CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Behaviour & Training => Topic started by: Loraine on August 06, 2003, 10:52:18 AM
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I have read through previous threads on members that have had problems with their dogs barking which has been very useful (especially one near the beginning from Lindsey who had a Cocker called Robbie.)
Sounds like Candy is turning into Robbie: she's barking at absolutely everything. Both of my neighbours have complained and want to know what I'm going to do about it. I plan to talk to the dog trainer this evening (Georgia has her class this evening) to see how she can help. But in the meantime I thought I'd ask for further advice here.
Candy doesn't bark when I take her for her walks and when off the lead she's really playful with other dogs but never barks at them. It's mainly when the door bell rings, if she hears a noise like a gate closing, someone returning their wheelie bin, a siren or if my lovebird starts to chirp. She barks at birds sitting on the fence or on the roof and doesn't stop until they fly away.
Interestingly she only barks at the male neighbour on one side who is terrified of dogs and the female neighbour on the other side who's really complaining. She's fine with other members of the each household. Can dogs tell when a person doesn't like them?
When I'm at work, the dogs have access to the garden and spend a lot of time out there. I was told this morning that Candy in particular barks a lot. It gets to the extent that the neighbour feels she cannot sit in her garden because of the noise. Also, when they play it is quite lively but I've heard them and it doesn't bother me but it drives her mad. Maybe her tolerance levels aren't as as high as mine! She thinks that I shouldn't let me have the run of the garden and leave them inside.
I was very upset as this morning as she threatened to report me to environmental health as she feels Candy is a nuisance and if necessary she'll arraange to have her removed. She can't do that can she?
She's the type of troublesome neighbour who'd start a petition or something and really stir up trouble. I'm worried.
Sorry for the long rambling post but as you can tell I'm very distressed by this so had to tell someone. Hope it make some sort of sense.
Loraine. :(
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does she think shes god this woman?????????
I definately think dogs can tell who likes them and who doesn't cos mine get ratty with people known to not like dogs aswell..I say thats their problem for not liking such wonderfull creatures.. ;D#
dont know much about the laws for doggy noise loraine but i dont think its as simple as her saying shes gonna get candy removed.. I really dont..all dogs bark, all birds chirp and all of us have at least one stupid neighbour..
sorry I cant help more..but if she dares pick on candy I am coming to visit ;D
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Sorry to hear about your anti-dog neighbours Loraine - they can be a real problem I'm afraid. Whilst your neighbour cannot demand Environmental Health take Candy away (ridiculous!), she can complain to EH & they do take noise complaints seriously. They would ask your neighbour to keep a diary noting everytime there is barking & how long it goes on for & they also will come & monitor the noise themselves (sit outside your house while you're at work or something). If they do think the noise levels are unreasonable (& nobody would expect dogs to be totally quiet all day long), then they would ask you to take steps to reduce the noise, one of which would probably be for the dogs to be kept inside while you're at work. It's a good idea to ask your trainer for advice too - she may suggest the Masterplus anti-bark collars which can help stop "alarm barking" (at birds, noises etc) but they wouldn't stop the noise 2 dogs make when they play together I don't think.
HTH
Jane
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Oh oh, a whinging neighbour... sounds like you'll have to tread carefully with her whatever you do :- I'd also think about keeping Candy and Georgia inside when you're not there to supervise them and their noise levels - sounds like this womans main problem is that she finds them too distracting when she is outside.
Just wanted to say also that I know one of our esteemed members uses a type of anti-bark collar, in his absence I hope Colin wont mind me saying so! I was visiting once when Jimmy was starting to be a bit vocal, and he just had to show him the collar and he became quiet. Magic! ;D
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A similar idea to what Mike's said about the collar but I have a soft muzzel which I used to put on Jazzy when she had a barking fit, I only had to put it on for 1 - 2 minutes as she calmed down instantly with it on and now I only have to get it out of the cupboard and show her it and she stops barking straight away.
