The Dog and the Neighbor
By dorannmwin
@dorannmwin (36392)
United States
May 21, 2010 12:35pm CST
We have two dogs, which I've shared before. One of them is a Corgi mixed with I'm not sure what and the other is a Hound dog. During the day we tend to leave the hound outside because she likes it out there, she will look for snakes and whatever in the yard and run and run and run.
Well, just a few minutes ago I heard someone at my back gate. I go outside to see what is going on and it is my neighbor (a full grown adult) poking a rake through the gate at her and Michela is just going off. She doesn't like it at all. I asked the neighbor what the problem was, she says "Can you do something to get that dog to quit barking." I say, "Sure" and I let her into the house for a while.
My thought was, well, she doesn't like it when someone is messing with the yard and that is exactly what she was doing, and she'd only been barking since the time I heard the disturbance outside the gate. The neighbor said that she works nights and is unable to sleep because the dog is always barking.
We do have a dog barking ordinance in our city and it is a violation if a dog barks for more than ten minutes straight during the day. She never does this and really only barks when there are people out there taunting her. You know, she will bark when she hears the mail man and such, but I don't think that there is a dog that doesn't do that.
For today I let her into the house, but I know that I can't keep her in the house constantly because she wouldn't be happy. What would you do in this situation. Getting rid of the dog is not an option, although I wish at times that I could get rid of the neighbor.
5 people like this
11 responses
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
21 May 10
I take it that getting rid of the neighbor is not an option.
If your neighbor doesn't know that annoying the dog is going to cause it to bark, I'm not sure your neighbor is too bright.
My first thought was obedience training, but if the dog really isn't barking that much, that won't help.
I'm not sure, you might have to start documenting stuff. Like:
Dog barked at 1:03 - mailman
Or something.
Maybe the local humane society could give you some advice.
1 person likes this
@dawnald (85135)
• Shingle Springs, California
21 May 10
Obedience training for the neighbor, that's hilarious!!! 
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
And ironically it would have to be obedience training for the neighbor because Michela is one of the best behaved dogs that I have ever met. She is friendly with everyone and really isn't even that bad about barking at strangers. Seriously, last month when they came to read our gas meter my husband stood outside with her while the man read the meter and she didn't even bark at him.
1 person likes this
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
21 May 10
Oh yes, the neighbor verses dog scenario, I know it well. Eight years ago when I first brought my son home, I had a dalmatian who barked when she was done with her business. Since I had a new baby in the house, there were times I couldn't get to her right away and yes, sometimes up to half an hour..We had a neighbor call twice and the second time I was told they even recorded her barking..
She is gone now, but ow I have two puppies and like your dog, they don't bark unless they see someone and unfortunately our one neighbor, (the really nice neighbors) have an occasional outdoor gathering with family and friends..so my choice this summer will be to take a chance to get a complaint about my dogs barking, listen to them bark inside for they can see out the window as cars pull up into the driveway, or keep then in the kennel..But I am not worried about it, because now there is another dog that barks and how is this neighbor know whose dog is barking???
She is gone now, but ow I have two puppies and like your dog, they don't bark unless they see someone and unfortunately our one neighbor, (the really nice neighbors) have an occasional outdoor gathering with family and friends..so my choice this summer will be to take a chance to get a complaint about my dogs barking, listen to them bark inside for they can see out the window as cars pull up into the driveway, or keep then in the kennel..But I am not worried about it, because now there is another dog that barks and how is this neighbor know whose dog is barking??? @carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
24 May 10
Wow...and of course telling this neighbor this info will fall on deaf ears, right? I'd say if he keeps aggravating your dog, try to get a video of it and if the police won't do anything, see if the local TV station will air it..That may put a stop to him doing this.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
25 May 10
You know, the idea of videotaping her might be a great idea. We've been thinking about putting security cameras in at our house and this would give us the perfect excuse.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
Thank you. I honestly don't think it is Michela that is barking because I would hear it if she was the guilty party. Their neighbors on the other side have a large dog as well that I know is constantly barking. I think that their dogs barking will occasionally provoke Michela, but I don't think that she is guilty all the time. How can she have been outside barking at exactly noon every day for the last 16 months when she has only been outside during the day except for potty breaks for a month?
