Dog & Neighbour Issues
Discussion
A bit of a long winded story this but hoping the PH experts can offer some pointers.
Last August we bought a new puppy and after a couple of weeks it became apparent that it had separation issues causing it to bark at night and/or if it was left alone. Our neighbour put a note through our door complaining that it was disturbing him; I went to see him and apologised, assuring him we would take steps to sort it out. The OH is a big lover of dogs and has successfully trained a number of puppies before.
Eventually, after 3 months of one of us sleeping on the living room floor every night, a variety of chew toys, a pheromone diffuser, several trips to the vet and much anguish we arrived at a point where the dog was silent at night. This period was punctuated with a variety of notes from next door complaining about barking etc and culminated in my sending a letter to him detailing the steps we had taken and politely asking him to consider just how much of an effort it had been.
With that taken care of, the focus turned to getting it to be quiet when left alone in the house. This happens very scarcely anyway as if we are both at work or out elsewhere it goes to the in-laws' house. However, occasionally it is necessary to leave it if we have to nip out or if I get called out (I work for a funeral director). At a guess I would say this happens no more than twice a month for no more than 30 mins at a time.
The obvious approach as we saw it was to chuck the dog in at the deep end, so to speak, and leave it alone for increasing periods of time until it became accustomed to it. However, each time we tried this we got a note complaining that the dog is barking persistently, each time with more threats of reporting us to the council. I have repeatedly asked that he bear with us for a couple of weeks so that we can train the dog to be alone but he will not have this and so the cycle continues with us running up our own arses trying to sort doggy daycare out all the time as we are terrified of being reported to the powers that be.
This has now been going on for several months but things came to a head today when we popped to the shop for 15 mins and decided not to take the dog as it was too hot to leave it in the car or tie it up outside in the sun. Cue a note on our return saying that we were going to be reported to the council and the RSPCA(!), as it was now beyond a joke and his children have threatened to stop coming to stay as it woke them up at 7.30 am last Sunday (which it didn't, because it wasn't here).
He claims to have recordings going back to October and he is also making note of our movements, times we leave and times we come back etc. His partner works in a hairdressers next door to the in-laws house and he is therefore also monitoring our coming and going from there and the dogs actions in their back garden. He has sworn at me out of his window, been rude toward the OH in the street and sworn at me again tonight when my patience expired and I went to - politely - have it out with him.
Now, I appreciate that for the few minutes a month that it goes on it must be frustrating to hear the noise, but surely this is a bit excessive? We feel like prisoners in our own home and constantly feel like we are being watched. The word harassment gets bandied about too much nowadays but to be honest I feel like we are heading in that direction which is just ridiculous.
What is galling is that there is a lad a couple of doors up who has a full-scale disco going on at all hours most days and there are other houses with dogs nearby, some of whom seem to leave them alone and barking all day. I have asked him whether he is complaining to any of these people but apparently not.
I am at my wits end now and have no idea what to do; if he does report us to the council I am pretty sure that they would not find much against us as the dog is well fed, healthy, exercised regularly, vaccinated, given flea and worm treatments and is well socialised. The house is tidy, it has plenty of room to roam about, a comfy bed and plenty of water. Nevertheless I am bothered that he is going to land us in hot water over what is really a triviality.
I was wondering if any PH experts can advise on a) what we can expect if he does report us and b) whether there is anything we can legally do to get him to sod off and leave us in peace. Any help would be much appreciated.
Last August we bought a new puppy and after a couple of weeks it became apparent that it had separation issues causing it to bark at night and/or if it was left alone. Our neighbour put a note through our door complaining that it was disturbing him; I went to see him and apologised, assuring him we would take steps to sort it out. The OH is a big lover of dogs and has successfully trained a number of puppies before.
Eventually, after 3 months of one of us sleeping on the living room floor every night, a variety of chew toys, a pheromone diffuser, several trips to the vet and much anguish we arrived at a point where the dog was silent at night. This period was punctuated with a variety of notes from next door complaining about barking etc and culminated in my sending a letter to him detailing the steps we had taken and politely asking him to consider just how much of an effort it had been.
With that taken care of, the focus turned to getting it to be quiet when left alone in the house. This happens very scarcely anyway as if we are both at work or out elsewhere it goes to the in-laws' house. However, occasionally it is necessary to leave it if we have to nip out or if I get called out (I work for a funeral director). At a guess I would say this happens no more than twice a month for no more than 30 mins at a time.
The obvious approach as we saw it was to chuck the dog in at the deep end, so to speak, and leave it alone for increasing periods of time until it became accustomed to it. However, each time we tried this we got a note complaining that the dog is barking persistently, each time with more threats of reporting us to the council. I have repeatedly asked that he bear with us for a couple of weeks so that we can train the dog to be alone but he will not have this and so the cycle continues with us running up our own arses trying to sort doggy daycare out all the time as we are terrified of being reported to the powers that be.
This has now been going on for several months but things came to a head today when we popped to the shop for 15 mins and decided not to take the dog as it was too hot to leave it in the car or tie it up outside in the sun. Cue a note on our return saying that we were going to be reported to the council and the RSPCA(!), as it was now beyond a joke and his children have threatened to stop coming to stay as it woke them up at 7.30 am last Sunday (which it didn't, because it wasn't here).
