i live unless it's after 10 PM there's not much they can do, and the animal is in their own yard. I'm not bothered by animal noises, I listen to chickens and roosters all day everyday, my next door neighbors have chickens and roosters. You can in a loving way talk to the people, but they make take it out on the barking dog. I know I didn't help much. Sorry J.

They are obviously horrible pet owners. However, I have been in this situation 2x in my life. These types often don't leave water out for their pets. Can you peek over the fence to check the status of the water? If there is no water, that is an animal neglect issue and you can call the proper authorities on that. The dog also needs, by law, to have protection for the elements, like a patio covering. If not, again it is a neglect case. Call your local Humane Society and they may be able to assist you!

If you feel that you would be labeled in some way a nice anonymous note would do the trick. IF however, you feel that in any way the dog is being neglected you need to call animal control. You can do this anonymously as well. Good Luck!