Neighbours dog barking all night??

lovelife92

I have noticed my neighbour keeps there dog out all night, which first of all I do not agree with. He sometimes barks but quietens down. Since 1am this dog has been barking, it is now 6:33 am. I have got no sleep, all night it has been this really sad whining bark every 2 to 5 mins to 10 minutes, I try to relax to sleep and then there is a screeching bark again. I find it quite torturous to listen to for hours. I don't know the neighbours, they keep themselves to themselves and seem like decent people.

What can I do? the dog is clearly not happy barking for over 5 hours straight, which will keep going on, I have got no sleep, I am getting increasingly frustrated?

Graces7

lovelife92 wrote: »

I have noticed my neighbour keeps there dog out all night, which first of all I do not agree with. He sometimes barks but quietens down. Since 1am this dog has been barking, it is now 6:33 am. I have got no sleep, all night it has been this really sad whining bark every 2 to 5 mins to 10 minutes, I try to relax to sleep and then there is a screeching bark again. I find it quite torturous to listen to for hours. I don't know the neighbours, they keep themselves to themselves and seem like decent people.

What can I do? the dog is clearly not happy barking for over 5 hours straight, which will keep going on, I have got no sleep, I am getting increasingly frustrated?

Dreadful and all too common situation and many threads on it.

First is to contact the neighbours, none aggressively. I had this once with some lovely neighbours.

They were mortified; they were both getting deaf an also very efficient double glazing, and had no idea what the dog was doing, ie chained up and barking all night. They moved the dog.

Keep a record of the barking and of your actions.

Meanwhile get some efficient ear plugs .

If they refuse to do anything? And had this elsewhere with two dogs left chained up in a field all night in storms.

I then contacted the local dog warden and a couple of rescue places . Oh and Environmental Health.

Ashbx

Next time you get woken up at 1am, go immediately out to your neighbour and ask them to bring the dog in.

If you knock in at a time that the dog is barking. Especially waking them up at the same time, arriving in your dressing gown and half asleep, they cant really deny it or say anything about it.

Graces7

With my lovely old neghbours? Could not upset them by complaining so went up saying I was worried as the dog had been barking all night and I was worried in case anything was wrong... They were still mortified but it made it easier

Bianca Crystal

lovelife92 wrote: »

I have noticed my neighbour keeps there dog out all night, which first of all I do not agree with. He sometimes barks but quietens down. Since 1am this dog has been barking, it is now 6:33 am. I have got no sleep, all night it has been this really sad whining bark every 2 to 5 mins to 10 minutes, I try to relax to sleep and then there is a screeching bark again. I find it quite torturous to listen to for hours. I don't know the neighbours, they keep themselves to themselves and seem like decent people.

What can I do? the dog is clearly not happy barking for over 5 hours straight, which will keep going on, I have got no sleep, I am getting increasingly frustrated?

Talk to them. You have nothing to lose. They may be nice understanding people. At least this worked out for me when I had this kind of situation with my neighbours.

halfstack

I wonder if anyone knows is it illegal to keep a dog tied up for long periods, outside, in Ireland. One of  the neighbours is doing this regularly and the dog is barking itself crazy as well it might. Really hate to see this treatment of an animal  and the noise is very annoying too,

DBB

A bit of a grey area halfstack...
Under the old legislation, all that was required was for the dog to have shelter, food and water. It seems to me that this old legislation is what some organisations still stick with.
However, under the new legislation, there is a catch-all part under the 5 Freedoms, whereby the animal must be allowed to express natural behaviours, and be free from undue stress. About 18-24 months ago, the ISPCA took a case against an owner in Louth who kept his dog tied up, under these provisions, and won their case. So there is precedence there, even though there appears to be a torpor amongst others to bring such cases.
I'm not sure if this really answers your question, but then again, it seems to me it's the luck of the draw who it is who acts upon any complaint you might make.

halfstack

Thanks for that very useful reply. I hope it won't come to having to try and make something happen through legal action or gardai but useful to know. I hate this sort of attitude to animals - so mindless. It is clealry very distressed and they must know that. Anyway thanks again for your reply very helpful.

DBB

Tethering a dog for long periods must be one of the most insidious psychologically stressful things that can be done to a dog.

Cordell

Talk to them, suggest a barking control collar. I was on the other side of this kind of problem and this is what I've done.

