Dog barking

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littlen

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Hi everyone,
It seems my 10 year old Gsd has been reported to the council for barking and they are threatening court action.

Can anyone advise me further as I dont know what my rights are with regards to this?

He does bark at people passing close to the house as he is a guarding breed!! Its almost impossible to stop him. He is 10 and has been in the street 10 years and noone has mentioned it before?

Also they say they are recording noise, but obviously.if someone is close to the property recording him of course he will bark?

Has anyone been in this situation before?
 
Did you do any of the things we recommended the last time? Is he getting on any better with your newer dog/does the newer dog not help occupy him? Can you set up a video camera/tape recorder or webcam to see what is setting him off?
 
Is he in your house or kept outside then? If inside is he not keeping you up or is this when you're not in? I have just got a new rescue and sometimes she has woken up in the night barking incessently at something (I think it's my neighbours but anyway!) Same neighbours got pretty p*ssed off a couple of weeks ago (I've only had her 3 weeks) and hammered on the wall shouting to "shut that *****ing dog up!" (not particularly helpful!). I am just about to get blinds fitted to the kitchen windows so she cannot see out as I think seeing stuff outside is setting her off.

Do you know who's complained? It sounds odd after 10 years so has your dog got worse or are there new neighbours? I guess if the dog is barking constantly it is going to be annoying but from your point of view it's difficult if you don't know how to stop it!
 
My geriatric patterdale now barks at night, he's stone deaf and I am sure he hears noises in his head!! Anyway problem solved he has his bed in my bedroom now, after 16 yrs sleeping in the kitchen he thinks he is in heaven and he doesn't bark!
 
What are you doing to stop him barking? Have you got him a quiet room where people passing will not annoy him? Why should anyone have to put up with your dog barking? Would you put up with loud music randomly throughout the day/night?
 
from your old posts is sounds like you keep the dog outside during the day? Could you not leave her inside when unsupervised.

I live at the end of a close and the garden at 90 degrees to my front door got a GSD in the summer and barks anytime I go out of my front door or my neighbours go to their bin it barks. It is only not out if it is pouring with rain and it is REALLY annoying, even though thankfully I cant hear it in my house really as even when the windows are open i only have one small window that side of the house. But to have a dog bark and lunge at a fence when you walk out your front door really irritates me! If H ever barked outside (he is only outside when I'm in), I'd distract him and bring him indoors.

Can you not ask the council to give you some assistance? tbh I don't see why neighbours should have to put up with dogs barking. I know when H was a pup and was being trained to be left I used to ask my neighbour if they could hear him and apologise although they always said they couldn't and then apologised about their crying baby!! ha ha!

I have a friend whose dogs were complained about the the council gave her some anti bark collars. They were in the kitchen with access to the garden via a dog flap. I think they generally worked, but now the dogs go to her mums when she is out.
 
Hi everyone,
Dog is now inside during the day unless supervised. Unfortunatley he looks out of the windows front and back which makes him bark. He is left during the day and will bark at anyone coming up the drive eg. postman :(

He gets on fab with little dog, they do everything together and he follows little one everywhere! Unfortunatley I cant lock pup away all day so he comes to work with me (lots of outdoor work or he stays in office with office ladies!) but I cannot take GSD as he will not settle in a crate, nor will I be able to fit one big enough. into the room available as he is well over 50kgs! He does not like to be out of routine ans change really upsets him.

As I said he is a few weeks from being 10 years old and is set in his ways despite me trying all sorts of collars etc.

Suzie, I have not just egnored him at all, but its very difficult to.stop a large guarding breed to stop guarding!! I have tried and have not just sat there and left it alone.Short of removing his voice box I am stumped. The houses are very close together and there are dogs barking everywhere which you can hear, inside or out!

Its a shame the neighbours didnt just ask me about this and I could have explained!
 
Have you tried leaving a radio on to provide some background noise and distract from passing people?
My dogs will do the same - they wait constantly listening and if anyone comes onto the drive they bark. If your dog is barking at the postman/dustmen then I do think this short regular barking has to be accepted by neighbours, however if the barking is constant on and off throughout the day you may have to find a solution. How many hours is he left alone?

Could you get in either a dog walker or someone to visit and play with them for an hour to break up the time and give them a hide chew perhaps. If your neighbours and the council know the curative measures you are taking they will be more sympathetic.
 
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Hi,
He always has the radio on but I fear he looks for them as well as listens! He is always on red alert!
If little dog is there too he will copy the old one, hence taking him during the day.

He is walked an hour on a morning then left until 1pm in which my OH lets him out for a wee etc. Then he is left again until I return around 4-5 with other dog and they then go for another walk or to the yard with me depending on the weather!! They are both tired and sleep all day when I am home. He has an assortment of toys which he does not play with (kong,nylabone,plastic bottles filled,balls...you name it!) but he will drop everything if the leaflet man or postman comes around.

I will definatley speak to the council today!! Thank you everyone!
 
