Your Neighbor's Dog Won't Stop Barking. What Do You Do? Block Talk Has Some Answers.

ACROSS AMERICA — Thanks for opening the first installment of “Block Talk,” an every-other-week Patch feature offering real-world advice from readers on how to resolve everyday neighborhood problems.

First on the list: What do you do about a neighbor whose dog barks incessantly?

The question was posted on local Patch Facebook pages and struck a chord with people like a Fairfield, Connecticut, Patch reader who wrote she “actually had to physically move due to this after many, many calls and e-mails to animal control.”

More than 50 people offered advice, ranging from adopting an imperturbable attitude of acceptance that dogs bark to filing an official complaint to talking it out in a friendly neighborhood chat.

Peace out, several people advised.

A Temecula, California, Patch reader solved her problem and her neighbor’s, too. Their jobs took them away from home 12 hours a day, during which time their “dog would bark nonstop.”

“After a week of being annoyed, I asked if I could bring her in my yard and play with her since I’m home most the day anyway,” she wrote. “They were sooo thankful I offered to help. Apparently, they’d be getting a lot of complaints and nasty notes from animal control. I never call on people, instead go over and ask if I can help first.”

“Check to see if the dog is ok,” a Tinley Park, Illinois, Patch reader wrote. “If it is, I’ll move on with my life. Dogs bark. It’s not the end of the world.”

“It’s a dog. They bark,” a Joliet, Illinois, Patch reader wrote. “Be an adult and understand that you cannot control everything, especially nature.”

A Waukesha, Wisconsin, Patch reader summarized a similar sentiment in a three-point checklist:

“1. Understand that dogs bark. 2. Understand if I don’t want to hear my neighbors I should move out to the country. 3. Talk to my neighbors to see if they are struggling with the issue and give suggestions on training if they are and are open to it. If it’s not a concern of theirs, then let them be aware that it is a disturbance. Then repeat steps 1 & 2 anyway.”

How Would They Like It?

Not everyone can tune out the noise, though.

A Joliet, Illinois, Patch reader suggested confronting the situation directly. “Bang on the door and yell, ‘HEY, LET YOUR DOG IN!!’ ” the reader typed the cap-lock on for emphasis. “Works.”

Give it back, others said.

“We recorded the barking dogs and played it on a loop out the window facing toward the offending neighbor while we were out,” wrote a Milford, Connecticut, Patch reader.

A Dallas-Hiram, Georgia, Patch reader recorded the dogs, filed noise complaints and, after checking local noise ordinances, “decided to mow my lawn at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning.”

A Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, reader’s neighbor's dogs were in and out of a dog door at all hours of the day and night.

“I managed to learn their phone number, and when the dogs barked and woke me, I called them,” she wrote. “I didn’t do it anonymously: I told them where I lived, my name, and suggested they close the door so the dogs can’t make noise in the middle of the night. After a few calls, it never happened again.”

Work Together If Possible

A friendly approach works best, several readers said.

“It’s all about working together if possible,” wrote a Concord, New Hampshire, Patch reader who lives in a neighborhood with many dogs, all with their own unique “barking quirks” — hers included.

“It was brought to our attention that our dogs bark quite a bit while we are at work — so I found some bark collars (they do not shock, only vibrate) and that has helped quite a bit,” she wrote.

Another Concord Patch reader agreed, writing that “most people don’t want to bother neighbors.”

Take Action Yourself

What if talking it out doesn’t work? Stop the barking yourself, several people advised.

A Channahon-Minooka, Illinois, Patch reader suggested trying this: “Learn the barking dog’s name, and then yell his name when he barks to annoyance. Easy. Done. He stops every time.”

A Joliet Patch reader suggested a fence-mounted anti-barking device that sends out a high-pitched signal every time a dog nearby barks.

“Mixed reviews on effectiveness,” wrote the reader, who said her neighbors’ dogs were “barking non-stop” when left outside overnight.

A Brick, New Jersey, Patch reader invested in a veterinarian-made bark deterrent. “Also,” the reader wrote, “if you hang large wind chimes, they block a lot of the sounds that make dogs want to bark.”

Why the dogs bark is a question that deserves an answer, though, according to a reader who said that in her experience, it’s “because of a lack of attention.”

In some cases, the best thing to do is call animal control or humane society authorities to look into the situation. A Patchogue, New York, Patch reader sent a letter to a local animal shelter, and her neighbors brought their dog in at night after that.

A HEPA air purifier not only cleans the air at night, it drowns out the noise of barking dogs, a Chicago Heights, Illinois, Patch reader wrote.

A Banning-Beaumont, California, Patch reader suggested wearing earplugs at night. Another person in that neck of the woods suggested using “sleep sounds” available on the Alexa app.

“We usually go with thunderstorms,” the reader wrote, adding “that drowns out the sound of my dogs barking at night.”

“I don’t know how my neighbors deal with it,” he continued, “but if I hear my dogs barking excessively, then I go check it out and it’s usually a skunk, possum or cat. At the end of the night, dogs will be dogs and bark. That’s what they do.”

Know Your Rights

On the other hand, “you have a right to enjoy your home,” a Howell, New Jersey, Patch reader wrote. “Sure, all dogs bark on occasion. But endless barking that is not corrected by the owner is neglect and disrespectful of others. With evidence, the courts will side with you.”

He recommended a neighborly chat before things escalate to that point. But if involving the courts appears to be the only way to resolve the problem, make sure you have the evidence to show a pattern, he wrote.

Before you do, know your town's noise ordinances and use them to advocate for yourself, a Toms River, New Jersey, Patch reader wrote.

“Contact animal control and the police for a noise complaint,” he wrote. “If they don't do anything, write the mayor and add all the freeholders [also called city council or village board members in other areas] in the email expressing the ones to enforce it won't help you.”

Record the barking dogs, advised a couple of Joliet Patch readers, one of whom said her neighbor was fined $150 as a result. And if that doesn’t work, the other wrote, “pursue a civil lawsuit.”

Don’t try to deal with it yourself, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Patch reader advised.

“Call the police to knock on their door and ask them to keep the dog quiet,” the reader wrote. “It may not always work, but it is a safer option than the neighbors pounding on the door.

“Sometimes, the dog owner is just so involved in something they don’t notice. Sending the police may help keep things neighborly.”

If you have a neighborhood etiquette question or problem you’d like for us to consider, email beth.dalbey@patch.com with Block Talk as the subject line.

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