Neighbour trouble

CAT24

Hi

We are having a bit of bother with one of our neighbours. We live in a terraced house and the neighbour insists on leaving his dog in the house when he goes out. The dog barks and howls all night until he comes back, we have knocked into him twice to ask if its possible to live the dog outside and he said yeah no problem. I can't imagine that you could forget to put him out after a neighbour has complained twice and he just doesn't seem the type to do it on purpose.

This happens about twice a week if not more and is really starting to cause problems. He also listens to the tv/radio at the highest level (which we have also spoke to him about). We hate having to go into him and it just feels like its one thing after another but I just don't think it's right to not think about your ajoining neighbour and make noise like your a detached house. Anyone got any advice?

biko

Just keep at it/asking/telling until he gets the point.

4Xcut

Contact the ispca. If the dog is spending long periods of time barking and howling, it can'[t be happy in the environment. Screw it if he doesn't like that, it's not like you are loosing a good neighbour already.

Morlar

If you have already spoken to the neighbour and gotten nowhere then you might want to talk to the council too. Also it might be an idea to make a note of times when it happens in case this continues or if it gets worse.

faceman

OP, unfortunately the law isnt really on your side on this one, well it is, but it makes it extremely difficult for you to follow up on it. Fortunately however, the law on noise complaints is being reviewed and more powers are being suggested for the gardai. (at the moment the gardai cant do much). Presumably you dont have a management company in your estate?

Heres what I suggest from my own experience. Start to keep a diary noting dates, times, and duration of the problems. Also if you can remember, diary the dates etc when you spoke to your neighbour. Inform your neighbour one last time that the situation has not improved and it is affecting your quality of life and something needs to be done.

If things dont improve contact your local council who will give you forms to fill in to make a complaint. Its time consuming, full of hassle but its the only way.

CAT24

I really hate going in so I can't keep going in. I'm tempted to ring the ISPCA if it keeps going! The dog is obviously unhappy about being stuck in the house and is stressed so it's not right for him to head out for the day leaving him there and then we are the ones listening to it.

The tv/radio would only be every second day, might start taking a note. It's starting to really get to us now

briano.de.rhino

Have a few all-nighters, music blaring when he is trying to sleep etc. So he knows how u feel during the day but isnt around to care. he is around at 3am[in his bed] and he will care. When I was a postie, someone failed to tip me at xmas and I held their mail in the letterbox till their vicious dog tore it to shreds, u might think of something similar that the dog could tear up that'd piss him off.

MsFifers

4Xcut wrote: »

Contact the ispca. If the dog is spending long periods of time barking and howling, it can'[t be happy in the environment. Screw it if he doesn't like that, it's not like you are loosing a good neighbour already.

Poor dog.

I dont think the ISPCA will be able to do anything as the law only requires that dogs are given adequate food, water & shelter. Lonely/depressed animals are outside its scope unfortunately.

If you can convince them to call into him though it might be the wake-up call he needs.

You might be better off going down the noise pollution route. Check with your council & Dept of Environment about that scenario.

hunnybunny

Have a few all-nighters, music blaring when he is trying to sleep etc. So he knows how u feel during the day but isnt around to care. he is around at 3am[in his bed] and he will care. When I was a postie, someone failed to tip me at xmas and I held their mail in the letterbox till their vicious dog tore it to shreds, u might think of something similar that the dog could tear up that'd piss him off.

Thats just tit for tat! It doesn t help anything. AND if it goes further with complaints than you look just as bad!


Record the events and make a complaint. Though thread carefully. You don t want nasty neighbourly behaviour on your hands. From my experience it just wasnt worth all the bitching and hassle between the neighbours.

We personaly had a problem with our next door neighbour banging his drums at 7AM. and then when he got home from school. The noise would vibrate across to the other avenue. We had a young baby in the house as well.
We tried talking to the neighbour but she shrugged her shoulders and said boys will be boys and couldn t he be doing much worse????! Like thats much help to us waking up at 7AM from the noise.
None of the other neighbours would back the claims up as they were friends with these people. They would even deny they could hear the drums despite people on the other avenue complaining. It was unbelievable. It led to some frosty behaviour between us and the other neigbours.:(
We hadn t leg to stand on sadly with the law. Though we did try. This was 15 years ago maybe things have changed.