We had a call from the council several years ago about one of ours barking. We bought a voice activated dictaphone to see how much she barked. The dictaphone told us she barked for an average of 25 minutes over the day, not all in one go, but several short barking periods when posties or people were around the close. As it was a cul de sac of mainly elderly sheltered accommodation, you would have thought the residents would have been glad to have been alerted to strangers being around!

The council person came out and told us the dog was barking at her through the gate, as if that was evidence of excessive barking. I did tell her I would be pretty disappointed if the dog didn't bark when some strange woman turned up rattling the gate :)

In our case i went door knocking and spoke to the neighbors. Most had never heard the dog bark, some didnt even know we had dogs. A few said the dog barked but only when someone strange entered the close, and they liked that as it alerted them.

Only one person wouldn't open their door to me........turned out this woman hated dogs and was a trouble maker in general.

Not sure if the council continued to monitor us for a while but nothing came of it.

Do you have any new neighbors who might be out to cause trouble?
 
1 Have you thought about closing the door to the room at the front of the house.


2 putting blinds up and close them so he cant see out.

3 put outside shutters on so again you can close them in the day time so he cant see out
4 putting a plug in calmer sent quieten him down

5 leave a radio on so he doesn't hear outside noises

6 putting double or triple glazing so his sound wont carry outside

7. employ a dog sitter in the day to take him out and away from the house
8 get a friend to look after him part time in day



dog barking can only be tolerated a short time . gets very annoying after a while
 
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Interesting thread this....

My dog is outside during the day, doing the job I need her to, which is warding off strangers!

We are the only ones not to have bother with burglars, funny that.....

All the neighbours now take notice when she kicks off, she alerts the whole street now if there is something untoward about and about.....
 
"He does not like to be out of routine and change really upsets him".

You have introduced a new dog to the pack, who he gets on with, and now every day the new pack goes out and leaves him to defend his territory so he will be even more on alert/on edge.
Not slagging you off and I don't suggest everyone takes their dogs with them everywhere they go to stop them barking, but look at it from the dog's point of view.
He sleeps at home because he is relaxed and his people are with him.

Leave a recording device, listen for how bad he really is, then take it from there.

He is ten years old, I do not think this is an exercise issue, it is probably more of a routine and an insecurity issue.
 
Fit a post box on your gate for mail/leaflets or near the door and leave a sign on your day that's states "I WORK NIGHT SHIFT AN I AM SLEEPING , DO NOT KNOCK ON THE DOOR/LEAVE ALL MAIL IN POST BOX" this is better than saying "Don't knock" otherwise folk may think nobody is in, which you don't want.

Radio on and place things infront of windows to block his access from jumping up.
Record him as suggested.
 
CaveCanem said:
"He does not like to be out of routine and change really upsets him".

You have introduced a new dog to the pack, who he gets on with, and now every day the new pack goes out and leaves him to defend his territory so he will be even more on alert/on edge.
Not slagging you off and I don't suggest everyone takes their dogs with them everywhere they go to stop them barking, but look at it from the dog's point of view.
He sleeps at home because he is relaxed and his people are with him.

Leave a recording device, listen for how bad he really is, then take it from there.

He is ten years old, I do not think this is an exercise issue, it is probably more of a routine and an insecurity issue.
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It does seem a little on the mean side to take his mate away in the day.
We have 3 dogs and if any one of them is removed alone (ie vet), the other 2 go ballistic, and that is with a human still in the house.

Have you tried leaving the little one at home, to see if that settles the older one?
 
Why can the other dog not stay with him?

I have to keep our curtains in the front room drawn if I am not here to avoid dog doing his bestest GSD impression at pretty much anything going on in the road- if I am here he gives one single bark- I go- tell him its ok and thats the end of it.

I wonder how much he is barking as I always thought for it to be considered excessive it had to be for prolonged periods at unsocialable hours.
 
Hi everyone,
I cant leave little dog with him alone as he is alot younger (2years) and is very playful. They play supervised for hours and are together on walks/ bedtime but I would not go out at leave them incase the playing became too rough. It has happened once as gsd has cdrm and arthritus and pup i think may have been rough and hurt him which caused a fight to break out. I would not risk this if I wasnt there as Gsd could quite easily tear collie apart if he so wished!!
Also collie has always come to work with me, this is nothing new to him, he gets lots of one to one attention and they are not joined at the hip purposely so they can be independant, as much as they get on when they are together.

Finally, little dog is a rescue from horrible circumstances and had not been trained correctly at all. As a result he cant be left alone without being crated as he will chew and destroy everything he can get his paws on!! He is also a barker as he is so nervous of any strange noise (car starting for example will cause him to woof until he remembers what it is) which will set gsd off and vice versa, and so if i were to leave him it could cause them both to wind each other up and cause double the noise!!

I assure you he is not just left and is well used to being alone as he has been since he was tiny! He is not worried, he is guarding the property when people are coming onto it, which he was bred to do hence why it is so difficult to stop.