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(& nobody would expect dogs to be totally quiet all day long),
My neighbours do ::) I have to leave Dallas with an aboistop collar on whilst im out at work and with the radio on quite loud to try and distarct form any outside noise. It was only a few months back that one of my neighbours said they walked too loudly :o Honestly...you couldnt make it up ::) Needless to say, my house move is going to be happening sooner rather than later ;D So you have my sympathy Loraine, you really do.
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Oh poor you Gill :( Sadly moving house is often the only thing you can do when you have dog-hating neighbours as nothing you do ever satisfies them. Hope it doesn't come to this for Loraine but I know so many people with dogs who have had to move due to neighbour problems :(
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(& nobody would expect dogs to be totally quiet all day long),
My neighbours do ::) I have to leave Dallas with an aboistop collar on whilst im out at work and with the radio on quite loud to try and distarct form any outside noise. It was only a few months back that one of my neighbours said they walked too loudly :o Honestly...you couldnt make it up ::) Needless to say, my house move is going to be happening sooner rather than later ;D So you have my sympathy Loraine, you really do.
At least I know I'm not alone. :)
I don't usually leave my dogs' collars on as the way they play, they could get into trouble! Although if I have to put a collar on Candy I'll just have to. The same with keeping inside when I'm at work: it's not ideal but if I have to I have to.
I've been reading conflicting reports about those collars so before I shell out the £70 ish I'll double check with the trainer to see if there's anything I haven't considered. Who knows it could be phase.
You wouldn't believe how much this has upset me. The weather is great and I was actually feeling a lot brighter today and this woman has gone and got me in a bad mood. >:( Thanks for the reassurance Jane, I really thought EH could take Candy off me.
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I use the aboistob collar on my youngest. She doesn't bark as such, but she sometimes gets a bit vocal when left alone in the house ( singing "All by my self, don't wanna be all by myself" ::) ). If I am home all I have to do is say: "enough" and all my girls stop barking.
I am also very lucky to have understanding neighbours, they don't mind my dogs making a bit noise when playing.
I would definately recommend the antibark collar :).
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Awww i do hope you manage to get sorted out Loraine :(
your trainer should be able to help you .If not your vet
should be able to put you in touch with a behavourist.
who may be able to offer other ways to help. if you dont
like the idea of useing a collar. Just another option for you
Barb
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Lorraine, just a thought, but is your neighbour aggravating the situation by yelling at the dogs when they bark. As we know, the yelling would only encourage them to continue as they are getting attention. As difficult as it might be could you invite your neighbour to meet your dogs so she can see how harmless they are and explain to her how her actions might not be helping the situation.
Lee
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Hi Lorraine,
Sorry to hear about your neighbour troubles. I can recommend the Aboistop Anti Bark Collar - it is very effective. Like Mike says, I now only have to show it to my lot and they shut up. One big draw back with it is the fact that the batteries don't last long and they are not easy to obtain and quite expensive. I agree with Jane that such a collar is not intended to be left on a dog all day whilst you are out though. Hope you can manage to resolve the situation - maybe keeping them indoors might be better?
Linda ;)
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Lorraine, just a thought, but is your neighbour aggravating the situation by yelling at the dogs when they bark. As we know, the yelling would only encourage them to continue as they are getting attention. As difficult as it might be could you invite your neighbour to meet your dogs so she can see how harmless they are and explain to her how her actions might not be helping the situation.
Lee
The neighbour said yesterday that she does go to the fence and tells Candy to shut up, so you're probably right it is making the situation worse. You'd think she'd know better because she's got a little dog too and believe you me he's had his moments!
I spoke to the dog trainer and she's going to lend me an anti bark collar. I won't leave it on her all day just the morning and see how she gets on. At least I can try before I buy. I hope it works because I'm reluctant to shut them away; they seem to enjoy the freedom of the garden but at the same time they can get back into part of the house if it's raining or they want to sleep.
Will keep you posted...
Loraine.
