Noise complaint, Help needed please!!!

[Karma]

I actually think they might be working Yesterday, when i got in from work Otis and Laney were wearing them and i almost PMSL cause Sasha had a bit of a barky moment and because he was standing next to her Otis was getting sprayed......You should had seen his face!   I took the battery out of it before i let them in the garden as a experiment and for the first time he and his mother didn't go belting up the garden barking out of excitment!!

I think this sums up one of the big problems with this type of thing - if a dog gets sprayed when it isn't barking, how's it going to associate the spray with the barking?     Otis may learn to associate Sasha with being sprayed and start to react to her....    I don't mean to be negative when you obviously feel this is helping, but I have seen the damage aversives can do to dogs (my parents' dog is dog-aggressive because of water sprays and rattle bottles used in puppy class)...
From what you have said, I don't see that your dogs are excessive barkers and it seems such a shame that this excuse for a person has made you resort to something you don't actually agree with....   

 

[Tori]

I actually think they might be working Yesterday, when i got in from work Otis and Laney were wearing them and i almost PMSL cause Sasha had a bit of a barky moment and because he was standing next to her Otis was getting sprayed......You should had seen his face!   I took the battery out of it before i let them in the garden as a experiment and for the first time he and his mother didn't go belting up the garden barking out of excitment!!

I think this sums up one of the big problems with this type of thing - if a dog gets sprayed when it isn't barking, how's it going to associate the spray with the barking?     Otis may learn to associate Sasha with being sprayed and start to react to her....    I don't mean to be negative when you obviously feel this is helping, but I have seen the damage aversives can do to dogs (my parents' dog is dog-aggressive because of water sprays and rattle bottles used in puppy class)...
From what you have said, I don't see that your dogs are excessive barkers and it seems such a shame that this excuse for a person has made you resort to something you don't actually agree with....   

 

Thats not negative its truth and i do appreciate what you're saying    It is something i have thought about....not for one second that i think he would grow dog aggressive ( he was severely attacked nearly 2 years ago by a greyhound and will go happily up to other greyhounds wanting to play.....no sense  ).....but i don't want him getting confused....As he's not really that barky in the house and Sasha and laney are i was thinking about putting the two that work on them.  My original collar it would appear leaks out the spray as soon as filled so i'm using it as a dummy collar as more of a deterent for him in the house....He definately needs to wear one that works in the garden though as when he went out there just now as neighbour was shutting gate  he barked on got sprayed and stopped straight away which is unheard off..bless him .....

Do you think the dummy collar things a good idea?

Tori x

[KellyS]

Hi Tori,

I can sympathise with your neighbour problems, where we used to live we had similar problems, we had 3 nasty staffies next door who used to bite holes in our fence and drive our dogs mad, the neighbours the otherside used to complain to us for ours barking but we couldn't get it through to them that it was because the staffies the otherside were running up and down and banging on the fence. We spoke to the staffie owners but didn't get anywhere they started to be akward and bang their back gate really hard etc to make ours bark. We tried bark collars but ours used to just bark through them. It used to drive us mad and it got to the stage I daren't let them out in the garden unattended, the staffies used to bang so hard at the fence I was sure one day they would come through

Thankfully where we now live the lane is very dog friendly and you hear lots of dogs bark at odd times, we have a hunt kennels half a mile away and you know when it's feed time! We have no neighbours one side just open fields and the otherside the house is empty. I don't worry too much if they bark now but if it's early in the morning or late at night I find if I rattle the biscuit tin and call them to me and give them a treat it distracts them from barking.

Hope you get it sorted try not to worry too much it doesn't sound like their barking is excessive. It's unfair for people/ neighbours to think dogs should live a life of silence, all dogs bark when playing, when they get excited or if they hear odd noises it's only if they are barking constantly for long periods it justifys complaint.

[sarah25]

We had a similar problem with our old neighbours,they moved out a couple of years ago tho 
We then had a noise complaint early this year,the women next door had changed her working hours she used to work in the day but now night so she goes to bed in the day time,we only went out for a couple of hours and her OH came round on the night saying his wife couldn't sleep because our dogs were howling  We explained to them that we had a bitch in season so she was in a room on her and Chico must of been able to tell that she was aswell.He said that they have never had a problem with the dogs before and he used to live on a farm with Dobs so it didn't bother him  just his wife.

He said if it happens again he will report us  ..We hate leaving the dogs now but we cant stop in all the time we do have a life aswell.The dogs are out side in the runs when the weather is nice but Cilla & Chico bark when they are playing if it gets to much we do stop them but we cant be reported because of that can we 
The family over the road from us have 4 kids and they are on the trampoline everyweekend and stop on in sometimes till 2am in the morning there shouting screaming and singing(which is awful  ) even with the windows closed you can hear them but i bet people dont got and complain about them 

[Top Barks]

I actually think they might be working Yesterday, when i got in from work Otis and Laney were wearing them and i almost PMSL cause Sasha had a bit of a barky moment and because he was standing next to her Otis was getting sprayed......You should had seen his face!   I took the battery out of it before i let them in the garden as a experiment and for the first time he and his mother didn't go belting up the garden barking out of excitment!!