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DBB

Cordell wrote: »

Talk to them, suggest a barking control collar. I was on the other side of this kind of problem and this is what I've done.

Ah yes. To add further to the dog's misery.

Cordell

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It is not. Keeping the dog all day long on a chain or restricted to a small room or crate, that is cruel.

DBB

Cordell wrote: »

It is not. Keeping the dog all day long on a chain or restricted to a small room or crate, that is cruel.

In this case, assuming the owners won't remove the tether, you appear to be suggesting to both tether the dog, AND to punish him for barking when he expresses his Distress at being tethered... Or have I picked you up wrong?

Bells21

Cordell wrote:

It is not. Keeping the dog all day long on a chain or restricted to a small room or crate, that is cruel.

What does the collar do in order to stop the barking? Did you attempt to get to the bottom of why your dog was barking before sticking one of those on them?

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Kristopherus

DBB wrote: »

Tethering a dog for long periods must be one of the most insidious psychologically stressful things that can be done to a dog.

Just as letting said dog run free and possibly causing problems for the neighbors and their kids is

Bells21

Well that's easily solved, fence/wall your garden in so that said dog can't get out and then it doesn't need to be tied up. Or just don't get a dog if you're not willing to put in the effort! Or if you're just going to leave it in the garden tied up or on it's own!

Cordell

Bells21 wrote: »

What does the collar do in order to stop the barking? Did you attempt to get to the bottom of why your dog was barking before sticking one of those on them?

Of course. It is called compulsive barking, some dogs just do it, they find pleasure in barking and so they bark even more. It is a bad behavior that needs to be corrected - dogs need to be educated, believe it or not.

But I seem to be outnumbered and outgunned here, and I have no reason to advocate these things. I was just suggesting a solution that it is not cruel even though the reason for the dog barking in the first place might be cruel treatment.

DBB

Kristopherus wrote: »

Just as letting said dog run free and possibly causing problems for the neighbors and their kids is

That's a whole other argument that I'm not interested in getting involved in. I was specifically referring to a situation which causes dogs enormous distress, but it does not follow on from that that I'm in agreement with dogs being let run free around the neighbourhood either.

DBB

Cordell wrote: »

Of course. It is called compulsive barking, some dogs just do it, they find pleasure in barking and so they bark even more. It is a bad behavior that needs to be corrected - dogs need to be educated, believe it or not.

But I seem to be outnumbered and outgunned here, and I have no reason to advocate these things. I was just suggesting a solution that it is not cruel even though the reason for the dog barking in the first place might be cruel treatment.

All credible animal welfare organisations, all qualified dog behaviourists, and all available scientific research into the welfare implications of using anti-bark collars would disagree with your assertion that these devices are not cruel.
They may not be as cruel as beating the lard out of a dog, but they are still considered cruel (by the experts) nonetheless.

sunny2004

DBB wrote: »

All credible animal welfare organisations, all qualified dog behaviourists, and all available scientific research into the welfare implications of using anti-bark collars would disagree with your assertion that these devices are not cruel.
They may not be as cruel as beating the lard out of a dog, but they are still considered cruel (by the experts) nonetheless.

It would depend of the collar, I have had to use one that only vibrated. worked a treat, no shocks, simply vibrated and the dog stopped, after some time it wasn't required and the behaviour was changed..

The relevant point to the OP is this, nobody should have to endure someone else's dog barking all night..

Cordell

DBB wrote: »

All credible animal welfare organisations, all qualified dog behaviourists, and all available scientific research into the welfare implications of using anti-bark collars would disagree with your assertion that these devices are not cruel.
They may not be as cruel as beating the lard out of a dog, but they are still considered cruel (by the experts) nonetheless.

I just want to clarify what is the cruel part: the correction given by the collar or the fact that you restrain the excessive barking? The way you correct the bad behavior or the fact that you're correcting bad behavior?

Bells21

Cordell wrote:

Of course. It is called compulsive barking, some dogs just do it, they find pleasure in barking and so they bark even more. It is a bad behavior that needs to be corrected - dogs need to be educated, believe it or not.

Yes I'm aware of that as we have a dog that loved to bark, not at night time thankfully, but still a behaviour that required attention after we had exhausted all other avenues such as exercise and stimulation. So we got a professional in who showed us how beneficial clicker training could be for him and we haven't needed to resort to collars etc.

