We are THOSE neighbors

[Cynthia Shoe]

So I came home today with a flyer in the door from the Humane Society entitled "Quiet Dogs Make Good Neighbors" and proceeds to outline the city ordinances.

I am so upset. We have been working with Lambeau on his barking, but it is not anything I would consider nuisance barking or worthy of violating an ordinance. We have taught him speak, and are working on quiet. He doesn't bark when he is home alone (we have a camera and watch him) and he is at daycare three days per week. He barks at the front door if he sees a bunny but the door and windows are shut and our neighbors are across the street so I cannot imagine that would be bothering neighbors. We also have that window blocked off if we are gone, so he is not barking at the door when he is alone. He does bark outside sometimes in the morning or at night, but I always get him back in the house and quiet within a min or two. He barks when we play in the house. Outside we are usually playing catch or chase. We only share a fence with 3 people. We know all of them and have talked to all of them about the barking, as we are sometimes training with him if he is barking at them at the fence and they all said they don't care. I just don't know what to do. If someone is so upset with us that they won't talk to us, but obviously reported us, how to we fix that? Does anyone have experience with this or how to work with neighbors or how to prevent our dog (that is half poodle) from barking?  Feel overwhelmed and concerned for my relationship with my neighbors and for our dog.

[Suzanne & Jack]

We had a similar situation when we first moved to this house. We woke up one morning with a notic on our door from Animal Control. The complaint said that our dogs had been barking at 2:30 am. I knew this was untrue since they had been sleeping with me. Talking to other neighbor's we found out that that a neighbor was very afraid of dogs and hated animals. She would periodically call animal control and report random dogs in the neighborhood. From that time I never spoke to that neighbor again. I would speak to your neighbor's and let them know that you don't want to be inconsiderate. You might also contact your Humane Society and ask nicely for clarification of the complaint.

[Tracey & Spike]

I wouldn't let it get to you. Your dog is doing nothing wrong. You have a puppy. Your in training. And like you said he doesn't bark when your not at home and you arent letting him carry on at all hours of the night. The same thing happened to us. You'll either find out that you have a bored jerk in your neighbour hood with nothing better to do (can you imagine what they would do to screaming kids?!?) or it wasn't targeted at you at all and was just a mailer to every dog owner. We've had both.
Keep calm. Your okay. Your dogs ok. Like Suzanne suggested get in touch with them to have them clarify if it was directed towards you or just a general mailer. If it was towards you lay it on the line with them. Legally your not doing anything wrong. Stay strong!!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We have one neighbor who complained that she heard our dogs barking in the house once when we weren't home.  She did come to me first before going ahead with a formal complaint.  I know she's not a fan of dogs, so it doesn't take much to set her off.  Our dogs are always on leash, so they don't bark when they're outside.  When we leave now we gate them in our room with windows closed, air conditioning on and the TV so they don't hear outside noises.  We have never had any other complaints and I do check with the neighbors often.  I would see if you can get any additional information on the complaint...who filed it and the specific circumstances of the barking.  It will be difficult to fix without knowing the details.  I would suggest that in the early morning and at night you be sure to be out with him to prevent the barking....that may be when one of your neighbors is hearing him and if they're asleep that would certainly be a problem. 

[Deborah Brown]

I understand what you must be feeling right now.  We have an irritable neighbor who HATES our dogs. BUT it sounds like you are doing everything right.  You are working on training your dog and you have spoken with the neighbors. Keep the communication open. Talk to your city about nuisance barking and what their regulations say.  Often a city will have a rule that if the dog barks for 10 minutes straight (or some other quantitative time limit), it's considered a nuisance.  Know the rules before you get a citation.  In my town, police or animal control will pull up outside the house and listen.

Make sure Lambeau isn't barking early in the morning or after 10pm.  Make your last potty break before 10.  Does he run along the fence or jump at it?  We added a secondary wire fence about 18" within the privacy fence that keeps my dogs back.  Clearly they can jump it if they want to but they generally respect the barrier and it has helped a while lot. You can see it in the picture below.

Don't beat yourself up.  You are not inconsiderate and you are working on the issue.  That's more than many people do.

[DonMarie and Picco]

It sounds like you have very understanding neighbors and be very thankful of that!  Just keep working on the training and stay in contact with neighbors.  Picco has a very large and loud bark and uses it while playing with my husband (he is quiet when playing with me - I don't get it!)   Our neighbors behind don't have a problem with it (they have a little yapper) and we don't care about the ones on the side of us because they have cats that walk on our cinder block wall and cause Picco to bark! 

I'm also lucky because MY husband is the biggest complainer when it comes to barking dogs!

[Beth & Cheddar]

Is it possible that there is another neighbor's dog barking and they are attributing it to your dog? A few years ago we had a neighbor that mentioned our dog barking all the time. But he was a rather quiet dog and I knew it couldn't have been him. It turned out that she had been hearing another neighbor's two dogs that bark a lot and thought it was us.

Otherwise, I think you are doing a wonderful job of working with your pup. You are being proactive in training your dog and communicating with your neighbors.

[Amy and Annabelle]

My neighbor finally divorced his cheating wife, and now has another woman living with him. She has a chihuahua that likes to come in our yard to do his business. Annabelle is not normally a barker, but when that dog comes in our yard, Annabelle goes crazy. I wish people would be more courteous with their pets. I would be horrified if my dog did that to the neighbor. Annabelle is in the fenced part and the neighbor dog is tormenting her from outside the fence. I have been tempted to put up a small fence along the property line to keep the other dog out.