# Being accused of noise nuisance



## dogandbone (Apr 21, 2010)

A similar case to this has been covered in a thread recently, but I just wanted to know people's thoughts and if I am in the wrong at all.

The other day I received an official letter from the Council saying someone has made a complaint about my dogs barking, and that from now on they will be monitoring me. 
When I come back from walking the dogs in the morning I let them play in the front garden for 10 minutes, it's become part of the routine during weekday mornings just after 7am. They have a romp and invariably there will be the odd bark because they are happy. The barking isn't incessant and it only lasts between 5 and 10 mins. One of my neighbours who lives at the back doesn't seem to agree though, and he's had it in for me ever since I moved in - clearly he hates dogs. He once came round to complain he could hear my dog barking INSIDE my house when I was feeding her. That sums up what a pathetic time waster this bloke is, making a note every time one of my dogs barks, so he can send it to the Council and log the complaint.

What I am doing now is when I come back from walking the dogs, is to take them straight indoors so I don't give the bloke any more ammunition because he won't let this drop. 
I wrote to the Council to defend my corner and told them I thought the whole thing has been blown out of proportion by the bloke. Yes, my dogs bark but it's never incessant and it's never at night or during unsocial hours, and when they do it only lasts a short time - anyone with sense would realise that, and with the exception of this one complaint, all my other neighbours are brilliant, they just can't believe how much fuss is made over nothing.
If you live in a built-up area then you have to expect a certain level of daytime noise surely, can anyone see the sense in what this bloke is doing?


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## Huskybob (Apr 18, 2013)

I don't mind the odd bit of barking in the daytime. Though around here there many large energetic dogs that never get walked and are left in their gardens all day every day. These dogs tend to spend the majority of the day and evening barking...


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## Jobeth (May 23, 2010)

11pm to 7am are classed as anti social hours, so make sure that it is definitely after 7am. If your neighbour is being woken up every day at 7am by 5-10 minutes of barking, even if not constant, I can understand why he'd be grumpy. I personally wouldn't complain, but I think you are doing the right thing to stop it as these disputes can escalate.


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## Pointermum (Jul 2, 2010)

I would be peed off at 2 dogs play fighting at 7am tbh , I don't let mind do it in the middle of the day because of the noise they can make which isn't barking. 

I don't get up to 7.30am most days I would say its very inconsistent letting them play at that time !


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## DoodlesRule (Jul 7, 2011)

I like dogs but don't like to listen to incessant barking. There are private houses at the back of our office and someone obviously goes out mid afternoon every day as their dogs bark for around 2 hours. May not be classed as anti social hours but its so damned irritating


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## chichi (Apr 22, 2012)

I don't "allow" my dogs to bark in the garden at all. Don't mind them having a run around the house and bark during play (no immediate neighbours and double glazing, so no bother to anyone at all). 

Of course, they will bark if they hear a loud bang or something startles them (like a kid screaming) but they are stopped immediately if outside. If they do not stop, then they are brought in.

There is the odd occasion, if they start to bark when I'm in the loo or on the telephone, etc., where they may get away with barking for a minute (tops) but other than that, they are stopped immediately. I have a couple of crap bag neighbours that would love to drop me in the sh1t but I don't give them an excuse!

I don't think there is much the Council can actually do about barking post 7am/pre 11pm and if the barking really only goes on for 10 minutes but, tbh, I think it's unfair to put your neighbours through that on a daily basis. A one off here and there, maybe, but every day....no!


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## DoodlesRule (Jul 7, 2011)

There may be specific hours when nothing much can be done but suppose you go to bed every night at 10pm, not especially unreasonable not massively early. but if your neighbour played loud music from 10 till 11 every night it would drive you up the wall.


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## LynnM (Feb 21, 2012)

I go to bed at 10 pm when I'm at work the next day as I get up at 5.30 am.
It often takes me an hour to get to sleep no matter how tired I am. Sometimes my next door neighbours dog barks after 11pm and wakes me up with a start, she has such a loud piercing bark it sounds as though she's standing next to my bed. By the time my heart has slowed down again it can take me another hour to get to sleep again which is very annoying.
Then on my days off when I can have a lie in until 8.30 she barks at about 7 o' clockish in the morning. 

She's often just left outside and very rarely walked so stands at the gate at the side of their house and barks at everything that passes, then because she barks she's taken straight back in. Poor dog is probably so bored that barking at everything is probably the only excitement she gets. Most dogs barking I can switch off from but this one has such a loud, piercing one that she nearly makes me jump out of my skin  Although it's very annoying I can't blame the dog only the lazy owners who can't be bothered to walk and play with her.

I don't let Alfie continue to bark outside even though you can't hear him from inside ( just see his head up and his mouth moving) just in case he's annoying to anyone, he's brought straight in. Tia still doesn't seem to know how to bark, strange dog


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## DirtyGertie (Mar 12, 2011)

The barking lasts for between 5 and 10 minutes just after 7am. Sorry, but I think that is inconsiderate. You may be but not everyone is up and about at 7am. Do you know your neighbour, how old he is, if he works and if so is it shifts, does he have any health problems? Perhaps he finds it distressing to listen to that so early in the morning and there may be a reason that he does.

