# Pesky neighbors, barking dogs



## Janderso (May 27, 2021)

Sometimes I wonder what goes on in peoples heads.
When you live in a neighborhood where you all live together, isn't it better to try to get along? We have 1/4 acre lots = too darn small.
Our next door neighbors home is about 12' from ours. Our backyard access runs along that side of the house. They have a dog run on their side and we have a concrete walk where we keep garbage cans, recycling etc.
The dogs start playing and barking at 7:30. Every time someone walks by they bark loud.
We love dogs but come on.
Most nights I yell at them to shut up. Their owners put them in the house after 8:00.

My wife went over this morning to speak to the Mrs. about the problem.
She was defensive and denied they bark???
She went on to say, If we have to get rid of the dogs, your husband will have to get rid of his machines.
I made a promise to Peter when I first moved in. I said I wouldn't run any machines before 8 AM and would rarely use them during the week He promised to keep his one dog quiet.
Now they have two dogs. I have kept my part of the bargain.
He called me at work and said basically the same thing. He was very angry. He said "your wife came over and yelled at my wife for fifteen minutes. I've checked with code enforcement, you can't have a machine shop in the neighborhood, it's not zoned for it, My dogs are going to bark, that's what dogs do. If I get rid of my dogs, your machines are gone!"
Well, I don't run a machine shop out of my garage. I am a guy that has machine tools in his garage. There is a difference.
I said, Peter would you please just relax. I would like to sit down and talk to you about this. He was too mad to act like an adult.
Hopefully he'll settle down and we can discuss options like grown ups.

I hate this ****.


----------



## sdelivery (May 27, 2021)

Good luck. People dont have Empathy any more.


----------



## 682bear (May 27, 2021)

I had a similar issue where I used to live... the neighbor had a 'stray' dog take up at his house. After he began feeding it, it decided to stay.

It never barked much, but when we went outside it always acted like it would attack us. Worse than that, ANYTHING I left unattended outside would end up in the neighbors yard. If I was working on a car, I would have to put my tools up before I could go use the bathroom, or they would be gone when I came back out.

I talked to him about it for months. He had a dog pen, but wouldn't put the dog in it because... "it's not my dog, it's a stray"...

The last straw came when I bought my wife 3 rose bushes for her birthday... I planted them carefully in the back yard, then went in to shower. An hour later, I weht back out and they were gone...

I found them chewed up in the neighbors yard...

We then began saving money on trash bags... we quit using them. Any trash we had, we would just toss it out the back door... in a few minutes, it would be gone.

After a couple of weeks, the neighbor got tired of cleaning up my trash in his front yard and put the dog in the pen...

-Bear


----------



## projectnut (May 27, 2021)

You'd love living in our neighborhood.  We and all the neighbors have at least 2 dogs each, and we all have either machine shops or woodworking shops.  I would agree with the neighbor that "dogs do bark".  Having said that (and being a dog person) I've gone out of my way to make friends with all of them.  When I come out of the house they're either straining at the owners leash, or sticking their heads through the fence to get some petting and treats.  They may bark to get my attention and a pet or two, but that's about it.  They stand there wagging their tails waiting for attention.

One neighbor had a small dog that originally barked at me and tried his darndest to scare me away.  When they got a second puppy he got even worse.  As the puppy grew she became bigger and far more friendly than the original dog.  Every time I came to the fence she wanted to play, but the other dog got between her and me and barked his head off.  Finally the puppy had enough.  She bowled the other dog out of the way and let it be known she wanted to be friendly.  It didn't take long for the original dog to get the message, and now he's just as friendly as the puppy.

The dogs in your case may just be trying to warn the owners someone is close.  Ask the neighbor if you can occasionally give them a treat.  I think you'll find the dogs will not only stop barking, but wait patiently for you to show at the fence.  It's easier (and less stressful) to be friends than enemies.


----------



## shadetreedad (May 27, 2021)

Similar situation. We had next door neighbor/friends couple & we helped each other on household/car projects for many years and even some socializing. They bought an outside dog that barked and howled virtually sunup to sundown. I was even concerned to go in our backyard without a stick lest the dog’s chain break (no fences). I asked them to do something about it and they said “Dogs bark & they couldn’t do anything about it”. That was the end of our relationship. Fortunately, they divorced within the year and moved away. What a waste of friendship. My wife was sad for a long time.

