Who do you call to complain about neighbors noisy pets??

Question

I just moved into a new neigborhood and have gotten no sleep since I moved in. Somewhere behind our house or to the side, there are 2 or 3 dogs that bark 24/7. During the day is fine but all night long and into the early morning they are outside and bark and bark and bark. Its driving me crazy!! I don't know exactly which house its coming from, so I cannot approach the neighbors, but like i said i just moved so i don't want to piss my new neighbors off by confronting them about their dogs. How should I go about this so I can get a good nights sleep??

Answer 1

Call your town's Animal Control Officer or the local police department. Ask them not to give out the name of the complainant (you), explain the situation, and let them handle it.

Chances are good that other people have filed complaints, too, so they may already know who owns the dogs.

Answer 2

Go to your neighbor and POLITELY tell him that the dog noise is problem; give him the opportunity to stop it himself. (Do not be confrontational or threaten, however, because this may provide him with legal recourse against you.)

If the noise stops, thank him for being a good neighbor.

If the noise doesn't stop, call Animal Control.

Animal noise complaints generally go through your local Animal Control office (which is most often a part of the police department). Dog noise is not necessarily a punishable offense (unless it's extreme or violates local noise ordinances), but Animal Control can send an officer out to see what the problem is and ask your neighbor to find some to control the noise. (If the noise problem isn't abated, Animal Control may then be able to actually confiscate the dogs.)

Animal Control may ask that you get a petition signed by your other neighbors attesting to the fact that the dog noise is a nuisance. This gives them a little more leverage when it comes to making demands of your neighbor to control his dogs.

Be polite, but follow through with the authorities, if your neighbor doesn't curb his dogs' noise.

Answer 3

If the barking is bothering you, it certainly is bothering some of your other neighbors as well. Just sit back and wait. Someone else will get really ticked and go take care of the situation. I live in a development and have decided this is the best way to deal with neighborhood stuff. This way you don't get a bad rep in the neighborhood. Until this happens, turn your air conditioner or tv on for some white noise to block out the barking.

Answer 4

Maybe you should go and talk to your neighbor when they are actually barking, or at the very least figure out which house the noise is coming from and go talk to your neighbor the next day. if you're too chicken to do that, you can always send (or drop off) an anonymous letter, which would give them a chance to fix the problem first. Failing that, there is always a call to the police or animal control.

Answer 5

If I were you, I'd call your local animal control. Where I live, people call animal control when situations like this arise. They explain the problem, then someone will go to the area. The animal control employee has to hear the dog(s) bark for 15 mins straight in order to give the owner a little talking to or even a citation. That usually helps the situation. You don't even have to leave your name, you can be anon.

Answer 6

Go find the neighbors house that the dogs belong to. don't call the animal control because what if those dogs get taken out of a good home. Sometimes you have good intentions but bad things can come out of it. Try earplugs and maybe a soothing sound in the background.

Answer 7

Every city has a noise ordinance. Call the cops... it isn't right for you to be losing sleep because some people don't care if their dogs bark all night. Your neighbors are breaking the city noise ordinance by allowing their dogs to bark all night long.

Answer 8

I had the same problem. In my city (in Ohio) there is a special police unit that handles these complaints.

1) Determine the address of the people with the loud dogs.

2) Call the police. Give them the address and ask to make a complaint. You may have to make several complaints for them to take action.

Answer 9

Either the police or Animal Control- find out of your city/town has a noise ordinance. Our neighbors had a raft of kids who were always raising hell so i finally got mad enough [was working 3rd shift at the time] so I called the sheriff. it was amazing how quickly the noise stopped!

Answer 10

The first thing you need to do is get to knows your neighbors. Then you can start "complaining" to them in a non-confrontational way.