I have asked neighbours and they confirm he only barks when.someone is approaching the house not constantly. Obviously I am not there but would think its about 10 mins when postman arrives and then.a few barks inbetween at other people. He is loud though!!

Unfortunatley I have no fence/gate to attatch a post box too but thanks for the ideas. By the time anyone saw a note they would be on the doorstep and wound him up already!!

Hope this clears up a little?
THanks for the help though everyone much appreciated!
 
Frankly OP I have NEVER had a dog yet in over 30 years of ownership that has not barked at the postman etc. It's a natural reaction as far as I am concerned to an intruder on their property and usually the big plus point of dog ownership too. Do try the noise activated recording, which is a brilliant idea. I suspect you have one narky neighbour who probably had a headache one day and your dog's infrequent barking annoyed them!

We had a massive extension done last summer and the dogs lost the house. They were shut in the garden during the day and everytime they saw the builders on the roof they barked. I did all I could to subdue them, but short of putting them all in kennels which I couldn't afford to do we had to make the best of the siituation. I warned the neighbours and apologised in advance and explained our living conditions too (no cooker, no kitchen for several weeks - sleeping in a tiny caravan), they said they understood, but then immediiately proceeded to go beserk about the dogs effing and blinding in the garden infront of my children - it was an appalling situation. They then kept saying the dogs were ALWAYS a nuisance and I knew they weren't. Now all is rosy again, but it shows how an episode can affect peopkle.
 
amymay, he has barked at the postman etc forever. He is naturally very protective of the property and family.

Yas- thanks for that! I agree completley but must be seen to be trying to solve the issue :)

I have spoken to council man today and apparently the dog was recorded barking for 3 mins max.at intervals throughout the day. Apparently when the man sat outside my house (well duh he will bark) he barked for 2mins 51 seconds precisely and was recorded doing so. I pointed out this was due to the fact he was in plain view of the dog!!

So the neighbours must keep a diary for 4 weeks then we go from there? Providing its not more than.10mins consistantly they cannot do anything but obviously I will still try!
Feel a little better about it now!
 
littlen said:
amymay, he has barked at the postman etc forever. He is naturally very protective of the property and family.

Yas- thanks for that! I agree completley but must be seen to be trying to solve the issue :)

I have spoken to council man today and apparently the dog was recorded barking for 3 mins max.at intervals throughout the day. Apparently when the man sat outside my house (well duh he will bark) he barked for 2mins 51 seconds precisely and was recorded doing so. I pointed out this was due to the fact he was in plain view of the dog!!

So the neighbours must keep a diary for 4 weeks then we go from there? Providing its not more than.10mins consistantly they cannot do anything but obviously I will still try!
Feel a little better about it now!
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I would be mad if the dog barked constantly. The people over the road had three dogs in the house all day barking even when they were in the house, but from what you say I dont see it as a problem. I think your neighbours might have got obsessed with things.

My girl barks at strangers and if someone where outside the house she would bark then but thats what she is there for. Warn people away and she also makes people aware there are strangers around.
 
So your dog is acting quite normally.

Get a dog walker for lunch time, it may well help the dog, and will certainly help improve the attitude of your neighbours towards you.

Remember as well that the council will work with you for a successful outcome.
 
Thanks everyone for your help!!

I just hope the neighbours dont lie or exadgerate in the diary to get a better outcome for themselves. I will be keeping my own diary of when he is alone or not as he certainly does not bark if someone is home. He is checked on a lunch time by my OH who says he is nearly always asleep when he pops in. I hope its not just a case of someone hating my dogs :( they are intimidating and I am aware they can.be annoying for those few moments someone is at the door but surely this is allowed a bit of leeway. Its always after 9am and no later than 4 he is left so not anti social hours or anything. I hope the council can see this!! :)
 
I live outside the village and my only neighbour is my brother in law who is a ****. He walks up our drive to get to the farm and the dogs bark at him and he bangs on the window and tells them to shut up which surprisingly enough they ignore.:rolleyes:

They bark at the postlady,people walking down the road and people walking in the field opposite. Im sure if I had neighbours they would complain but being the breed they are they are only doing their job.

I hope for your sake your neighbour dosnt lie but even then he would have to have proof and as soon as the perceived threat has gone your dogs stop barking as mine do. You would have thought the council guy would have twigged it was his presence making your dog bark and the guy would have had some experience of different breeds of dogs and how they operate.
 
Our postman gives our dogs a biscuit, with our permission of course, as a result they don't bark at him as they don't feel the need to defend the house from him. In fact they wait at the door with their tails wagging when they know he's coming. I know someone would have to be at home to do it but couldn't you 'introduce' him to the postman at least, so that he perhaps would view him in a different way and not bark? I don't know if this work as I have herding breeds not guarding so I don't know the psychology of them, so perhaps someone with a greater knowledge than mine could say if would this work?
 
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