An exasperated FrontBurnervian wonders what to do about her noisy downstairs canine neighbor. She seeks the advice of the FB Nation. I imagine the FB Nation will give it.
She writes:
I am hoping the Frontburner Nation could help me out with a little advice. I am an owner of a townhome and the renter below me has a dog that won’t stop barking (it’s all day/all night!). I have filed a complaint with Dallas Animal Services but have been told it takes 30 [days] for them to come out and check on it and that they measure the decibel level (although the noise is the worse within my townhome). I can’t seem to get the property manager to do anything besides telling me “I’ll talk with the renter and let him know he can’t leave the property without taking the dog somewhere.” Well that hasn’t happened!! The owner of the dog doesn’t seem to understand that his lovely pet could actually bark all day long. I am hoping maybe someone else has had a similar experience and can help me out. It’s driving me crazy!!! Appreciate it and love your blog–read it every day!
I hope it goes without saying — yet here I am saying it — that offing the pooch is not an option.
46 comments
I suggest rolling up the first issue of the new Quick, which will be delivered right to your door, and bonking said doggie on the snout.
I suggest recording it and then playing it back full-volume outside the owner’s door when he is home.
http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Calif/misc/noise.html
I had the same problem and found the above link, which I bookmarked. The ordinances cited are in California, but the advice is mostly general.
The actual resolution of my problem, however, was lots of midnight fantasies about poisoning the beast (would never really do that) and subsequently moving. Sorry, I know that’s not what you want to hear.
Is it possible to file a public nuisance complaint?
Perhaps the dog senses that you are evil.
Have you tried turning to the Lord?
Actually, I thought the link was about dogs — it’s an old bookmark — but it’s about noisy neighbors in general. Whatever; let your own Google be your guide. But I have to tell you, you’ll find mostly message boards in which commenters choke on the bile of their own impotent rage over a period of months. Not very heartening.
One art director is on the right track. This was tried and really worked: record the dog barking, then call up the house in the middle of the night, say 4-4:30 a.m., and play the recording through the phone. Scared the living dog poop out of the guy. Dog disapeared.
Ask David Berkowitz about barking dogs. I don’t suggest doing what he did.
Google takes me to yahoo…
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070709055346AAeWj1V
I offered to buy a no-bark collar for a neighbor’s dog once. She felt bad and insisted on buying it herself even though she felt it was cruel.
It solved the barking problem, but she hated me afterwards.
On a serious note, nowhere does the townhome owner indicate that she’s actually spoken to the dog owner.
Has she?
W.W.E.D.? What Would Elaine Do?
Don’t do this. Whatever you do, do not go to Wal-Mart and buy doe-in-heat urine and then, in the dead of night, spray it all over the door and/or car of the person who lives below you. Certainly don’t buy several vials and really go to town. Cause that stuff stinks and will probably drive the dog crazy. I mean bat-synonym-for-dung crazy. So don’t do that.
Have you tried a sonic dog repellent? Just press every time the dog starts to bark & hopefully you will have trained the dog to stay quiet. You’ll just have to find one that has enough of a distance range for it to work for your situation.
I will say I’ve never used one, but I’ve heard with constant reinforcement they work pretty well.
Talk to the owner. If that doesn’t work, does the neighbor have another neighbor on the other side? If so, that person is probably equally tired of it, and you can band together and go talk to the property manager again. Explaining that you’re all fed up may produce more results.
Barring that, if the neighbor doesn’t believe you, ask for his/her number. Then call when the dog starts barking.
My roommates and I had a similar problem in college. We lived in a house and our neighbor had a noisy dog in their backyard that would not stop barking. One night we opened the gate, removed the dog’s collar, and let dog run around the neighborhood. We then called Animal Control to come pick it up.
Problem solved.
Toss down a couple Hershey bars.
exactly, Trey
what a novel idea – confronting the owner and working it out like mature, rational adults
and, amanda, i thought the same thing
Shoot the neighbor. Retrain the dog.
Get the DVD of the Dog Whisperer (Cesar Millan) that includes the dog barking in the apt. episode and leave it with a kind note to the offender. Nothing like calm, assertive energy!
I just spoke with the FBvian with the problem. (My powers are not to be trifled with.)
She has indeed spoken with the neighbor.
So that answers that question.
