Help please! Long

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embonaught

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I've just come home from a long day out, and found a letter from the council about nuisance barking (the dogs - a cav king c spaniel age 10 and JRT age 18 months have been with me all day) I'm thoroughly p*ssed off. I'm pretty sure it's our a-hole neighbours who have complained. the story, as follows...
About 18 months ago they bought a GS pup, put it in a cage in the garden and left it all day from 6.30am to 5pm. It barked, all day. Like, really all day long. After about 8 months, I eventually went round and told her she really needed to do something about her dog barking. We were the only ones to complain to them (not council) although lots of people in neighbouring houses were moaning about it. Since then, the dog's been much better - because she has it in the house now. However, she's obviously been stewing over it for a few months and put in a complaint about our dog. Tit for tat and all that.
We've lived here for six years, and never had a complaint about our Cav. The JRT has been here for 18 months and I'll readily admit he DOES bark at about 3/4 different dogs he doesn't like when they walk past the gate. It usually happens about 6-7 in the evening. He comes out with me to the horse all morning, every morning so if I'm not here, he's not here to bark at anyone. Obviously, there are certain days when I can't be with him but they are, in all honesty, few and far between. For info - the dogs have a flap and safe garden so can come and go as they please. Neither of the dogs bark during the night.
Obviously, the cocks that live next door have complained to the council and we've had a letter about it. Half of me is inclined to carry on as before, dogs bark occasionally, just as kids make a bit of noise. However, I just wondered if anyone has had any experience with being prosecuted/any advice about what actually constitutes 'nuisance barking'. The council sites have mentioned constant barking/whining during the day or during the night as a problem and we categorically do not fall into that description. Like I said, our JRT will bark about 3-5 times during the day for about 5/6 seconds (as long as it takes for the person to walk past) and that's it. Have we reason to be worried or are we being picked on because they have nothing better to do?
Thanks
 
Where I used to live my old neighbours complained, if they had come round and told me I could have done something sooner. The council ask the complainer to keep a diary of when the dog is barking. What made me laugh was on two of the days where my dog was supposed to be barking all day he was with my mum! Anyway I arranged with my mum for her to have the dogs all day so problem was solved. Sorry not much help.
 
It takes a long time and alot of complaint for the council to actually do anything in regard to this type of situation and the council themselves would have to monitor the noise levels at different times of the day...sound to me like these people are just being arses...If your dogs are rarely noisy I wouldn't even worry...it's procedure to pop one of those through your door
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it can take years to bring these types of cases to court and it would have to be some serious to even get that far...at the end of the day dogs bark thats what they do....aslong as it is not 24-7 and u are seen to comply with what they ask or advise.

so don't worry
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Thanks for that. I actually phoned the council this morning and spoke to someone with regards to the letter. I explained that our dogs do bark - and the circumstances, and he replied that they certainly don't expect dogs to be mute and it seems that there's no complaint to answer. Obviously they can't be specific about how long/how much barking is deemed a problem but from what I described (and was totally honest) he doesn't think we have anything to worry about. He also said that the complainant has a two/three week noise diary to fill in and that rarely do they get returned - much of the time it's people causing 'mischief'.
I've also spoken to some other neighbours (who don't own dogs) and he said that if our dog barked during the night then he knows that someone is somewhere they shouldn't be - as it does it so rarely. So I've calmed down a bit now. No doubt the c*cks will find something else to moan about in the near future...
 
My neighbour complained to me that Alf barks when someone goes past so I draw the front curtains when I'm at work and cover the cat flap so he can't stick his nosy beak out (Alf, not the neighbour!) and he's a lot better. Your situation sounds like tit for tat and they would have to prove the dog was a nuisance before the council would do anything.
 
I had something similar. The RSPCA called on me as apparantly I left my dogs all day in the kennel and they whine and bark and howl all day long. In fact they were very surprised to see them in the house with me! Seeing as they are in the kennel for only a few hours each day, when I go to my part time job (max 4 hours) it seemed just spiteful. The RSPCA went away quite happy and said they would not further the complaint. For a short while I kept them all in when I went out. But I think it is cruel to keep them in the house without access to the outside so I gradually put them outside again. I did a diary of the times they were outside for a couple of months, but nothing came of it. I asked some neighbours whether the dogs were noisy and they all said that they only bark when I come home. I know what you are going through. It makes you want to go live in isolation.
 
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