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Hi Loraine
Sorry to hear about your neighbour problems. >:(
I got the Aboistop for Jimmy as he got in the habit of sitting outside and staring at neighbours windows then barking at the slightest sign of movement. The collar worked a treat and as Mike says I just have to wave it at him now and he stops. :)
As Linda says, the batteries are expensive, about £4/£5 each I think. The battery runs down the whole time the collar is on , not just when the dog barks...... so they will run down very quickly if left on all morning. I'm not sure how long each battery lasts as I've only put the collar on Jimmy for a total time of about 20 minutes overall..........I must admit I'd be reluctant to leave it on him when he's unattended, but maybe that's just me being a worry wart.
I'm sure I saw on a website a kind of radar thing that emits a high pitched noise only audible to dogs and works on barking upto about 20/30 metres away. I seem to recall it was recommended for people who lived near to noisy dogs so doesn't require a collar on the "offending" dog, but it was really expensive. Unfortunately I can't remember where I saw this device and can't find it anywhere now. ::) The only similar thing I can find is the Electronic Fence which is something completely different and not for preventing barking. Maybe someone else knows of this product as it may be the answer to your problems..........other than that you may have to confine Candy and Georgia to the house whilst you are out I'm afraid. :(
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Hi Lorraine
Sorry to hear about your troubles ??? A similar thing happened to us about 8 years ago with our rescued GSD Sheba! She suffered seperation anxiety and it seemed that unknown to us she was howling the place down everytime we went out :( An elderly neighbour took action by reporting us to the Enviromental Health Dept, that was the first time we knew anything about the howling! Wish she had had a word with us first ::) Anyhow basically we realised we had to do something about it, as it wasnt fair on our neighbours I have to say there is nothing worse than other peoples dogs disturbing your peace :o
We got in an animal behaviourist to try and help us cure the anxiety Sheba felt! We let our neighbour know that we were trying to overcome the problem and could she bear with us, we also let the Enviro Health know the same thing. She did get better with time although not PERFECT and my mum helped us out by taking her to her house if we were gonna be out longer than an hour :D It showed to our neighbour that we did take on board the problem of the noise and we did try to resolve the problem and kept her informed of the situation. In the end the neighbour go to know the full story of our rescue dog and I think its because we did try to overcome the problem, the old lady ended up absolutely adoring SHEBA and she agreed to compromise with us and as long as it didnt happen excessively she was willing to try and ignore it if it meant SHEBA didnt have to go back to yet ANOTHER rescue home.
On the day SHEBA was put to sleep the old lady absolutely broke her heart crying, she gave us a card!
I know its hard Lorraine, but I would do your best to try and show willing with your neigbours, it can become very stressful having all the bad feeling bewteen you and it might be easier and for you to keep the dogs in during the day when you are not home :-
Good luck let us know how you get on
Emma and Indie
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pesonally (and I agree this maybe just me ) ;D but I wouldn't bend for a neighbour. they would hav to put up with it, after all my neighbours are the most noisy loud mouths going, I mean you really know they are enjoying themselves... (if I had nice neighbours it might doffer though ) ;)
so once they told me they realised I had another dog cos they heard her 'playing' with the kids in the garden..."yeah" I said.. "aint these houses paper thin I hear you playing meat loaf at 11.00pm at night..funny that! " and then I walked into my house... but then I am stubbourn me... proll best to passify the situation loraine..lolol..
but what I find hard to comprehend off your neighbour is she has a dog herself, and doesn't understand that by shouting at candy over the fence its gonna make things worse???? she really is a ..... ;) feel sorry for her dog
afterall Candy is in her teenage years, has had a new sister arrive, shes got big issue to deal ith in her doggie life... and if I was candy I would shout at the neighbour aswell ;)
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I'm sure I saw on a website a kind of radar thing that emits a high pitched noise only audible to dogs and works on barking upto about 20/30 metres away.