We also had another situation similar between various neighbours (not us but 4 different houses over the one issue) and it ended up with solictitors letters flying left right and centre.:rolleyes:

There has been several fights like this on the cul de sac I live on. Its just sooo petty and inconsiderate.

Times like that make you wish you lived in a detached house in the country.

CAT24

I some times wish that we lived down the country and I think that I could put up the commute but in reality I probably couldn't. He's not the worst neighbour, from some stories that I have read he's definitely not half as bad but it's still making our lives unhappy!

The revenge route is the way we would like to go if it made it stop but I know that its not the best route. We saw that the back door was opena crack the other night and my partner was tempted to jump over the wall and let the dog out but I reasoned with him that it would be a bad idea. When your listening to a dog barking and howling through the walls for hours, it drives you to do mad thing!

All we can do is put up with it and just take a note when it happens, the joys of living in a terraced house

roberta c

If hes a nice enough guy why not try writing a letter, explain that you dont like going in there bothering him and why the dog and radio are a problem and really nicely ask if he could do something about these.
couldnt hurt to try and i cant see any decent person refusing that

CAT24

We were thinking that the next plan of action would be a letter. Might not be as nice as you describe though Roberta, very hard to stay calm when you have noise all the time. It sends us mad, we end up fighting over it because we are so frustrated. I can imagine the type of letter we would write would be a two liner stuck to his door. I know its the wrong thing to do, we just need to write it when we're calm and for once it's quiet (not could be a while)

carlybabe1

Oh my god do I know what you're goin through...constant barking is like chinese water torture :mad: Heres the thing though, it sounds like the dog doesnt want to be on his own and if he leaves the dog out the back its not going to stop him barking, he'll just bark out the back!!!! Legally the only thing you can do is to make a complaint to the district court, but you have to make him aware you are going to do this. perhaps type up a letter outlining why you're goin to take this action, be as nice as possible and maybe suggest in the letter that he could purchase an anti barking collar, they aren't cruel, just unpleasant. Other than that you'll have to move....I have had dogs all my life and when I was growing up it just wasnt the done thing to have your dog barkin all the time, we taught them not to, or brought them in. Hope this helps, let us know how you get on

CAT24

The thing is, he doesn't bark when he's out the back which I know is mad. He lets the dog out all day and he roams the streets for hours always coming back at night. i think its that he's used to his freedom and then all of a sudden he's locked up in the house! There isn't a peep out of him out the back and that's why I don't understand why he leaves him in when he lets him out all day not worrying about it. If it was a treasured dog maybe I would understand but he's not arsed with him half the time

dodgyme

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0828/1219680144727.html

editorial from IT yesterday basically saying that the law is an ass when it comes to noise pollution.

The gardai you know used to have the powers to deal with it but it is now a civil matter??

I live in an end of a line of houses and know exactly how you feel. Basically the editorial above deals with saying that we have become more urbanised without any proper legislative backup. In a more general sense when I hear the terms management company, taking in charge, builders regulations, litter, commuting, noise pollution, societal integration I also think of the accompanying type of poster adverts that came with houses built in the last few years "building a community" b*llsh1t. Not sure if your house is new or old but is sounds like it is not pre-1950's anyhow.

Where I grew up there was 6 foot stone walls (weight) between houses. Stereos hadnt enough power to shake a matchstick never mind a room etc etc. Nowaday there is no proper regulation when the houses are build so noise pollution is worse, alarms go off everyday, parking is a constant hassle, 3/4 bins for every house etc, government agencies walk away from responsibility, do you have a management agency,? we cant do anything unless taken in charge.? Bye-laws not effective coz under the builders still etc, Its all pass the buck b*llsh1t.