I don't think anyone would mind if it was 8am but I think 7am, and especially if it continues for up to 10 minutes and it's two dogs, isn't very reasonable.

I live in a very small close with only five houses altogether. I am the middle house. Three of us are retired, one household works, one is a holiday home so empty the majority of the time. Three of us have dogs. If Poppy gets excited in the garden at any time (she's never there unsupervised) then I quieten her down immediately, sometimes even putting her in the house. I have never heard the other two dogs bark.


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## Mulish (Feb 20, 2013)

Think mine was the thread you were referring to...

5-10 minutes is a long time to listen to a grating noise, whatever that might be and at 7am there's not a lot of other noises to block it out so it likely sounds even worse. We are up from about 6.30 weekdays but I make sure the kids and dog are kept in and quiet until 8am (well, Benji goes out for a quick wee but that's it). Since getting the letter I've been even stricter. To be honest, if Benji was barking for minutes at a time at any time of the day, I would have understood the anonymous complaint we received. 

I can sympathise with feeling a bit picked on but if the noise you're making is annoying someone, even if you feel they are being unreasonable, you have to rethink what you are doing. I've had a month to get over my knee jerk paranoia and anger at being anonymously accused, though


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## paddyjulie (May 9, 2009)

I'm with a few of the others ..7am is a bit early for any barking , tbh even at 9am I would be dragging my two back in.


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## LolaBoo (May 31, 2011)

7am is early for barking,my Apple is very noise reactive and the slightest thing can set her of, if im in garden with her early and she barks then shes indoors,id deffo not like to hear dogs barking at that time of morning and im sure my neighbours wouldnt like to hear my girls, and at that early hr noise does seem to travel


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

dogandbone said:


> When I come back from walking the dogs in the morning I let them play in the front garden for 10 minutes, it's become part of the routine during weekday mornings just after 7am. They have a romp and invariably there will be the odd bark because they are happy. The barking isn't incessant and it only lasts between 5 and 10 mins.
> 
> *These issues are all about perspective. There are, IME, many version of "the truth". To begin with if they have been out walking, why do they need ANOTHER romp in your garden? Why do you allow barking at all?*
> 
> ...


I think you ought to bone up on the law, noise pollution etc.

Doglaw - Barking dogs : Environmental Protection Act 1990


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## BoredomBusters (Dec 8, 2011)

My neighbour used to do the same - let her dog out at 7am when she got up for work, and if the dog saw a cat or heard another dog (and there are lots in our little block) he was almost screaming in excitement as he has a high pitched bark. The neighbour on my other side had a dog (sadly at the bridge now) who barked at 11pm to come back into the house after a last week, and being an OAP it could take some time for her to hear, and then get to the door. So me, who loves dogs, owns 4, often has more than that when running daycare, was beginning to resent BOTH neighbours. 

Neither dog was barking for long, but I was getting it at each end of the day and EVEN WORSE both neighbours were complaining about each other's dogs (to me) barking at anti social hours - the late barker wanted to lie in and the early barker wanted an early night. I didn't complain, but both owners had anonymous notes put through their doors and the late barking owner would often shout at the screaming dog (over my garden, what a happy neighbourhood). One dog is now at the bridge, and the owner of the other only lets him into the garden on a lead now, which has stopped it.

Being woken up by a dog barking every morning instead of the alarm clock at a time of your choosing I can agree must be very wearing, no matter what time it is. At 7am 5 seconds is probably too much when it's every day.


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## sailor (Feb 5, 2010)

I stand at the back door when Toppa goes out for his first pee and leg stretch, thats between 7 and half past. If he barks even once he is called straight back in.

I wouldn't leave him outside at that time barking for 5-10 minutes. If I did, I really wouldn't be surprised if I had a complaint.


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## dogandbone (Apr 21, 2010)

smokeybear said:


> I think you ought to bone up on the law, noise pollution etc.
> 
> Doglaw - Barking dogs : Environmental Protection Act 1990


My my smokeybear, we are opinionated aren't we?
Since you like banging on about perspectives, how about this: half the world is starving, living in poverty and ravaged by war. People's lives are torn apart when they become victims of terrorrist attacks such as in Nairobi over the weekend or when a natural disaster strikes. So....if the occasional bark from a dog at 7.15 am was the worst problem we had to contend with, it wouldn't be such a bad world would it?


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## DoodlesRule (Jul 7, 2011)

dogandbone said:


> My my smokeybear, we are opinionated aren't we?
> Since you like banging on about perspectives, how about this: half the world is starving, living in poverty and ravaged by war. People's lives are torn apart when they become victims of terrorrist attacks such as in Nairobi over the weekend or when a natural disaster strikes. So....if the occasional bark from a dog at 7.15 am was the worst problem we had to contend with, it wouldn't be such a bad world would it?


