Neighbour's Dog

[stevejack (Steve)]

Seems my neighbour's dog has sudenly decided he doesn't like me out in the back yard (ever).

It probably has something to do with it discovering that I have a new dog and it assumes that any noise it hears is my little dog.

So the neighbours dog barks and barks and barks the whole time I am out with my scope (still going and I've been inside for half an hour), and the neighbour is always telling it to be quiet but he is obviously getting annoyed.

My question - is it unfair for me to be out there past 10pm at night if their dog is going to bark?
Technically it's not my problem right? It's their issue to train their dog. BUT my being out there late at night, even though I'm making no noise other than panning the scope and changing eyepieces, might be seen as pretty unfair/annoying yeah??

So there's the dilemma. Any suggestions? What would you do?

[phobos (John)]

it's not your problem, they should put the dog inside if it is barking at night.

[Dog Star (Phil)]

Go and have a friendly yarn with the neighbour. Explain to him what you're doing and what's happening and be at pains to point out that you don't want to cause any trouble with him or his dog.
Maybe invite him over for a perve through the scope.
What's the bet that he'll keep his dog indoors at night and want to join you instead?
Gotta be worth a try.

[Ian Robinson]

Make friends with it, dogs don't seem to hold grudges .

Let it get acquainted your new dog too.

[mrsnipey]

Kick it. Okay - count to ten and take a deep breath. Rant over.

That's what I would love to do.
I too have the same problem, but the neighbours have two dogs. Those annoying little yappy dogs. They seem to take it in turns so they don't get too tired.
After 6 months of them letting them bark I started shouting across the fence what would happen to their dogs if they barked at me again. And guess what - quiet dogs ever since. Or if not, at least the neighbours come out and get them to stop barking.

[nightsky]

G'Day
As a animal lover who has a dog.I agree with Phobos,Phil,and Ian mrsnipey "Kick it" you kidding right? it's not your fault, the neighbours dog at the back of me barks sometimes when I'm out viewing until 2 am, As long as the dog does not turn on any lights I'm happy
Cheers
Arthur

[Kal (Andrew)]

Maybe try to befriend the dog? Go over to the fence, call it's name?

[PCH (Paul)]

Our dog, a beagle, does the same thing. He also barks when someone other than members of the family walk up the garden path, or comes into the house. He only stops once he's been allowed to meet and do a sniff test on the intruder. Once that's over with, he's happy to continue being his normal placid self.

It might be worth a try. I always ask the person if they mind being sniffed at by him as I'd imagine it doesn't suit everyone. But once explained, no one has yet refused.

Cheers

[leon]

There is only one way to fix annoying barking dogs, get your self a half bucket of water, when it barks let it have it over the fence/

Do this once or twice, and it will remember, if i bark I get wet, better shut up, it dose work i have done it with the mongrels across the back fence at my place.

Leon

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by leon

Do this once or twice, and it will remember, if i bark I get wet, better shut up, it dose work i have done it with the mongrels across the back fence at my place.

Be careful with the word `mongrels', those guys will be very offended if they have pedigree papers...

I'd agree with this one though as I solved a barking dog problem in a similar way and it worked breathtakingly fast. The neighbors dog howled and cried for hours when its owner was out. The dog thought the howling was working because the owner always eventually came back .

The bucket of water is a bit over the top, but get a good quality water pistol and spray it when it barks, I'm sure the neighbor would not be offended by that.

I have two Shepherds who rarely bark but my ear is very atuned if they do. If the Alpha female starts barking at a possum or something I just shine my laser pointer down the back yard and they both run up into the house for a game and I shut the back door . Come to think of it they may be one step ahead of me there .

[taminga16 (Greg)]

Steve,
Before you do anything else, including replying to this note, go and knock on your neighbours door and resolve the issue there.

Greg.

[Satchmo]

The neighbor might be quite stressed about the problem and be only too happy to work with you to solve it without a confrontation ( he may even own a water pistol )

[stevejack (Steve)]

Thanks for all the replies.

I agree with Greg and Phil - The neighbour isn't that friendly though, they never spoke to me when I moved in or make any effort to acknowledge me when I pass them. The other neighbours are great to talk to, but they don't have barking dogs.

I can hear him trying to quiet his dog down when it barks, but he has no success.

The main reason I posted here first, rather than speak to him direct, is to find out if anyone else has had similar issues and to figure out the best way to tell neghbours that "i stay up until 2am poking around the back yard" I guess it could be seen as unreasonable given it's on weeknights.

I don't really want to interfere with their training by getting involved just yet as it's only a recent issue. I think I'll give them a week to figure out what to do, and I'll only stay out until 10:30ish those nights even though its only just getting reasonably dark then (don't you hate daylight savings??).

If it's still a problem after that I'll explain to him what I'm doing and work out a better solution.

Cheers guys.

[Lee]

One packet of schmackos will cost you 3 or 4 dollars, and should solve your problem.... I've befriended nasty military dogs the same way....

[Ric]

I always remember when I was living in the burbs we had these two little dogs that would always be barking constantly.

When I asked the neighbour about it he replied that it was this cat that sunned itself on the garage roof and was always teasing them.

Whoops, that was my cat.

[Dog Star (Phil)]

G'day again Steve,
Sounds to me like you"re a decent, considerate sort of person. Whilst some might say that it's not your problem, it is a part of your problem if you have to live next door to these people and their dog.
Confrontation should ALWAYS be a last resort, that's why I suggested trying to have a friendly chat first. It's an old truism that a problem shared is a problem halved and you may just find that your neighbour is quite willing to work with you on a situation that is less than desirable to you both. A friendly attitude (and maybe a six-pack under your wing) could well work wonders. Whilst I've never experienced the exact same situation that you have, I've managed to "tame" a few neighbours over the years with this method. (These days I live in the scrub and my nearest neighbours are roughly half a K away. Heaven!)
You don't sound like the sort of bloke who really wants to toss a bucket of water over the fence and I've a feeling that this might just put the neighbour a bit off-side if you did. Try not to do anything to escalate a minor irritation into a full blown neighbourhood row. It can easily happen. Trust me, I've been there and there's nothing worse than living next door to someone when you hold each other in mutual contempt.
IF a friendly reasonable approach doesn't work, don't waste time with a bucket of water. Dilute lemon juice with a bit of water, put it in a water pistol and spray that in the dogs face. It won't hurt it or blind it and is not at all cruel and it will be far more effective than a bucket of water.
Best of luck and I hope that the lemon juice option won't be necessary.
The Schmakos option may well be worth considering too.

[robgreaves]

I had exactly the same thing in the UK. We had the BBC round once at about 2am filming in my observatory for a piece on Astronomy for the national news, and the neighbour's dog was barking away all through the filming The (lady!) BBC producer asked me if I had a gun LOL

Regards,
Rob

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by Lee

One packet of schmackos will cost you 3 or 4 dollars, and should solve your problem.... I've befriended nasty military dogs the same way....

Way to go...
The dog will go real quiet real quick I bet.

alex

[Ric]

What happens when the schmackos run out?

Run away, run away.

[xelasnave]

If there is one thing dogs and humans share... it is their determination to honner a bribe...it need not happen often but the one that is bribed will be your slave....forever
alex