DBB

sunny2004 wrote: »

It would depend of the collar, I have had to use one that only vibrated. worked a treat, no shocks, simply vibrated and the dog stopped, after some time it wasn't required and the behaviour was changed..

The relevant point to the OP is this, nobody should have to endure someone else's dog barking all night..

Vibrating collars have been shown to be deeply distressing to some dogs. Quite aside from that, there are major welfare implications to artificially silencing a dog that is barking due to stress (which is why most lonely dogs bark). The stress has to materialise somehow... If you silence the bark, you'll often get far worse stress-related behaviours bubbling out.
This is always the danger with these threads. A couple of people come along having tried gear that is known to cause welfare issues in order to stick a band-aid over a behavioural issue, and recommend such gear without realising that although it might have worked ok with their dog, there is a bigger picture, backed up by research, that they're not aware of.

DBB

Cordell wrote: »

I just want to clarify what is the cruel part: the correction given by the collar or the fact that you restrain the excessive barking? The way you correct the bad behavior or the fact that you're correcting bad behavior?

Both. As explained in my post above, which I was typing out as you posted.

sunny2004

DBB wrote: »

Vibrating collars have been shown to be deeply distressing to some dogs. Quite aside from that, there are major welfare implications to artificially silencing a dog that is barking due to stress (which is why most lonely dogs bark). The stress has to materialise somehow... If you silence the bark, you'll often get far worse stress-related behaviours bubbling out.
This is always the danger with these threads. A couple of people come along having tried gear that is known to cause welfare issues in order to stick a band-aid over a behavioural issue, and recommend such gear without realising that although it might have worked ok with their dog, there is a bigger picture, backed up by research, that they're not aware of.

I'm not sure how many assumptions you are going to make, my dog isn't lonely, in fact my dog is never left alone. its a socialising issue with strangers. postman, children, practically everyone the dog doesn't recognise.. its all bark and no bite. A rather happy dog.. The vibrating collar worked.

DBB

sunny2004 wrote: »

I'm not sure how many assumptions you are going to make, my dog isn't lonely, in fact my dog is never left alone. its a socialising issue with strangers. postman, children, practically everyone the dog doesn't recognise.. its all bark and no bite. A rather happy dog.. The vibrating collar worked.

Yep. Like I say. Worked for your dog.
I made no assumptions about your dog being lonely though. I'm addressing the bigger picture of why and how anti-bark collars cause welfare issues, which is what I was asked.

sunny2004

DBB wrote: »

Yep. Like I say. Worked for your dog.
I made no assumptions about your dog being lonely though. I'm addressing the bigger picture of why and how anti-bark collars cause welfare issues, which is what I was asked.

My apologies, the implication was that the dog may be lonely..

DBB

sunny2004 wrote: »

My apologies, the implication was that the dog may be lonely..

I didn't mean to imply that about your dog

Girerland27

Hello, lovelife. I am sorry for the troubles that you're going through.
You don't live in Westmeath by any chance do you?

We also have a dog which falls into the category your thread describes.
So I can relate to the problem you're having.

He does also bark at frequent times, but it's more of a territorial bark more than anything.
There could be a little bit of whiny barks, but that's just if no one is at home. We had to call an ambulance 4 days ago (which coincides with your date) as one of our family members got ill and have noticed some whine at that time, I haven't really thought much of it then, but after this thread I think perhaps it could be best to take her to the vet for a check up, just in case.

As some other people have mentioned we have tried to use the collar to stop the barking, but we thought it was way too cruel as it was bringing the dog a lot of distress, so we got rid of it.

We don't really know what to do at this point. We considered obedience dog training, and truth be told, I don't know how helpful that would be as the dog is already of age. We made a massive mistake not training the dog at the young age, but there is nothing much we can do about it now. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Shelter is also a whole nother issue.
He keeps destroying the houses we buy him. It is very troublesome indeed as this is the third house he has chewed off completely. We discussed this with the pet store owners, but they didn't really know how to advise us. They did tell us to consider the metal house, but we have absolutely no idea where to get one? So at this current time we have no other option left other than leave him outside (chainless of course)

We would really love to bring the dog inside the house at night times, this will undoubtedly solve the problem, but the tenancy agreement will not allow that.