The good news, our new neighbors are better friends and have an indoor cat! 

Hopefully your neighbor/dog issue is resolved with less misery than ours was.

Mike


----------



## RJSakowski (May 27, 2021)

That's the nice thing about living on 12 acres.  The nearest neighbors with dogs are a half mile away.  One neighbor has apologized for their barking dogs but we can't hear them.  Truthfully, the coyotes and raccoons make more racket.

The best way to keep the peace is to remain friends with the neighbors.  We all cherish our isolation and when a problem is brought out in the open, a solution is usually quickly found.  We had an incident about fifteen years ago.  The neighbor is a professor of mechanical engineering and mentored a student group building off road vehicles.  They had a 1/3rd mile track one leg of which was adjacent to our property and every weekend they would run it continuously from sunup to sundown.  We called about the noise and the neighbor came over.  Hr said that he had no idea as to how far the noise carried.  He moved the testing to his brother's farm and restricted the use of the track to one day each summer when he threw a party for the group.  What could have become an unpleasant and ongoing feud has become a close pleasant relationship.


----------



## Cadillac STS (May 27, 2021)

Blonde Joke:

The Blonde and her husband were in bed trying to sleep but the neighbor's dog in his yard kept barking and would not stop.  Blonde says "I am going to do something about that."  She got up and went out of the house.  Husband hears the dog still barking but it got a lot louder.  Blonde comes back and he asks her what she did.  "I put that dog in OUR yard and we will see how HE likes it."


----------



## Braeden P (May 27, 2021)

when we went on vacation the person next to us would leave their dog outside on their porch 24/7 if you got up a 5 it would be barking!


----------



## Peyton Price 17 (May 27, 2021)

I've been chased down by 3 Pitbulls 6 times already. if they chase us again we are calling the cops to take them away. they chased down people before and attacked people before. I ran as fast as I could but it caught up. a big ball of snow and ice scared it off. I love dogs but not ones that have been taken away twice! the people just stand there and watch. this is on a public road that has a closed bridge at one end.


----------



## Janderso (May 27, 2021)

RJ
We lived in a neighborhood that had 1-2-3 acre parcels in the pine trees.
We didn’t want to move but, it burnt down.
When we went looking for a home we decided to do what most people do, live in a developed neighborhood.
We are really struggling 
I don’t like yard work but we love a nice yard 
We’ll figure it out 
I just don’t need the stress 
A home is a peaceful sanctuary, right


----------



## markba633csi (May 27, 2021)

Treats might be the solution Jeff
Could be worse, could be a parrot that screeches it's beak off at all hours (neighbor had one, but moved)
-Mark


----------



## rabler (May 27, 2021)

I've lived in too many different settings. 1/5 acre lot in a historical district with a rental house next door.  Literally could spit out the window and hit the rental, at least I'm pretty sure I could, never tried.  Walking distance to Emory University so often had college kids as renters.  We did most of the work on that house before it became a historical district, after that you were hard pressed to do more than paint without getting approval, but of course the rental house was a dump because the historical district only effected building permits.  It was never fixed up so no impact there.  Fortunately eventually the owner eventually got divorced and his ex moved in there.  Parking on one side of the street only, as it was a narrow cul-de-sac, basically one lane + parking.  Neighbors on the opposite side of the street got really nasty if we or our guests ever parked there, it was in front of their house, so they insisted it was their spot.  I wanted to argue that by that logic, they could park but couldn't drive on our side, but sometimes you just pick your battles.