1 person likes this
@savypat (20216)
• United States
21 May 10
Buy earplugs for your neighbor. I can understand how hard it is when you need to sleep during the day. But irritating the dog is not the answer. Maybe you could find out what hours your neighbor needs to sleep and work the dog's outside time around it. Our hound sleeps most of the time and just needs to run 3 or 4 times a day.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
Honestly, that is what really had me confused. Right now she is outside, I will let her in at the first sign of barking, but there haven't been any yet and I will definitely hear it because the window right beside me is out to our deck. She will be outside for hours and you won't see her because she goes in the brush and sleeps.
@natnickeep (2336)
• United States
21 May 10
I have had the same problem around my house also. We have two dogs, a yellow and a black lab. The black one is larger sized but he is the big wimp, he is so scared that he barks at everything. I have almost got him to quit barking at women and children. One day a neighbor from down the street that I don't know spit on him. I was so upset. It was uncalled for. He is just protecting his home and our yard. Your neighbor is just going to have to get used to it or move. There are lots of apartments that don't allow pets lol.
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
Well, the neighbors have lived here longer than we have. However, we are pet people and there will never be a day in my life that I won't have a pet. If she barks, it is strictly her way of communicating in my opinion, we as humans talk and dogs bark while cats meow. Even the birds are quite noisy at times, hmm. . . I wonder who I talk to about the noisy birds outside the house. LOL.
@candyfairy21 (2039)
• Philippines
21 May 10
Dogs don't bark for no reason. There are always reasons why they bark. Just like today I was upstairs in my room and my grandma and our housekeeper ent out. When they came back I did not notice that they were waiting outside because I thought another family member was downstairs. My dog kept on barking and barking until I inspected that she was trying to tell me that my grandma is outside and wants me to open the door. Had it not been for my dog I would not know they were waiting outside of the house. Dogs won't bark if something is not catching their attention.
Perhaps your neighbor is just allergic to your dogs. There are people like that. If she tries to do that of course the dog won't shut up. Perhaps you can get that wireless collars that would be activated once your dog barks too much. Or better yet talk to your neighbor and ask how is you dog rally bothering her.
1 person likes this
@Jaluke (676)
• United States
21 May 10
It sounds like you just have one of those neighbors who wants attention by causing problems because they want something to complain about. Most dogs aren't going to bark unprovoked. Clearly your neighbor was already lying acting as though the dog was barking constantly when it didn't start until your neighbor started messing with it. Is it possible that the dog was just barking because the neighbor was too close? Yes. But you should simply explain that to the neighbor in the calmest way possible.
How long have you had the dog and how long has your neighbor been giving you problems about it?
1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
We've had the dog for far longer than we've had the house. And, I will admit that she used to be the kind of dog that barked all the time. When we lived at the other house she would bark whenever she saw someone walking down the street. However here we have a privacy fence so she will only bark when there is someone too close to the gate or when she hears the mail man. That was the first time that she has ever complained about Michela, but she said it has been going on since we've lived here.
I really don't know how though because it has only been since the weather has broken this year that she has been outside for extended periods of time. When she is in the house she stays in my daughter's bedroom.
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
21 May 10
The first thing I would do is make sure she knows that I am going to kick her a$$ if I catch her poking at my dog with a rake again. Then I would tell her to get her some damn ear plugs or another place to live...
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
Oh, I was pi$$ed about the rake. That more than anything was what set me off. She really doesn't want to rub me the wrong way again because I honestly don't fight fair.
@goldeneagle (6745)
• United States
24 May 10
Messing with one of my three puppy dogs is a good way for someone to get themselves sent to the hospital in a hurry. God help anyone that does something like that to them
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
25 May 10
I know that if my husband would have been home, he would have gone off on her. Me, I am the nicer one in our relationship.
