Neighbors dogs bark incessantly. What can I do?

Have you tried talking to the neighbor directly?

Video camera. Date and time stamps. Make a copy. If they want to doubt your personal experience, they wouldn’t be able to doubt that.

Does your town have a noise-abatement program? You could make a formal complaint. You might also be able to get a local newspaper interested in the fact that this one person gets a pass. People don’t like stories about special privilege.

I am a total dog person, but I too have irresponsible neighbors who won’t train their dogs not to bark. It drives me crazy because when they set off yapping then mine will sometimes join in and I have to go correct my dogs and the others keep on and on.

Dogs bark because they have not been trained it is not socially acceptable or because they are bored or hungry, there is almost always a message there. But it is hell to live beside.

I think talk to the people, keep complaining to police and dog control officer. Isn’t winter coming where you are? Windows will be closed and it should be less obtrusive. Sometimes the more I allow myself to become annoyed, the more annoyed I become. It is better for me to learn to ignore rather than to raise my blood pressure by letting it get into my head.

Sadly i doubt there is anything you can do but wait for them to move or you to move or the dog to die.

Note: I love dogs but not mouthy ones..

You bark back!
Be the pack leader!

When you’re trying to be the pack leader, make sure to pee on the fence. :D

If the dog people won’t help, call the TV station and have you be a case they investigate (after you have tried talking to your neighbor). Also, keep calling the police. Every day and tell them it is driving you crazy. And call the radio. And your congress people. There are noise ordinances for things like this.

Obviously the only reasonable thing to do would be to throw a block party and the night before kill their dogs with samurai sword. You may be saying “drClaw you crazy! What’s a block party have to do with anything?” to which my reply would be “shut your dirty mouth and let me finish!”

You see during the block party you would cook the dogs and serve them to your neighbors, getting rid of the evidence while simultaniusly becoming everyone’s favorite person. Of course the “favorite person” part of the plan hinges on how tasty the dogs are so don’t screw up or the plain is ruined.

This is the only option I see you have left. It’s this or @avvooooooo‘s video idea, but I think we all know video taping is just a plain nutty idea.

Sorry we’re trying to shut them up! We’ve tried everything! Sorry about the noise. We can’t help it, seriously.

We have repeatedly talked about the dogs, I have ceased communication as last time it nearly came to blows. I am sure I can take him and I would have killed the dogs at the same time I was so angry at his indifference. Of course I would have landed in the pokey. Thats why I am looking at the ultrasonic solution. When they bark, they get a dose of unpleasant sound. I just want the strongest and loudest on the planet for the indifference. I want the dogs afraid to go outside. I’m getting angry just thinking about it

I wish my mustache was as big as your’s, @drClaw . GA
Maybe you can get those dog whistles from the pet stores?

I am sure once my meds kick in, I’ll be much less aggressive. Today I was cleaning my gutters and had to listen all day long, so am a little stirred up. Sorry if I come off a little less than PETA.

Legally a homeowner has the right to “quiet enjoyment” of their residence. You can actually bring legal action against the neighbor if they don’t stop it. Of course this will make living there a nightmare most likely. Can you move?

@PretentiousArtist I believe in you, one day your whiskers can be as abundant as mine!

Are there other neighbors who are also bothered by the barking?

Don’t take the law into your own hands.
If this person is a cop, you will come out on the losing end of it.
The dogs aren’t going away and if you’re not planning on moving, then it’s in both your best interests to find a common ground.
Maybe you could offer up a peace offering with a 6 pack, share a beer or two and calmly talk it out.

It takes two for aggression to escalate.

There is a really good review of an ultrasonic bark deterrent bird house looking thing at this website:

http://www.itchmo.com/dog-product-review-pet-safes-ultrasonic-bark-usting-bird-house-3449

@Kayak8 I hate those. I can hear them. There are some people who are sensitive to that range and the high pitched sounds emitted by some machines and there are some barking deterrents and air filter thingies and other things like that which I can’t be around at all.

Plus they’re not that effective.

The problem isn’t the dogs… not really. They’re just doing what untrained dogs do. The problem is that your neighbor sounds like a bona fide jackass. And with him having once been a police officer, the sad truth is there is very likely nothing you can do. His old boys network will probably shield him from any serious consequence.

He’s an jackass and isn’t going to be called on it by the authorities, and if you get into a running conflict with him, he’ll probably just get off on it. So dogs or no dogs, the fact is that you’re living next to an a**hole who (completely unfairly) can do pretty much whatever he wants. So you’ll probably have to either learn to live with it, or move away from him. :-(

@avvooooooo That is basically what the link I provided says . . . did you bother to check it out before commenting?

