sick of neighbor complaining about my dog barking?

Question

Can someone please help me. My neighbor keeps calling animal control because my toy poodle barks when he goes outside. He is never outside longer than 20 or 30 mins at a time. He barks if someone gets close to the fence or if another dog is around. I've had several complaints made against me by the same neighbor. What should I do. I am not getting rid of my poodle. However, I am afraid he may try to harm him. By the way, we all have fenced in yards.

Answer 1

Is your dog unnattended or do you stay out with him?

Answer 2

Try walking your dog instead of just letting it out in your yard. This way the barking won't bother your neighbor so much and the exercise may help your dog get to know the neighborhood a lttle better. You may also want to go out of your way to be really nice to your neighbor. Make some sort of nice gesture to apologize for the dog barking (flowers, plants, chocolates, a coffee mug - anything). Let the neighbor know that you care about the barking issue and are looking for ways to resolve it. Sometimes people react differently when you work with them. If the neighbor is just a rotten person then there's not a whole lot you can do other than to make a point to be in the yard with the dog and take it on walks. Good luck.

Answer 3

You can teach your dog not to bark you know .
It take a little work , but it can be done , believe me .
Better then having complaints from your neighbors all the time .
Put yourself in his place .....would YOU like a dog barking all the time .
I know you said about 20 minutes , but to him it seams a long time .
I have a dog too , and every time he barks , I go outside and say .
It's OK ,and take him in the house .
I let him out again after a few minutes , when he starts barking again , I do the same thing , .....DON'T PET HIM , after he barked and you got him inside .
Petting him will tell him it's OK to bark .
And you want the opposite .

Answer 4

There are some behavior modification collars made for dogs to stop barking. The collar emits a small shock when the dog barks. Or you could put a muzzle on your dog for the short time he is outside, but don't leave it on him too long. You could also try training him yourself by coming out each time he barks and correcting him by blowing a whistle or some other unpleasant consequence, then when he is quiet for a moment, reward him with praise or even a treat.

Answer 5

Is your poodle barking the whole time you have it outside? I can relate to the neighbor as a neighbor two houses down - there dog barks constantly also and it is very annoying and rude. There are collars you can buy that prevent the dog from barking - I think it gives them little shock.

Answer 6

I'd be complaining too. My dogs get scolded for barking and I bring them back inside if they don't settle down. I have 2 big dogs, and they're outside quite a bit. They bark at everything, a cat, kids next door, their pit bull puppy, the neighbor's labs... I think its disrespectful of my neighbors to allow them to carry on for longer than a few minutes, so I bring them in as necessary. Also this taught them if they're uncomfortable outside, start barking and in they go!

Try leash walking him, a bark collar, or just scolding him when he barks.

Answer 7

My son's basset hound has a problem with barking and he lives in an apartment. He was going to try the shock collar, but loves his dog to much to want to harm him (even thou I'm sure the neighbors would love to choke him at times). He went to Pet Smart and bought the Citronella Spray Collar and it works like a charm! They're not very expensive, the odor is not unpleasent and will not harm the dogs nose or eyes.

Anything's worth trying to bring harmony with your neighbors and not have you worrying that they might try and harm your dog. My Aussies seem to bark less if I stay out with them. You might try that also if you're not doing it now.

Answer 8

How about blaming the one who are the troublesome ones here and that is you and your dog. The dog because it barks and you because you allow it. Your neighbor is entitled to go into his back yard and have some peace there and be able to talk to someone without your dog yapping incessantly. Try bringing your dog inside or putting him in a room where he cant see the person next door or there are barking deterrants on the market. Take some responsibility for you animal...this poor person is entitled to some peace in his own yard.

Answer 9

Look after your dog properly. Think yourself lucky your neighbour hasn't popped the damn thing. You just admitted that they are right. Have you any idea what noise pollution does to a person? Walk the dog, don't just think "stuff the neighbours" and throw it in the garden. You would have received it roasted on a platter with tomatoes, lettuce and peppers if I was your neighbour. You need also to weigh up how much your neighbour paid for the house or how much rent they pay and put that against how much your mutt pays. Then you will know who is in the right. People like you should not be allowed animals.

Answer 10

Keep your dog quiet! I love animals but you have to draw a line. If my dog was disturbing neighbors I'd keep her in the house more! I have neighbors like you, their dogs bark all the time and keep me from sleeping at night! Be a good neighbor!

Answer 11

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/J27jk

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.