@nixxi76 (3191)
• Canada
22 May 10
That neighbor of yours has NO right at all whatsoever to be sticking the dog with any object!!! It's obvious that your dog senses evil from that lady and is just protecting your territory, especually when the lady has an object in her hand. Is she trying to make the dog vicous?
Take care
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
I could be wrong, but I honestly do believe that she has something against dogs. When we'd first moved in, she called Animal Control on the dogs of another neighbor. Hey just because everyone else has dogs and they don't doesn't mean that she should torment the ones that are here.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
21 May 10
hi dorannmwin this reminds me of a dog we had in our fenced in yard. this one teen aged girl would walk past every day caring some sort of stick and as she passed she would deliberatly stick that damned stick through the fence and jab at my dog. Now my dog Swap was a medium sized dog with mixed parentage and seldom barked, also she loved people. but one day after weeks of this stick poking and jabbing at my dog, and my yelling at her, dont do that, I guess Swap had had enough. She jumped that fence and tried to bit the girl on the arm. NOw there was no puncture of the skin, nothing to call a dog bit, but the young brat did have a bruise. we had to go to court but mean time we had sold our home and were in theprocess of moving to an apartment. as my dog had allher shots and the bite was not a bite the judge threw the whole thing out of court telling the young brat do not tease strange dogs, the next time you might really get bit.
I think you need to sit that neighbor down and tell her a few facts about dogs.if the neighbor is poking a rake through the gate at her no wonder the dog is going to bark. I would yell too if someone tried to poke me with a rake.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
25 May 10
good for you dorannmwin ah yes that old saying about the apple does not fall far from the tree may sometimes be tree, daughter learned it from her grandmother perhaps and what right has she to be complaining about the way you keep your house. What is she some sort of housekeeping appointed police? lol lol lol.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
25 May 10
I'm thinking that the little girl must not have grown up in a child centered home. I know that the house has to be tidy, but I also know that when it comes down to something for the children versus cleaning on a particular day, the activity with the children comes first. You can clean later, but you don't know that you will have the opportunity to share an activity with the children later.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
I did basically tell her that she need not mess with my gate and poke things through it. Funny, her granddaughter is the most annoying thing that I've ever met, constantly asking questions, etc and complaining about the way that I keep my house. I wonder where she learned it from?
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
21 May 10
are we thinking of putting out a hit on the neighbor? good thing you cant afford it, right? i know how difficult this is as my son works nights also. sometimes i have to chastise coconut for barking. shes pretty well gotten it down now when i tell her "brothers sleeping, no no!" 
luckily though i know when hes sleeping. maybe you can ask her about the hours she will be sleeping and just keep the little one in then. or see if you can train her, no barking during the day. also, it could be other neighbor dogs are barking and she thinks its your dog. i know we have that here but my son knows when its coco cause she lives here..lol!@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
I know the feeling of knowing who is barking during the day because I used to work nights as well. You are right about it probably being other neighbor's dogs barking because everyone on the street has at least one dog, and most people more than that. And, some of them have dogs that are outdoor only dogs. At first I thought Michela could be a guilty party, but when she told me it has been going on for over a year I knew it couldn't be her because my dogs were inside all the time except to go to the potty for at least the last nine months. When it started to get nice outside we've let them be out more.
@nangisha (3496)
• Indonesia
23 May 10
Its seem your neighbor has high stress level. He need to realize there is no point poking a racket on dog, its make dog consider him as enemy and will absolutely bark every time seeing him.
I think dog will barking for certain purpose to protecting their house, maybe your neighbor never had dog before. Maybe its good idea asking your neighbor sleep time and your dog will stay at the house at that time.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
24 May 10
To be honest, I didn't even know that this woman works, it seems like she is always home in the evening/night and never at home during the day. I'm willing to work with her if she were to promise to never harass the dog again though.