When we moved from Atlanta to southeast Ga, we ended up with a weird piece of property, 10 acres in front, 5 acres in the middle, 20 acres in back.  We owned the 10 & 20 with our house on the back 20, someone else owned the middle 5.  That meant they had a right of way across our ten acres, we had a ROW across their 5 acres.  They also wanted to insist they had ROW across our back 20 as that gave access to a 300 acre lake.  Ended up fencing the whole damn thing, which *eventually* got the message through to them, even if they kept calling animal control to come out and count our horses, some little-enforced law about 1 horse per acre max.   Because of the lake front, much of which was surrounded by woods, a lot of locals thought it was their right to walk around the lake, including across our pasture, and something within 50 feet of our house.  Fencing stopped some of that.  But even after fencing, I had someone reach for a hunting knife he was carrying when I told him he was trespassing.  I had thrown my little Barretta .25 cal in my pocket, needless to say he vacated very quickly when that came out.  After that incident I opted for a smaller 9mm to carry, but ultimately the best defense against trespassers, including many teenagers, turned out to be the advent of cell phones with cameras.  Walk out, take their picture, and explain you now had their picture and if they tresspassed again that picture would be going to the sheriff's office.  While Georgia has a stand-your-ground law, no one considers you a crazy guy with a gun for taking their picture, just a grumpy ^%$&*. 

Now in Indiana, we're trying to keep on good terms with neighbors.  Even with 40 acres there are challenges.  One neighbor keeps dumping stray cats on us.  The cats have kittens, which we attempt to socialize so we can catch them at 5 months age to get them fixed even though that gets very expensive, but same neighbor will scoop up the kittens for their grandchildren, only to dump them on us again when they reach a year old and are no longer cute kittens, and too feral to handle.  Need to talk to animal control.  I'm just going to ask them how I can go about catching all the feral cats that seem to end up in our horse barn and have them neutered before they reproduce.  That way if someone else complains at least I'll have records that I'm trying to get ahead of a neighborhood problem.

The older I get, the more I like my workshop, the less I like people.  At least I no longer have to listen to students whining about grades ... retirement has it's benefits.  Just give me my wife, farm, horses, workshop and tractors, and I'm happy.


----------



## C-Bag (May 27, 2021)

Janderso said:


> Sometimes I wonder what goes on in peoples heads.
> When you live in a neighborhood where you all live together, isn't it better to try to get along? We have 1/4 acre lots = too darn small.
> Our next door neighbors home is about 12' from ours. Our backyard access runs along that side of the house. They have a dog run on their side and we have a concrete walk where we keep garbage cans, recycling etc.
> The dogs start playing and barking at 7:30. Every time someone walks by they bark loud.
> ...


I’m sad this happened Jeff. I remember you being worried about your shop bothering others when you moved there.

I’m sure your wife was just trying to be reasonable and the neighbor woman just went ballistic. None of my neighbors have ever heard my present dog bark. She’s not really a watchdog but I did see her scare this total nutbar we have next to us one time when she caught her spying through the fence I like a dog to do it’s job and bark when there’s a stranger, I don’t tolerate stupid and incessant barking. Hence my dogs in past gave my neighbors a sense of security as they only barked for a reason.

i got that from my Dad and that was our dogs job. And because of his crazy work schedule he didn’t tolerate barking. And it was up to the owners to take care of it. The nutbar next door would let her terrier out free at mid nite then leave him out. So he’d start barking at mid nite and she wouldn’t let him in so he’d bark nonstop. My wife tried talking to her and it got out of control. I finally had to go squirt him with a hose to get him to go around the other side of the house to bark. He quit barking on our side of the house.

Most times it’s not the dog’s fault, it’s bad owners.


----------



## JimDawson (May 27, 2021)

I'm glad I live in the country.


----------



## mmcmdl (May 27, 2021)

This morning I tried to sleep with a tree company sawing and grinding up trees on one side , and a spot a pot truck pumping out the portable construction toilet on the other side . Luckily , last night was my short night and I wasn't as tired as my other mornings . That's the nightshift schedule .


----------



## mmcmdl (May 27, 2021)

rabler said:


> Just give me my wife, farm, horses, workshop and tractors, and I'm happy.


No dogs ?  Hey , wish you the best at the clinic also . Drive safe as it will sure to be crazy out there .


----------



## Larry$ (May 27, 2021)

Janderso said:


> I don’t like yard work but we love a nice yard
> We’ll figure it out
> I just don’t need the stress
> A home is a peaceful sanctuary, right


About that peaceful sanctuary: depends on how many grand kids you've got!
About yardwork: Grass is a total waste, feed it so it grows more so you have to mow it more. Takes time away from more important things like puttering in the shop.


----------



## rabler (May 27, 2021)

mmcmdl said:


> No dogs ?  Hey , wish you the best at the clinic also . Drive safe as it will sure to be crazy out there .


