Barking in response to neighbor dog

[Jennie]

I'm trying really, really hard to have patience at the moment, but it's wearing a bit thin, so bear with me.

My neighbors, who have a fence around their entire back yard, have suddenly decided that they need to confine their dog to a small enclosure about 4 x 4 feet. Why they feel the need to do this is beyond me, but they've never treated this dog right in my opinion, so this is par for the course. Anyway, the dog is understandably not happy with this new turn of events and is letting the entire neighborhood know about it. If it wasn't bad enough listening to this dog bark and bark and bark some more (which it is), my guys are trying to communicate with him. They are barking back at him more and more.

I know that they are just trying to communicate with him, and they really aren't nuisance barkers, but this is driving me crazy! I was going to use the water bottle on them, but I am hesitant to do this without objective opinions, as I want to make sure I'm not taking my frustrations with Fluffy and his owners out on my guys. I don't know how long this Fluffy nonsense will go on, but if it is here to stay, I don't want my guys to get into a habit of communicating with him all the time like this. I also wonder if they might get bored of it and ignore him if I let it go.

Any thoughts on how to deal with my guys on this so we can nip it in the bud? And while we're at it - any idea if Fluffy is just voiceing his opinion of the new situation and will tire of this, or is the barking here to stay? I'm not sure I'll be able to deal with incessant barking from right outside my back door (they put his pen right up against my fence so he might as well be in my yard).

Thanks all!

Jennie

[lotsadox]

Fluffy very likely will not stop. Being confined to that small a space outside with nothing to do, he will probably continue to bark out of boredom. If you know your neighbors, you might want to talk to them about the barking. Nuisance barking is annoying to everyone. I would not permit my dogs to bark along. I know this will be very hard to do, but if more dogs join in the barking will probably escalate. Unfortunately, you may not be able to do anything about the neighbors dog's barking and in that case can only deal with yours.

[dutchman]

Just a couple of ideas. First off on the squirt bottle go ahead and use it you don't want your crew to get in the habit of doing that much barking even if it is in response to the neighbors dog. Now as far as the neigbors here are you options as far as I can see. You can try to igfgnore it and learn to live with it. You can ta;k to the neighbor and ask them about the changes and memtion the barking issue. If you do the second it could make the last option a little more difficult should you resort to it, report the situation to animal controll. In this area if an animal control office responds and observes the barking problem there doesn't ahve to be any other names (referring contact) on any warning or summons issued to the dog owner. If you have any reason to suspect the animal is being treated poorly in it's new pen (other than jsut not being happy) then reporting the situation might be the best fhing for the dog. A lot would depend on the neighbors and what type of individuals they are.

Good luck,

[Me&DappledDuo]

Sounds like Fluffy is bored outta her mind- as any creature confined outside in a 4x4 cell would eventually become!

Barking becomes a neurotic behavior in dogs confined in outdoors environments- mostly because they can see, smell and hear tons of distractions- but can't actually get to them to investigate. It's not something that goes away on it's own and is very sad, IMHO. I hate to see an animal treated this way- they want so badly to be around a loving family, but probably don't have that ever.

There are several things wrong with the situation. First- most cities require a permit before a kennel is built. Chances are- if this was built RIGHT next to your fence... this permit was never approved. Check that- it may be an easy fix (or they may just chain fluffy up :()

Secondly- while I don't know about VA, I know that in FL- you basically have a 1/20 chance of living outside of an HOA run neighborhood. If you have an HOA- this is certainly against the covenants, and worthy of a complaint. If you don't have an HOA- check with your city's noise ordinances- most will have some specific rules about when, why and how many times a dog can bark. If the owner receives a fine- they might be more willing to deal with the problem.

Lastly- if Fluffy is left outside in the dead of winter without adequate shelter... this becomes a danger to her, and animal control/ SPCA should be notified. That isn't fair for any animal- "fluffy" or not!

I'm always a fan of keeping the peace in a neighborhood- but since drastic means may need to be taken if they don't fix the situation after a polite complaint- I wouldn't recommend that you approach the neighbor without some OTHER neighbors to back you up. That way- they won't know who called the authorities.

We all have barky dogs- PRO barkers, you could say- but a responsible person will do whatever it takes to control that habit. Sounds like all they're doing is moving the barking "problem" as far away from their house as possible- your fence! That's something to be mad about. I love any creature- as long as they don't encroach on my home's safety, soundness or peace...

[Jennie]

Thanks for the suggestions, we'll see how it goes. I don't know why my neighbors even have the dog. When they got the fence built, I was thrilled because prior to this, Fluffy had spent his days chained to an excercise bike in the garage! Yep, you read that right. Fluffy spent just about every waking moment not able to move more than a few feet except for when they took him out to the bathroom. So I definitely thought the fence was a step in the right direction. But apparently they got that for the twin boys, not for the dog.

I don't think there's probably any ordinace against the kennel, because it is one of the small, portable ones and is not permanently fixed (no concrete pad or anything like that). As for a HOA, we do have one, but it is controlled by a small clique that I believe would likely not want to go against this neighbor, unless the barking really drives everyone else as crazy as me, but I'm the closest to it.

Anyway, we'll have to see how that goes - it seems that for tonight they've put Fluffy back in the garage so all is quiet. I just feel so bad for him. I don't think they really mistreat him, they just treat him as an inconvenience or nuisance. Why, oh why, do people like this have pets??????

I'm going to concentrate on working with my boys and make that our focus for now. If the nuisance barking continues, I'll likely contact animal control. I've had to do this before, and they've always responded quickly. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I'll remember how lucky I am to have my wonderful, loving boys (even if they do pee on my carpet still) and concentrate on keeping them from joining in. They've been so good about not barking up to now, I'm sure we can nip this.