Neighbour issue - thoughts pls?

Hey Kebakat

I have two dogs, both of which are outside and contained in runs during the day - from 7.30am approx to 2pm approx. What we did is approached our neighbours when the dogs were young and said basically that as we're not home (well, I'm not - DH works nights, and is asleep), *if* the dogs are barking, or causing any disturbance, to please let us know so that we can take appropriate steps to train them.

What I'd do, if I was you, is talk to a neighbour if you have someone who would be able to help - ask them to keep track of when the pup barks and how often, and if they could have a quick look and see if there is a reason why the pup may be barking. eg. another dog in a neighbouring property barking - puppies love to react to that!!

With our youngest dog, we kept her contained in the bathroom during the day until we were confident that she would sleep/hang out in her run quietly during the day, increasing the time she was in there over a couple of weeks (she's a real barker), and then we moved her into her run, doing the same thing (we were able to do this over a week due to time off etc), and we've not had a problem with barking. I've also approached our immediate neighbours and said that if they have a problem with barking, to please let us know *immediately* so we can take steps.

What sort of pup do you have? Sometimes that can have a *lot* to do with it ...eg. temperament, and their prone-ness (if that's a word!) to barking, and you can go from there - eg. we have a Huntaway and a Border Collie - the Collie is soooo much more prone to barking etc as she's very highly strung!

Often there is a reason for behavioural problems too - our Collie was a nightmare to train and our first year with her was horrendous. It turns out that the little boy next door was tormenting her when we weren't looking ...I caught him at it one day, throwing sticks and stones at her! The problem that resulted from that was that although her behaviour was under control within weeks of the neighbours moving out, the child who was tormenting her was a little indian boy, and we've spent the last *year* training the dog out of a hate for indian people.

Lou's suggestion is a good one - I'd definitely follow that up!! A barking dog is annoying to neighbours (we've lived by barkers before and it drove us batty), and you don't want to take the risk of your pup being tagged as a problem.

I have to say if your dog is actually barking maybe should need to try something different to stop it. As someone who is at home all day a dog constantly barking drives me up the wall your neighbour does have a right to complain amd it is your problem to deal with not theirs. Maybe you could ask a different neighbour how much your dog does actually bark. You could look at a puppy day care or something until its old enough to be at home alone.

Thats great then it(sorry can't remember if pup is boy or girl) must be pretty happy all day then.