Colin, I wonder if that is the "sonic" one? I have tried the collar version of those and found it not to be effective - it might be OK for one dog in a household (they are a lot cheaper than the Aboistop) but the problem is in a household with more than one dog, if one of the other dogs barks then the poor dog with the collar on gets the full works from the sonic collar and cannot connect it to anything he has done so therefore not effective! :) Linda
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How awful, neighbours who'd have them! We've been trying really hard with Jake because he gets on my nerves yapping sometimes let alone the neighbours. Imagine how unimpressed I was when I went into the garden the other day when he was barking to find my neighbour standing on bench in their garden to look over a six foot fence holding her Yorkie up to see Jake. Mental?! Hmm thanks for making all to hours of training utterly useless. This is a grown woman?! I was and still am fuming about that one. >:(
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(( Electronic fence )) Colin, sorry can,t edit, what a good idea ;D might stop idiot neighbours from hanging over the fence annoying poor things. what does she think she,s playing at,stupid woman poor Jake, no wonder he,s barking. >:(
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I'm sure I saw on a website a kind of radar thing that emits a high pitched noise only audible to dogs and works on barking upto about 20/30 metres away.
Colin, I wonder if that is the "sonic" one? I have tried the collar version of those and found it not to be effective - it
might be OK for one dog in a household (they are a lot cheaper than the Aboistop) but the problem is in a household with more than one dog, if one of the other dogs barks then the poor dog with the collar on gets the full works from the sonic collar and cannot connect it to anything he has done so therefore not effective! :) Linda
I almost bought one of those sonic collars, I was attracted by the price but then I thought how is this going to affect the other dog so thought better of it. I should get the Aboistop one on Wed - can't wait!
Re: Jenney's post (don't know who to double quote) the angry neighbour also has a Yorkie and also used to lift him up to the fence to 'say hello to the new dogs'. She's paying for it now! ;)
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Sounds to me Lorraine, thats, whats started Candy off in the first place. ??? How stupid can some people be. >:(
Thats Candy and Georgias domain and there bound to
be barking, knowing that a strange dog is gonna pop up any minute. ::) Grrrrr.
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Both the dogs have been a lot quieter this week (so I'm told) which is really good. Anyhow, the trainer very kindly lent me an Aboistop Masterplus collar and I tried it yesterday evening. It only went off once and you should have seen the look on her face when it did! She didn't bark for the remainder of the time I had it on her.
I felt a little bit sorry for Candy as she was quite subdued and looked a bit sad (or is that me reading into things? ;))
But I just thought I'd let you know that so far so good... :)
Lastly, haven't seen hide nor hair of stroppy pants next door. Hmmm, I wonder if that's why the dogs have been quieter this week???
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Hi Loraine
Whatever you do, try not to get into a serious dispute with your neighbour - such things now have to be disclosed when and if you sell your house. If she complains to Environmental Health and starts keeping a diary of the noise, you will have problems.
Dogs left in gardens when their owners are out can make much more noise than when their owners are around. We used to live next door to a couple who allowed their red setter access to the garden when they were out - it was a pretty noiseless dog when they were around, but left on its own, it barked and howled for hours in the garden. The constant noise, day after day, was enough to make any dog lover start tearing their hair out, partly because it would also set off every other dog in hearing distance.
Is it possible for you to get one of your nice neighbours to keep a record of the amount of barking that your dogs are making in the garden when you are out? That way, you will have a more objective view of the extent of the 'problem'. If it is fairly bad, then keeping them in will be the best thing.
Helen
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Hi Lorraine,
have you introduced your dog to your neighbour so she gets to know her, this may help as she will feel friendly towards her.
If your neighbour is frustrated and shouting shut up and then stomping into her house the dog will think that the barking is making the neighbour go away and that will reinforce the barking and cause the dog to do it more and more.
I have just got a new puppy and I intend to take it next door to meet my neighbours, there kids and there cats.
I had this problem a few weeks ago when looking after a westie and that dog used to bark at the fence, however she was in heat and across the neighbours fence was another dog who happened to be male and I think my Westie fancied a bit of hankie panky.
Also my neighbours have an apple tree and when the apples drop the dogs hear the noise and then run into the garden to bark at the noise, do your neighbours have a fruit tree?