We are at the situation where we really don't know what to do anymore. If anyone can give us some sort of advice we would be forever grateful. Thank you for your time, and Lovelife, once again, if you do live beside us by any chance then i truly apologize

Knine

Steelgardensheds.ie do the Kingspan metal kennels & also fantastic dog runs. They deliver & have delivered to me in Blanchardstown.

Sam Kade

lovelife92 wrote: »

I have noticed my neighbour keeps there dog out all night, which first of all I do not agree with. He sometimes barks but quietens down. Since 1am this dog has been barking, it is now 6:33 am. I have got no sleep, all night it has been this really sad whining bark every 2 to 5 mins to 10 minutes, I try to relax to sleep and then there is a screeching bark again. I find it quite torturous to listen to for hours. I don't know the neighbours, they keep themselves to themselves and seem like decent people.

What can I do? the dog is clearly not happy barking for over 5 hours straight, which will keep going on, I have got no sleep, I am getting increasingly frustrated?

Have you tried ear plugs?

Cordell

DBB wrote: »

Vibrating collars have been shown to be deeply distressing to some dogs. Quite aside from that, there are major welfare implications to artificially silencing a dog that is barking due to stress (which is why most lonely dogs bark). The stress has to materialise somehow... If you silence the bark, you'll often get far worse stress-related behaviours bubbling out.
This is always the danger with these threads. A couple of people come along having tried gear that is known to cause welfare issues in order to stick a band-aid over a behavioural issue, and recommend such gear without realising that although it might have worked ok with their dog, there is a bigger picture, backed up by research, that they're not aware of.

Barking can also be just an acquired bad behavior, unknowingly reinforced by the owners. Bark collars are a proven solution, and I can't find any actual scientific research that show that they are bad and cruel.
Ideally you would keep a dog happy all day long, so there will be no need for him to be distressed. But we don't live in an ideal world, dog owners have full time jobs and the dog will get lonely and suffer from separation anxiety. While not ideal there is not much to be done about this, other that teach him to behave, even if it does not make him too happy. I realize that with the collar you treat the symptom, but it is what is is, and it works. If the owner does nothing then even worse things can happen.

DBB

Cordell wrote: »

Barking can also be just an acquired bad behavior, unknowingly reinforced by the owners. Bark collars are a proven solution, and I can't find any actual scientific research that show that they are bad and cruel.
Ideally you would keep a dog happy all day long, so there will be no need for him to be distressed. But we don't live in an ideal world, dog owners have full time jobs and the dog will get lonely and suffer from separation anxiety. While not ideal there is not much to be done about this, other that teach him to behave, even if it does not make him too happy. I realize that with the collar you treat the symptom, but it is what is is, and it works. If the owner does nothing then even worse things can happen.

Whilst there are many reasons for barking, we're talking here about barking of a dog that's being left alone... I don't know how an absent owner can reinforce such behaviour.
There are a few papers and meta-analyses on the welfare implications of using shock collars... I found one that concluded that cortisol levels didn't elevate significantly over time (they did in the short-term, but not to significant levels), however the relevance of using cortisol as the sole measure of stress has long been questioned and challenged... I found more papers that did conclude welfare issues occur with shock collars, and I found a multiplicity of opinion pieces written by applied and clinical animal behaviourists which express considerable concerns relating to welfare and the consequent appearance of unwanted behaviours.
I have never argued anything other than anti-bark collars do indeed work, in a number of dogs, but they no not work in all dogs. And then there's the dogs that they emotionally damage. I've personally seen many examples where they didn't work at all, or did work for a while then stopped working, and/or caused other, worse behaviours, because quashing one symptom without addressing the underlying cause is a well-known route to this happening. To shrug this off as "it is what it is" is pretty shocking, if you'll pardon the pun.
In this thread alone, we have one poster who attests to the distress the anti-bark collar caused their dog, and another poster who describes how they overcame a barking problem using ethical, dog-friendly training methods.
I think it is very short-sighted to blindly keep using a piece of gear, known to cause welfare issues (including making the dog "not too happy"), simply because "it works".. There are countless historical examples of things that "work" in both animal and human training, but which we're aghast at the thought of in today's society, particularly given our far better understanding now of the implications of aversives in training, no matter what the species.

Graces7

Sam Kade wrote: »

Have you tried ear plugs?

For occasional short term great but the winter I had the problem I had ear infections and tinnitus. Overuse of ear plugs.