Neighbor yelling at my dog!

[neatfreak]

Date: 9/19/2008 12:13:14 AM
Author: louisvgirl
Thank you all for your responses. I guess I can see it from the other side of the fence. I do call her inside since I am more aware of it when she''s barking at the kids. Don''t get me wrong, but she doesn''t bark for 2 hours straight. I would say 2 minutes max. If I could afford the dog whisperer I would have him here, but no, that''s not an option. I will post pics of my little culprit. Thanks everyone for your insight.

You don''t need to have a lot of money to spend time training your dog...there are many good books that can be had at the library on the topic...

 

[Hera]

Whatever amount of time your dog is barking needs to be addressed as it is obviously bothering your neighbor and now his yelling at your dog is making you angry. I would try to get your dog some training so this problem won''t escalate as some of these annoyances tend to do.

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 9/19/2008 12:13:14 AM
Author: louisvgirl
Thank you all for your responses. I guess I can see it from the other side of the fence. I do call her inside since I am more aware of it when she''s barking at the kids. Don''t get me wrong, but she doesn''t bark for 2 hours straight. I would say 2 minutes max. If I could afford the dog whisperer I would have him here, but no, that''s not an option. I will post pics of my little culprit. Thanks everyone for your insight.

2 minutes of barking is enough to wake a baby, interrupt studying, or annoy anyone who is trying to work from home. I get incredibly annoyed at dogs barking (just like I do with loud music and parties) even though I''ve always had dogs myself. The neighbors shouldn''t have to suffer because your dog isn''t trained. Sorry to be harsh, I just have no tolerance for noise disturbances.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

LVGirl, I feel your pain! We have three dogs: a black lab/pit bull mix, a black lab/mutt mix, and a Great Dane. Our Dane is a BARKER!!!

He thinks it''s his job to be the guard dog, and that means protecting us from the mail man, the UPS guy, the FedEx guy, the trash guys, the pizza delivery guy, and random people walking by on the sidewalk, as well as loudly greeting us when we get home! Oh, and when friends or family members come over, he likes to make sure we know they''re here . . . I guess he''s worried that we won''t hear the doorbell and rudely leave our guests waiting on the front porch!

Fortunately for us, our neighbors are very tolerant. The lady next door (who has two dogs of her own) even said she likes the sound of our Dane''s bark because he''s so big and his voice is so deep! LOL!

Yes, he has had training, but he does bark sometimes in spite of that. I don''t think there''s really any way to entirely prevent your dog from barking at all. It''s just unreasonable to expect her to be completely silent all of the time. However, I do agree with others who have recommended training for your pup. Even if that doesn''t completely eliminate her barking, it probably will help a great deal. Good luck!

 

[D2B]

If in every instance you mentioned in your orginal post she barks for a minute or so, it is still a lot of barking. It is very annoying. And I bet that for the one person who says someting to the dog owner, there are a whole bunch of neigbours on either side, around, that are thinking the same thing.

If you have a dog in a populated area it is your responsibility to train her not to bark at passers by, kids playing etc. As a PP said there are books and dvd''s you can get that will help. If you dont address it yourself you might find your neighbour take the issue further and your local council/municipality will solve it for you.

I love dogs and cats, but we lived with a barker, everytime I steped outside in my backyard our neighbours dog would start to bark - it killed all peace and quiet in my backyard.

Good luck
pb

 

[LaraOnline]

Date: 9/18/2008 4:49:36 PM
Author: Haven
Your neighbor''s habit of screaming in response to your dog''s barking is certainly inappropriate, however I must agree that I get annoyed with my neighbors who have dogs that bark every time someone walks by.

In an ideal world, the man would leave a nice note in your mailbox... which would probably still leave you angry and defensive.
If he is at the stage of yelling directly, at the moment of his frustration, he may have been polite and quiet about it for some time.
Or, he might just have a short fuse!

Either way, if your dog is annoying the neighbour, it is really the dog''s place to be quiet. Unfortunate, as theoretically it would be easier to train the neighbour into accepting the noise and staying quiet.

Perhaps you should try and be nice to him, pluck up your courage and go visit him with a lovely home-made cake and bottle of wine (or other nice goody) and apologise, and try to make friends as much as possible. If he decides he likes your dog, perhaps her barking won''t set his teeth quite so much on edge!

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I just skimmed the responses, so forgive me if I'm repeating a post. It is very difficult to train a dog not to bark (especially a vocal dog), but you can train a dog to stop barking. I have a huge dog and he isn't vocal, but he has been trained not to bark in the house. Outdoors he can bark, but if I give the command (which for us is "QUIET!") then that's it, he's not allowed to bark anymore. You can also train with a signal, for us it is our finger to our lips. This also means quiet, so if he is barking, it stops.

