Probably 99.9% of y'all who post in here have pets, with probably at least half being dogs. I'm really having a hard time with the neighhborhood dogs barking in the evenings when I'd love to just enjoy my patio w/ a glass of wine and a book. Tonight was lovely - only about 78 out there, my patio is shaded and I thought it would be a good time to just enjoy. NOT! Dogs from 3 different yards all started barking the moment I walked out there and kept it up. Do dog owners not care that their dogs are annoying the neighbors? The dog next to me apparently broke thru the back fence into another neighbor's yard and the Animal Control were there leaving a big ol' note on their door - the officers told me there had been complaints and when I voiced my irritation over the barking, they said to call them any time. They've been back over there but the dog is still out in the yard barking.
Any suggestions?

Wer here have laws against dog barking in the years after 10pm. If they do bark and neighbors complain they will come out after 1 complaint and fine the owner and take the animals away. I run a rescue out of my home and every night at 9:30 I put the doggie door panel up so they cannot get out and bark. Not everyone in the area will do this and havwe had their animals taken away

I have two large dogs I keep in the house. They are never outside without me or my husband. We DO NOT allow barking outside at all. We have the dogs for protection and companionship and they bark to alarm us in the house and that's it! They do not bark at my neighbors when outside, I nipped that in the bud when they were puppies.

I would be very upset if I had to listen to neighbor's dogs bark more than 3 minutes at any time of the day or night.

The neighbor on my west side has two labs and a beagle. Only the one male lab has to bark at us the whole time I am out with my dogs...I put up with this for 1 year and then I wrote a long
e-mail to her and her now x-husband about two years ago.
They were very embarrassed and now when the dog barks she comes and drags him in and keeps him in until I go in...she has tried to train him but with no success. So at least we got some peace and quiet out of it.

There is NO reason pet owners should let dogs bark constantly and disturb others....it's simply inconsiderate.

I've mentioned this before, but I've got a neighbor, who is very nice, but he's got 3 beagles and you know how they are. If you sneeze, they bark. I realize that they are just doing what beagles do, but shut the heck for crying out loud.

My neighbor doesn't talk to us anymore because we yelled at the dogs to shut up. They try to keep them quiet, but not really.

Since we went about it the wrong way I would suggest sending them a note or just go over and talk to them. If that doesn't work, then just keep calling animal control. You'll probably be enemies with your neighbor, but it'll be quieter.

Thanks, everyone. I snuck out yesterday evening quietly and was able to eat dinner on my patio without the dog barking so perhaps AC has gotten the attention of the owners. Except for the dogs (which 90% of the people here seem to own) this is a very quiet neighborhood. The people with the offending dog are really lovely people but don't speak English well so I'm reluctant to try to talk to them about it - guess I'lljust hope the problem has been resolved. LOL - it will soon be too hot to spend much tiime out there anyway.
Again, I appreciate your posts and thoughts on the issue.

I have a dog myself. I also live in a neighborhood where the houses are on 1/4 acre lots, very close to each other. My dog does not BARK. She has been taught not to BARK. If someone rings our door bell she just looks at us as if to say "Well? Are you going to answer it?" I do not understand neighbors who let their dogs outdoors and bark FOREVER without noticing it. I too cannot go out on my deck without the neighbors dogs barking. WWanda, I feel your pain. One of the dogs is a beagle. They don't bark, they BAY! So annoying. And before the people who own beagles get upset, No I don't hate beagles. Just that annoying hound baying they make.
My dog is a 100+ pound Rottweiler. My dog is well trained. I expect others to do the same with their dogs, big or small. Is that too much to ask? Maybe so.

Never allow my dogs outside without me or a family member. I'm always surprised at the people who just leave them out there to fend for themselves. We have two miniature dogs on our corner that spend their lives with their heads stuck through the fence barking at everything and everyone that passes by. Some people just don't care. Unfortunately, that means the rest of us suffer.

I have barkers--two bearded collie mixes--that bark a lot. We have tried to stop the barking and we do calm them finally. We are currently on 5 acres in the country and barking isn't too bad to the neighbors but in another week we will move to 1 1/3 acre and much closer neighbors. It is going to be a challenge. We may have to resort to bark collars.

A funny story: some years ago we lived im northern Italy. Our neighbors had a german shepard named White (really). He was a good dog. He just liked to bark. When he got too loud they would yell out the window or door "Go to your house White"--in Italian. In our defense,we finally learned to yell the same thing to him. He would promptly go to his house and would quiet down. I sure they laughed at how we fractured the Italian phrase and they never complained at our correcting their dog. Fortunately the wire haired fox terrier we had at the time never barked as much as White.


I know my (rescue) beardies like to bark but I will continue my efforts to curb this because I like to be a good neighbor nor do I particularly like to hear barking. We have had many different dogs over the years and have always been good neighbors. Much as I love my beardies, we won't have this breed again and will probably return to the very trainable golden retriever that lives to please. So cut us a bit of slack if you live near dogs naturally inclined to bark. Usually we are trying to stop it.

Our morkie is a yapper too, but is never outside without us except for walks and on a retractible leash for a quick lifting of his leg. I don't even leave windows open as he does bark at cars, people etc. but we run air-conditioning in summer and of course heat in winter, so no need. We've had neighbours who will go out and leave their dogs either tied up or on a deck while they are gone for hours and yes, they do bark. When we do build the porch we want, I dream of sitting back in a wicker chair with a cold drink and something to read. If there are dogs barking, I'm tempted to call animal control when that happens. I don't subject others to my dog...why have to listen to noise?

Doodles, hopefully AC's warning will nudge th e dog's owners to be more considerate - of surrounding neighbors AND their dog.
IMO a dog that is bored and/or neglected often becomes a "problem".

Years ago a neighbor would occasionally leave his little dog outside at night, about midnight it would begin to bark, and bark, and bark. In an effort to avoid embarassing him, I'd call and then hang up...he'd hear the dog barking & bring it indoors. of course that was before phones announced the caller's name or showed their number.