You asked for opinions, Smokeybear responded as requested.

Do you know all about your neighbours life what problems they have to contend with day in day out, your barkings dogs could be the straw that broke the camels back for all you know


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## Pointermum (Jul 2, 2010)

dogandbone said:


> My my smokeybear, we are opinionated aren't we?
> Since you like banging on about perspectives, how about this: half the world is starving, living in poverty and ravaged by war. People's lives are torn apart when they become victims of terrorrist attacks such as in Nairobi over the weekend or when a natural disaster strikes. So....if the occasional bark from a dog at 7.15 am was the worst problem we had to contend with, it wouldn't be such a bad world would it?


:lol: Just because you choose to have dogs your neighbours shouldn't have to suffer, they may work shifts and not get in to 2am . Just because there are worse things in the world going on does not excuse your dogs annoying others


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## Linden_Tree (Jan 6, 2011)

dogandbone said:


> My my smokeybear, we are opinionated aren't we?
> Since you like banging on about perspectives, how about this: half the world is starving, living in poverty and ravaged by war. People's lives are torn apart when they become victims of terrorrist attacks such as in Nairobi over the weekend or when a natural disaster strikes. So....if the occasional bark from a dog at 7.15 am was the worst problem we had to contend with, it wouldn't be such a bad world would it?


And someone making a complaint is hardly the end of the world is it? Yet here you are, having a rant when there is war, poverty, starvation in the world etc.
Is your life being torn apart because the council are going to monitor if you are allowing your dogs to be a nuisance?

Pot, kettle and black spring to mind.


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## Milliepoochie (Feb 13, 2011)

dogandbone said:


> My my smokeybear, we are opinionated aren't we?
> Since you like banging on about perspectives, how about this: half the world is starving, living in poverty and ravaged by war. People's lives are torn apart when they become victims of terrorrist attacks such as in Nairobi over the weekend or when a natural disaster strikes. So....if the occasional bark from a dog at 7.15 am was the worst problem we had to contend with, it wouldn't be such a bad world would it?


Lol well if your looking at it from that perspective and people are lucky enough that the worst thing they have to worry about is abit of barking or dog cr*p or rude dogs for example then lets not bother training our dogs, let them run up to who we want and lets not waste time picking up their cr*p -

Afterall theres worse things going on in the world to be worrying about isnt there


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## Milliepoochie (Feb 13, 2011)

For what its worth if my neighbours took the dogs for a walk and let them play / barking in the garden at 7am I wouldnt be to impressed either. 

Im pretty sure if Millie was barking in my garden at 7am I would quickly get a complaint and rightly so. One of our neighbours (We are a Semi-Detached nad its the house attached to us) is very poorly and bed bound - she has no option but to be lying there listening to noise and the thought that I was causing stress/ aggrevation due to Millies barking would really upset me. 

Whatever happened to 'love thy neighbour'  or treating people how you would expect to be treated. 

You will most likely find its not your neighbours hate dogs but prol hate being woken up at 7am


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## Picklelily (Jan 2, 2013)

I agree its all about perspective, my dog is horror of horrors a barker (never had one before always had nice quiet dogs).

Because she barks so much I have been to visit my immediate neighbours and apologised, informed them how we are working on the problem and to please let me know if there is anything else I can do.

I think perhaps you should have a nice chat with your neighbour say sorry and see where you can assist him to gain his desired peace and quiet.

Yes its you having to feel you are backing down but I guarantee you won't receive any noise complaints again from the council. Plus you might make a new friend.


The best thing is if you open the lines of communication you might find its not your dogs causing the problem.

I once had a neighbour come complain about my dog barking, because she was able to come to me I was able to invite her in and show that my dog was fast asleep in the hall.

I do agree with others 7am is far too early for a 5-10 minute noisy romp.


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## Goldstar (Nov 12, 2011)

A few days a week my OH doesn't get in from work until gone midnight and if there was 5-10 minutes of non stop barking at 7am everyday then we'd be annoyed too. I can't understand (but not surprised) at how some people can dismiss the effects their dogs have on others. 
My neighbour has a dog and every evening about 6pm its in the garden yapping and barking for about an hour to 2 hours. More than once I've heard her say "bark as much as you want susie" or something along those lines in an overly loud voice so I assume she's had a complaint from someone. Why she has to be awkward about it I don't know but I suppose that's the society we live in.


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

There is a problem dog at the back of my house who barks. The letter from the council that was supposed to be for them turned up at my house instead :mad2: two years later the dog is still causing trouble on some odd days like last Sunday when he was barking from the early hours.
OP if your dogs have had a proper walk (I presume off lead) then I don't see why they should need to play in the garden?


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## sid&kira (Oct 15, 2009)

sorry but im afraid at that time it would drive me mad 

a couple have moved into a house at the back of mine and they have noisy dogs, now I love a pack howl as much as the next person but why is it always 5 minutes after I've got the baby to sleep!? ARRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!


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