He claims to have recordings going back to October and he is also making note of our movements, times we leave and times we come back etc. His partner works in a hairdressers next door to the in-laws house and he is therefore also monitoring our coming and going from there and the dogs actions in their back garden. He has sworn at me out of his window, been rude toward the OH in the street and sworn at me again tonight when my patience expired and I went to - politely - have it out with him.
Now, I appreciate that for the few minutes a month that it goes on it must be frustrating to hear the noise, but surely this is a bit excessive? We feel like prisoners in our own home and constantly feel like we are being watched. The word harassment gets bandied about too much nowadays but to be honest I feel like we are heading in that direction which is just ridiculous.
What is galling is that there is a lad a couple of doors up who has a full-scale disco going on at all hours most days and there are other houses with dogs nearby, some of whom seem to leave them alone and barking all day. I have asked him whether he is complaining to any of these people but apparently not.
I am at my wits end now and have no idea what to do; if he does report us to the council I am pretty sure that they would not find much against us as the dog is well fed, healthy, exercised regularly, vaccinated, given flea and worm treatments and is well socialised. The house is tidy, it has plenty of room to roam about, a comfy bed and plenty of water. Nevertheless I am bothered that he is going to land us in hot water over what is really a triviality.
I was wondering if any PH experts can advise on a) what we can expect if he does report us and b) whether there is anything we can legally do to get him to sod off and leave us in peace. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you for all your replies; I had a feeling this would split opinion and indeed it has.
To answer those mentioning the length of time etc, I should have been clearer in my OP. We want to train the dog, are perfectly capable of training the dog and could probably do so in a relatively short period of time. However, you cannot do it without leaving the dog alone at some point.
The problem is that as soon as we begin this process by leaving it for 5 or 10 mins we get the notes etc as previously described; this results in us stopping and going back to taking it everywhere/farming it out to friends and family members every time we go out (apart from the odd occasion as explained in the OP).
Each time this has occurred we have given it a few weeks to let the dust settle before trying again, half in the hope that the dog will perhaps have grown out of it a little so that we can train it with no noise. Of course this doesn't happen and thus the cycle repeats itself as it has for several months.
What he is asking us to do is, to me, equivalent to teaching someone to pass a driving test without ever sitting in a car, or to play the violin without ever picking up the instrument. Surely even the most ardent dog hater can grasp the difficulty of training a dog to be alone without actually being able to leave it alone?
All we have asked is for him to put up with, say, a couple of weeks' nuisance (ie a few minutes of potential barking each day) in order to get the problem sorted so we can all move on with our lives but he won't. Of course the obvious thought is to just say bugger it, do it anyway and deal with the grief but we are scared to do this in case we end up being reported - hence my asking what happens in that instance. The daft thing is that should he be instructed to make a note of any barking for a fortnight he would probably return a blank sheet of paper most weeks, such are the lengths we go to to keep the peace.
I think the camera suggestion is good - whilst I do not at all dispute that the dog barks, there have been a number of occasions when he reckons to have heard it and it has either not been here or has been here but sat quietly with us.
To re-iterate, we know that there is a problem, we are not ignorant of it, we are perfectly capable of sorting it out but we are simply not being allowed to. Whilst the original problem is absolutely not of the neighbour's making, the lack of a solution is as he simply will not allow us to do anything about it.
To answer those mentioning the length of time etc, I should have been clearer in my OP. We want to train the dog, are perfectly capable of training the dog and could probably do so in a relatively short period of time. However, you cannot do it without leaving the dog alone at some point.
The problem is that as soon as we begin this process by leaving it for 5 or 10 mins we get the notes etc as previously described; this results in us stopping and going back to taking it everywhere/farming it out to friends and family members every time we go out (apart from the odd occasion as explained in the OP).
Each time this has occurred we have given it a few weeks to let the dust settle before trying again, half in the hope that the dog will perhaps have grown out of it a little so that we can train it with no noise. Of course this doesn't happen and thus the cycle repeats itself as it has for several months.
What he is asking us to do is, to me, equivalent to teaching someone to pass a driving test without ever sitting in a car, or to play the violin without ever picking up the instrument. Surely even the most ardent dog hater can grasp the difficulty of training a dog to be alone without actually being able to leave it alone?
All we have asked is for him to put up with, say, a couple of weeks' nuisance (ie a few minutes of potential barking each day) in order to get the problem sorted so we can all move on with our lives but he won't. Of course the obvious thought is to just say bugger it, do it anyway and deal with the grief but we are scared to do this in case we end up being reported - hence my asking what happens in that instance. The daft thing is that should he be instructed to make a note of any barking for a fortnight he would probably return a blank sheet of paper most weeks, such are the lengths we go to to keep the peace.
I think the camera suggestion is good - whilst I do not at all dispute that the dog barks, there have been a number of occasions when he reckons to have heard it and it has either not been here or has been here but sat quietly with us.
To re-iterate, we know that there is a problem, we are not ignorant of it, we are perfectly capable of sorting it out but we are simply not being allowed to. Whilst the original problem is absolutely not of the neighbour's making, the lack of a solution is as he simply will not allow us to do anything about it.
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