I think this sums up one of the big problems with this type of thing - if a dog gets sprayed when it isn't barking, how's it going to associate the spray with the barking?     Otis may learn to associate Sasha with being sprayed and start to react to her....    I don't mean to be negative when you obviously feel this is helping, but I have seen the damage aversives can do to dogs (my parents' dog is dog-aggressive because of water sprays and rattle bottles used in puppy class)...
From what you have said, I don't see that your dogs are excessive barkers and it seems such a shame that this excuse for a person has made you resort to something you don't actually agree with....   

 

Thats not negative its truth and i do appreciate what you're saying    It is something i have thought about....not for one second that i think he would grow dog aggressive ( he was severely attacked nearly 2 years ago by a greyhound and will go happily up to other greyhounds wanting to play.....no sense  ).....but i don't want him getting confused....As he's not really that barky in the house and Sasha and laney are i was thinking about putting the two that work on them.  My original collar it would appear leaks out the spray as soon as filled so i'm using it as a dummy collar as more of a deterent for him in the house....He definately needs to wear one that works in the garden though as when he went out there just now as neighbour was shutting gate  he barked on got sprayed and stopped straight away which is unheard off..bless him .....

Do you think the dummy collar things a good idea?

Tori x

Sorry Tori you are probably not going to like what I have to say.
Can you not employ a trainer to help you teach them to be quiet. It can be done.
I won't repeat myself as I am sure most on here know how I feel about water sprays, remote collars etc and the fact they have not worked bears me out. What happens when they start to bark through the collar?
And rolled up newspaper?!! I do not believe what I'm reading.   I hope you hit yourself on the head with it and not your doggies.
What will that teach your dog apart from you are not to be trusted?!
What about getting to the root cause of the barking and identifying the triggers that set them off.
Your problem does not sound so serious that you have to use these measures.
Keep a diary yourself of any barking episodes including how long they last, time date etc and get a trainer in to help you with this.
Mark

[LurcherGirl]

Keep a diary yourself of any barking episodes including how long they last, time date etc and get a trainer in to help you with this.

It's the very first thing I would do. This way the council can compare should it come to the worst. Also note when you are out with dogs home alone and also note, when the dogs are not at home! It has been known for neighbours to note barking episodes when the dogs were not actually in the house at all. 

Vera

[Tori]

And rolled up newspaper?!! I do not believe what I'm reading.   I hope you hit yourself on the head with it and not your doggies.

I do appreciate all that you have said but I would like to point out that i have NEVER ONCE hit my dogs with this!  I use it to hit the back door or fence to break their attention 

I do love my dogs 

I have considered a trainer, my best friend is one but she's selfishly having a baby in 6 weeks 

Going to do the diary thing......Thanks 

[JerryBerry]

Sorry guys but I am going to have to defend children here! As a proud parent as well as a proud dog owner I would say it is exactly the same as I have read on this site lots of times "It's not the dog it's the owner!" - the same goes for children! - it isnt their fault they arent learnt right from wrong and taught to respect animals, unfortunately children like this tend to end up the victims of the bites or attacks that we see in the media but really if they were taught the boundaries from day one it may not have been a problem - again, not the child's fault, the parents fault! They end up labelled as 'brats' and children tend to excellent at living up to negative labels.

[BabyB]

With two of our own, I also get a bit pre-occupied (my OH would say paranoid  ) about them woofing when we're out.  I use a camcorder every so often so I can see and hear exactly what goes on  , and mine only tend to woof when playing.  Normally because Henry wants something Katie has and she won't let him have it .

The camcorder lets me see what they are woofing at and how long it goes on for.  This way if our neighbour did ever mention it, then I know what they've been doing myself.

But if they woof because of playing, how on earth do you stop it if you're not around?

[gashley]

I was told recently that there was a new law coming in that said someting along the lines of, you can't complain about a dog barking as its the dog communicating!! I haven't found anything online to back this up though. If I do I'll give you the link. I suppose if they are barking excessively then you can understand a compliant but if its during the day and they are playing they are just communicating

I'll keep looking

[doughy]

I`ve just found the site its Barkingdogs.net 

[doughy]

I`ve just looked again and sorry about that it seems to be an american site !

[BabyB]

Thanks doughy. 

[Tori]

I`ve just found the site its Barkingdogs.net 

Thanks Doughy, much appreciated  

I was told recently that there was a new law coming in that said someting along the lines of, you can't complain about a dog barking as its the dog communicating!! I haven't found anything online to back this up though. If I do I'll give you the link. I suppose if they are barking excessively then you can understand a compliant but if its during the day and they are playing they are just communicating

I'll keep looking

If this is the case then i don't have a thing to worry about

I would like to thank everyone for their helpful words and support    you have been great, made me feel far more rational.

My dogs are NOT excessive barkers!  They are dogs, they are happy and they are loved.  They make me proud in soo many ways.  They make me laugh and sometimes cry and i wouldn't be without them for the world    I would like to invite any council representative around my house right now too prove that they are normal dogs.....and sometimes normal dogs bark. .....I would also like to ask my neighbours children over so that they can meet the dogs one on one.....but funnily enough i'm not holding my breath.....their mother hates us  


Thanks again everyone

[Sheryl]

I could move in the other side with Kali.  Then she would really have cause for complaint!!