@ConcernedNeighbor – I’m glad you’re not my neighbor. What a heartless thing to do. I wish the dog had bitten you.
Record the barking and play it back (amplified) in your townhome one night when you are out.
My HOA CC&Rs restrict nuisance barking, so I would just call the HOA management company or the HOA board. If you don’t have an HOA, there are civil remedies – given that you have a right to the quiet enjoyment of your property.
They do make an ultrasonic dog reppelant that triggers every time the dog barks. Just mount it on the fence facing the dog and let it do the ‘positive reinforcement’ for you. Maybe that will help initiate the civilised negotiation with your neighbor. Or it could drive him to stab you to death in your sleep… IJS
good for her then for talking to the owner and pointing out that this is a problem that needs to be fixed
maybe she can buy a bag of Snausages and train the dog herself from afar, tough as that may be
works for me when walking my pooch through Oak Cliff…keep a bag of Snausages near his leash and toss them to any stray or boisterous dogs encountered…works most of the time, but i also have a way with dogs (and small children) so there’s that, too
According to any reputable dog trainer or behavior expert such as Cesar Milan or Victoria Stillwell, the dog is bored out of its mind. Endless barking is a symptom of an intelligent animal that needs exercise. Offer to walk the dog for the neighbor or buy them a book about how to better manage the animal. Try and come across as a concerned neighbor that does not want them to get into trouble over a noise ordinance violation and less like a irate grouch who hates animals. You can make a friend or an enemy but it’s your choice.
Have you seriously not let the dog out and called Animal Control yet? What are you waiting for?
I had this problem once. I purchased a very bright portable light, pointed it at the master bedroom windows, and turned it on every night.
Eventually, the neighbor put the dog inside at night.
Worked well.
More advice from Miss Nanny America. Give me a break. If you own a house, then you have a right to a barking dog. If you don’t like it, then move. If you can’t sleep, use ear plugs. C’mon people. This is America!
What about if you just rent it?
@Bethany…This is America. If you rent, you don’t count.
Well, then you should read. The person with the dog is a renter.
Does that make a difference?
Is the person complaining a renter too? If so, why are we bothering about this?
Complainer is the owner of a townhouse.
@Bethany: This is America…Who reads the fine print?
Children who take the TAKS. Lawyers. Smart people. People who read the story the first time so they don’t have to make inane statements.
@Bethany. Not to get personal, but you remind me of the girl in school, who always sat in front of the room, raised her hand everytime the teacher asked for a volunteer and sneered at the boys in the back row.
I would try what News Junkie suggests.
Whatever you do, *don’t* take ConcernedNeighbor’s so-called “advice”.
Nah, I always sat at the back of the room, waited for everyone to answer the question wrong, then raised my hand and gave the correct answer.
Then I went back to reading the paper, Rolling Stone, or Time.
Is FreeAmerica really SRP 4 You?
I’m Milo Minderbinder.
Why not call animal control? They will pay a visit to the dogs owner and give them a verbal warning that a complaint has been filed. If they do nothing after that then you report them again to animal control and they come back with a ticket..I believe it’s $150.00. That should get the owners attention. The neighbor will never know who has reported the noise violation because it is against policy to reveal who the complaint is from.
I think the above post says she did call Animal Control, and there was a wait period of 30 days before someone could come out to investigate.
Folks, Animal Control can’t even manage to keep roving bands of pitbulls from the streets … (dramatic pause) … where our children play.
What makes you think they’re going to bend over backwards to solve a nuisance?
(Waiting for T-Gar to say something like, That’s what happens when you let a government bureaucracy do a job that should, as should law enforcement in general, be done by private companies for profit. Ten … nine … eight …)
The other problem is creating an enemy out of your neighbor. I know that confrontation sounds fun to some people (I know I personally love it), but discretion really can be the better part of valor when it comes to neighbors.
Shoot the dog and blame it on someone else.
If you let the city do its thing, it will go to level three. Surgery to remove the voice box. (Silent “bark, bark.”. I did it and it works. Or, some other things i’ve done to my neighnors is take lots or crab and shrimp juice, combine with powdered milk, use a seed spreader or other shaker, add water or dew and voila, a horrible stink that will never EVER leave. I mean EVER! Eggs, acid and spray paint are all good alternatives. And you THINK I’m kidding?! Adding concrete and warer to their mailbox is also a handy way of saying, “leave.”