I am easily annoyed by barking dogs, especially those yippier barks that come from smaller dogs. I would highly recommend working with her by exposing her to situations where she is prone to bark, then working on the command and if she continues, bring her inside (where she seems to quiet down). I know that training is frustrating and a lot of work, but I think for you (and the neighbors) it would be worth it!!

ETA: The sound of screaming children is much more annoying to me than dogs barking So if his children are loud, make sure you let him know that they need to hush!

 

[Elmorton]

I don''t know if they have these in the appropriate size for a maltese, but my MIL used a no-bark training collar on her golden doodle - she borrowed it from a training school (I don''t know if it was free with classes or $20 a week or something - not expensive I don''t think) and she said the thing worked like a charm and he wasn''t barking by the end of the week - and her dog rarely barks now (she borrows it again from time to time if he starts up again). The concept is just simple positive punishment (a little vibrating/shock when he barks - MIL said the thought freaked her out, but she tested it on her hand and it was really minor). Might be worth a try. The same dog has a doggie door, though - I''m not sure I''d try it if your dog barks to tell you she has to go out.

 

[Irishgrrrl]

Date: 9/19/2008 10:12:18 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I just skimmed the responses, so forgive me if I''m repeating a post. It is very difficult to train a dog not to bark (especially a vocal dog), but you can train a dog to stop barking. I have a huge dog and he isn''t vocal, but he has been trained not to bark in the house. Outdoors he can bark, but if I give the command (which for us is ''QUIET!'') then that''s it, he''s not allowed to bark anymore. You can also train with a signal, for us it is our finger to our lips. This also means quiet, so if he is barking, it stops.

I am easily annoyed by barking dogs, especially those yippier barks that come from smaller dogs. I would highly recommend working with her by exposing her to situations where she is prone to bark, then working on the command and if she continues, bring her inside (where she seems to quiet down). I know that training is frustrating and a lot of work, but I think for you (and the neighbors) it would be worth it!!

ETA: The sound of screaming children is much more annoying to me than dogs barking So if his children are loud, make sure you let him know that they need to hush!

YES!!! This drives me insane! Especially when DH and I are trying to have a rare dinner out together at a nice restaurant, and the little darling at the table next to ours is screaming his freakin'' head off while Mommy and Daddy are absorbed in selecting an appetizer!

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 9/19/2008 10:15:56 AM
Author: Elmorton
I don''t know if they have these in the appropriate size for a maltese, but my MIL used a no-bark training collar on her golden doodle - she borrowed it from a training school (I don''t know if it was free with classes or $20 a week or something - not expensive I don''t think) and she said the thing worked like a charm and he wasn''t barking by the end of the week - and her dog rarely barks now (she borrows it again from time to time if he starts up again). The concept is just simple positive punishment (a little vibrating/shock when he barks - MIL said the thought freaked her out, but she tested it on her hand and it was really minor). Might be worth a try. The same dog has a doggie door, though - I''m not sure I''d try it if your dog barks to tell you she has to go out.

I second the bark-collar! SIL has a close friend who trains animals and lived with SIL and my DH a couple of years ago. SIL''s labrador woke everyone up one night by barking. He was such a clumsy, loud puppy. The friend put the collar on and he quickly got the point.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 9/19/2008 10:40:24 AM
Author: Irishgrrrl

Date: 9/19/2008 10:12:18 AM
Author: NewEnglandLady
I just skimmed the responses, so forgive me if I''m repeating a post. It is very difficult to train a dog not to bark (especially a vocal dog), but you can train a dog to stop barking. I have a huge dog and he isn''t vocal, but he has been trained not to bark in the house. Outdoors he can bark, but if I give the command (which for us is ''QUIET!'') then that''s it, he''s not allowed to bark anymore. You can also train with a signal, for us it is our finger to our lips. This also means quiet, so if he is barking, it stops.

I am easily annoyed by barking dogs, especially those yippier barks that come from smaller dogs. I would highly recommend working with her by exposing her to situations where she is prone to bark, then working on the command and if she continues, bring her inside (where she seems to quiet down). I know that training is frustrating and a lot of work, but I think for you (and the neighbors) it would be worth it!!

ETA: The sound of screaming children is much more annoying to me than dogs barking So if his children are loud, make sure you let him know that they need to hush!

YES!!! This drives me insane! Especially when DH and I are trying to have a rare dinner out together at a nice restaurant, and the little darling at the table next to ours is screaming his freakin'' head off while Mommy and Daddy are absorbed in selecting an appetizer!

Yep, the loud kids drive me nuts too. When my kids are in school and I''m out shopping, I want QUIET! When I''m with my kids at the mall and they''re being noisy, that''s okay

Parents learn to tune out the crying and screaming of their own kids. It''s a great skill to have.