Just a thought - good luck.
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woman up the rd from me has a westie :D bloody fing barks 24/7 thou , im a doggy lover but i can hear her wuff and im 7 houses down
:- but still we know dogs do bark so we dont say a word :-X man next doors complained too thou, old gimp! soo last week she got a behavourist in and it stoppted her barkin for 2 hours :D well at least thats somthing huh ;)
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Just had our neighbour round- only seconds after I got in from work (in a young offenders jail- like I need more stress!!) complaining about Fudge barking all day or night whenever we're out. I know for a fact she barks and he comes out to tell her to shut it- so that's just affirming her barking but I'm a bit nervous of him so I don't feel like saying to leave her bark. Going to have to keep her in I guess- except she's worked out how to unlock the dog flap! Any suggestions on the dog flap? Would a friend for Fudge sort out the barking? (a canine friend)
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Would a friend for Fudge sort out the barking? (a canine friend)
Chances are you might just end up with two barking dogs ;) ;D Vegas was never much of a barker but since we got yapping jaws aka Dallas, he has definitely got a bit more vocal ::) I would probably be better to keep Fudge indoors when your not there and leave the radio on or leave her with a buster cube to keep her occupied. Can you block off the dog flap at all? Maybe with a wheelie bin or something so she cant get out? If she has to be outside, then the only thing I can think of would be to use the aboistop collar.
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Just had our neighbour round- only seconds after I got in from work (in a young offenders jail- like I need more stress!!) complaining about Fudge barking all day or night whenever we're out. I know for a fact she barks and he comes out to tell her to shut it- so that's just affirming her barking but I'm a bit nervous of him so I don't feel like saying to leave her bark. Going to have to keep her in I guess- except she's worked out how to unlock the dog flap! Any suggestions on the dog flap? Would a friend for Fudge sort out the barking? (a canine friend)
No is the simple answer ;) - it could make it worse. :o I agree with Gill here and recommend an anti bark collar but watch out the batteries are well expensive! But I know exactly what you're going through.
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I agree with Gill here and recommend an anti bark collar but watch out the batteries are well expensive!
Have you had to replace your battery Loraine? Dallas has had his since June and he wears it everyday while Im at work and Ive never replaced the battery :- I check it still works by blowing into it as I assumed it would just stop working completely if the battery ran out.
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I'm sure the neighbours would love two barking dogs!!
Definately will try the aboistop- otherwise it'll be a concrete sald over the dog door (we don't have wheelie bins- Lancaster is strangely backwards in it's approach to rubbish!!!)
Thanks
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Hi Lorraine ,
We have the same problem our neighbour petitions about everything and anything . Even got a jack russell removed across the road .
So my advise is keep your freinds close but your enemys closer . We gave her a key to the house so that if he does trouble her she can let herself in and sort it out , she sits down woth him for 10 mins and chats to him and he is OK for the rest of the day . We also buy her a bottle of gin every now and agian and say its from the dog .
Some people listen all the time when they know there is a certain noise ie barking and then try to create a problem about it . But my question is would they be as much of a moaner if there was a child at home all day crying ?
What are you expected to do then - send your child to an orphanage because they are to noisy ?
CJ
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Wow some of you guys have got horrible neighbours, I am truly blessed as we have a retired chap who lives across the road who walks Billy with his dog everyday so that he is not on his own for more than 3 hours at a time.
The only unpleasant neighbour we have got objects strongly to my daughter!!!!!! who is 7 playing out with her pram as the noise of the wheels irritates him, we have to tell her to push it the other way which means that she is out of my sight.
Friends of ours who have two westies actually started to get hate mail with words cut out of newspapers about what they were going to do to their dogs whilst they were out.........sick.
M
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We've been looking at moving for a while (not because of the neighbours- although there's added reason now!) and we looked at a house this weekend with an acre of field out back!!!!! Hurrah!!!
Only problem is it needs much 'modernisation'!!!
Our neighbours would never send us hate mail- they're far too busy complaining!!