@Kayak8 Yes, I bothered to read the entire thing.

@avvooooooo Then I don’t understand your comment. I am not encouraging the use of an ultrasonic remedy of any type, but that is what the questioner asked about, so I provided a neutral link to someone with experience on the specific subject matter.

According to occultist Aleister Crowley, “If the barking of a dog disturbs your meditation, it is simplest to shoot the dog, and think no more about it.”

Dogs usually bark when they are left out in the yard when the owner isn’t home. Perhaps liberating the dog from the yard will take care of the problem…

@Kayak8 I said 1) I hate them because I can hear them. 2) They’re not effective anyway.

My comment was directly related to the use and effectiveness of ultrasonic devices. There was no need at all to get snarky with me. I bothered to read the article. I also bothered to comment on the other reason why I hate them. Again, there was no reason to comment the way you did.

Did Aleister Crowley have anything to say about the baying of a Flutherite?

@pdworkin Why yes, he did: “To the eyes of a god, mankind must appear as a species of bacteria, which multiply and become progressively virulent whenever they find themselves in a congenial culture, and whose activity diminishes until they disappear completely as soon as proper measures are taken to sterilize them.” (emphasis mine)

@avvooooooo The ultrasonic devices ARE specifically what the questioner asked about. Until I posted, no one had commented on these devices (we had everything from talking to the neighbor directly to killing the dogs). I commented on the devices and provided a link about them (certainly not in favor), so your explaination of your thoughts about ultrasonic devices (that sounds like you disagree with what I posted) don’t make any sense to me, particularly as you called me out.

As you are not the neighbor of the questioner (presumably) and cannot hear any device that he or she might implement, and as we are not discussing any “air filter thingies,” which you may or may not be able to hear (and are not at all relevant to the topic) I don’t understand why you are getting snarky with me.

Disclaimer: I do not agee with this form of retaliation.
My ex husband was a truck driver and drove at night, slept during the day. We had a neighbor that had a dog that barked all day long. My ex was pretty patient with this, until one day, he had a particularly bad night and the dog wouldn’t shut up. I was in the basement bringing laundry up and heard gun shots. I ran upstairs and my ex had quite enough of the barking dog and shot some shots at and near the dog. The dog stopped barking and never barked again.

Sounds like Im pretty much screwed for now. I do have a couple boxes of .22 subsonics, but I am sure the cops would be all over me like an old shirt. I have taken the precaution about a year ago to declare my yard a private firing range so I can practice with airsoft in the back yard. currently I can shoot any kind of projectile weapon in my yard so long as I am posted and the projectile doesn’t leave my property.
So far all I shoot is airguns, but if I were to switch to low powered rimfire, the psyop begins. I couldn’t kill the dogs I know thry ultimately are the victima in all this.

You have laws about discharging a firearm- he’d get caught. But I love the idea!! 8 million times I’ve had to chastize my dog because of the hairless rat across the alley.

I’ll have to make some changes to my trap for more powerful projectiles. So far an old tarp stops the airsoft dead. I could weld up an angled bullet trap. Hmmmmmm.

@Kayak8 I addressed you because my comment was relevant to the device you mentioned in your comment. It was both a response to your post and an indication of what post I was responding to for anyone else reading. I was not “calling you out.” Your comment implying that I’m too lazy to read the article, however, was. You began snarking at me and then decided that I started it. Saying, basically, “ultrasonic devices suck and so do other very high pitched sounds” is not disagreeing with you, challenging you, calling you out, or anything like that.

Too bad they aren’t very effective. They look like such an elegant solution in the ads. I have deer trouble too so that would take two birds with one stone. I know those things are a waste of time for them. ( the #%$# deer)

@JLeslie Is that true about homeowners having a right to quiet enjoyment? That would be great news in my case! I have a very noisy neighbor…

@pdworkin The Hound of the Fluthervilles

Perhaps tape record the dogs, then call them at 3 am and play the recording over the phone?

@ItalianPrincess1217 Here is the wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiet_enjoyment yes, “Quiet Enjoyment” is a real legal term. Also, http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Quiet+enjoyment which is referring to a tenants right, but I do believe there have been cases involving owners; laws might vary by state?

My sister just sold her apartment after living there for 10 years because her new neighbor would not stop making noise in the middle of the night. So, even though there is law, many times it doesn’t help. But, many people don’t even know there is a law, they just feel like their property they can do what they want. Not true, in a civilized society you can’t just do whatever you want when it impacts others.

@majorrich Why on earth should someone have to sell a house because of a neighbor’s barking dog? It’s crazy. Glad to read there are laws. The problem is, lawyers get a huge payoff from this and you probably won’t.

Of course, maybe he will move away.