None yet, although I've actually thought of it.  My experience is that a dog needs a lot of interaction as a puppy to learn the right manners.

Thanks!!


----------



## benmychree (May 27, 2021)

I really hate neighbors that bark, but to the dog, it comes naturally ---


----------



## rabler (May 27, 2021)

Larry$ said:


> About yardwork: Grass is a total waste, feed it so it grows more so you have to mow it more. Takes time away from more important things like puttering in the shop.


I just let the horses eat the grass.  Saves on mowing.  In fact I buy large bundles of grass (aka hay) to feed them in the winter ...


----------



## savarin (May 27, 2021)

We have 2 dogs, they bark at anyone walking past they dont know,
Next door has one who does the same but ours and theirs dont bark at each other.
The other side has a little terrier that appears to be silent.
If our dogs keep barking then its a warning to check up then a command to stop and they do.
Almost everyone in our street has a dog and most like the fact its a stranger alarm so we all get along.
Considering how many dogs there are around here none of them are incessant barkers.
Its not difficult to train them the way you want them to behave.


----------



## C-Bag (May 27, 2021)

savarin said:


> Its not difficult to train them the way you want them to behave.


You would think so, but some people have no clue. The neighbor on the other side has this little hot mess of a dog. The woman seems oblivious to the dog’s stupidity. My dog (70lb pit female) is always calm, I’ve never heard her even growl and the little hot mess always acts like she‘s a Tasman devil spinning and barking whenever she sees my dog on our daily walks.The neighbor always says “oh fluffy” and mess never skips a beat. I can can bet she was like that with her kids which are about as silly as that dog.


----------



## Nutfarmer (May 28, 2021)

Seeing that your neighbor cannot train his dogs maybe you will have to. There is a dog training device that emits a high pitch noise that people can't hear every time the dogs bark. The dogs quickly learn to avoid the unpleasant noise by not barking. Sounds like a gimmick ,but it really does work. Easier to train a dog than a neighbor. Good luck..


----------



## sdelivery (May 28, 2021)

OMG . Thank YOU so much I needed that so bad!


Cadillac STS said:


> Blonde Joke:
> 
> The Blonde and her husband were in bed trying to sleep but the neighbor's dog in his yard kept barking and would not stop.  Blonde says "I am going to do something about that."  She got up and went out of the house.  Husband hears the dog still barking but it got a lot louder.  Blonde comes back and he asks her what she did.  "I put that dog in OUR yard and we will see how HE likes it."


----------



## Diecutter (May 28, 2021)

Peyton Price 17 said:


> I've been chased down by 3 Pitbulls 6 times already. if they chase us again we are calling the cops to take them away. they chased down people before and attacked people before. I ran as fast as I could but it caught up. a big ball of snow and ice scared it off. I love dogs but not ones that have been taken away twice! the people just stand there and watch. this is on a public road that has a closed bridge at one end.


This is a tragedy just waiting to happen.  Ask the animal enforcement officer and they will tell you that.  Some 7 year old kid walks by .........


----------



## C-Bag (May 28, 2021)

The only thing bad thing a pit ever did wrong was being too loyal. They LOVE people by their nature. It takes an idiot to train a pit to chase people much less attack strangers on public property. Because of their now bad rap and around here they never get returned if they are taken away for an attack. They are usually destroyed. All it would take is a vid of the dogs chasing a kid and they would be history around here.

I was raised with dogs and never even heard of a pit bull untill the 70’s when idiots started making them attack dogs. Do you know what they were called in the early part of the 20th century? Nanny dogs because they loved people and especially kids so much. Peety the dog on Our Gang? The RCA Victor dog? Pit bulls.


----------



## Braeden P (May 28, 2021)

Look at this I a lot different then I thought


----------



## FOMOGO (May 28, 2021)

On the lighter side of this issue. Mike


----------



## pdentrem (May 28, 2021)

The neighbor here has 2 dogs but only one is the issue. Found is weak spot. Point a hose nozzle at it and it runs away.

A coworker had issues once. His solution was this.
Does your neighbor‘s dog like skunks? Throw a dead skunk into their yard for the dog to play with. Repeat as needed.


----------