Unfortunately you may have to go to his level and wreck a few nights sleep for him. Do you have a neighbourhood watch. Perhaps the community guards can intervene. But they will probably pass the buck also. Really annoying .

CAT24

Believe it or not it is a old enough house - 1950s, well established area. I the neighbour is just one of those people that make noise in everything they do, plus he has such a deep voice that we can hear him talking when he's in the kitchen. Was contemplating getting sound proofing but can't afford it at the mo, crazy that we would have to go to that level to live in peace in our home

We really didnt want to take any sort of action on it yet, I think we will just keep knocking in and posting letters and if it doesn't work maybe we might just accidentally leave the tv on full blast when we go to work one day

dodgyme

CAT24 wrote: »

Believe it or not it is a old enough house - 1950s, well established area.

:eek: -> first time I used this icon

I think if you are going down the revenge route ensure you interrupt his sleep just a few hours before he has to work. That usually helps a bit. Speakers again the wall and a record that replays all the time

RoosterIllusion

Well, I had a very similar problem lately, involving my neighbours rather than their dog though.

5 times we went next door to talk to them, always very diplomatically in a nice way. they were not being loud on purpose, but they were very stupid about it, such as not having a party for two weeks then throwing a huge one randomly thinking they had saved up party credits with us or something.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, you need to go talk to him, be very very genuine and frank about it. Tell him that you are not going to be diplomatic about it again, that it is torturous for you and that the way he is dealing with it is not working and that he is not taking proper care or responsibility for his dog. If that doesn't work then confront him about it in front of his house (raising your voice if possible) so everyone living around you can hear you talking about it. If that doesn't work then find his landlord or if he owns the house then go to the guards or your solicitor.

I take that stuff very very seriously because in my situation I was dealing with three idiots who meant well but never ever got the message until eventually i went next door and roared at the guy at 1am in the morning to shut the f*ck up and stop making so much noise (I dislike raising my voice in any context).

hunnybunny

I some times wish that we lived down the country and I think that I could put up the commute but in reality I probably couldn't. He's not the worst neighbour, from some stories that I have read he's definitely not half as bad but it's still making our lives unhappy!

I can so hear what you are saying here. It doesn t seem as bad as the worst neighbours but its still disrupting your life! Keep a record of it and make a complaint.

The revenge route is the way we would like to go if it made it stop but I know that its not the best route. We saw that the back door was opena crack the other night and my partner was tempted to jump over the wall and let the dog out but I reasoned with him that it would be a bad idea. When your listening to a dog barking and howling through the walls for hours, it drives you to do mad thing!

I understand how you are feeling, but for the love of god do not go down the revenge route!

Thats the one piece of sure advice I can give you!!!!

It can end up going tit for tat. Other neighbours can get involved and it can become incredibly petty and childish, I ve seen rubbish being chucked in someone elses garden to solictors letters from angry neighbours.

Take it from someone whose neighbours are constantly at war over everything! :rolleyes:

From noise to cutting down trees, to border disputes, to Parking issues and to dogs barking. The list of feuds on my road is endless!!!
World War III is about to break out any day in my suburban, middle class, semi detached, Dublin ( seemingly quiet and calm )cul de sac!:rolleyes:
Yes a detached house in the country seems like a dream come true!

carlybabe1

I had a problem with a dog down the road who used to bark till two in the mornin and then wake me up at five the followin mornin barkin at the crows :mad::mad: (hence previous post), until I got so fed up i went down one mornin and almost sat on their doorbell till she eventually stook her head out the window. Long story short I told her every time her dog woke me up, i'd return the favour by sittin on her bell, and when I got tired of that id ring the pound and the council. thankfully hasnt happened since, so does this bloke come home at night or does he work night shift???If he does come home set your alarm for a time when you think he'll be asleep and do as above, when he comes to the door you can still be very nice but once or twice should do it. If its daytime ditto as he has to sleep sometime....Oh just in case anyone is wonderin how she wouldnt hear her own dog, her bedroom is at the front of the house, ours is at the back