I have had to move due to my neighbor teaching their dogs to bark at me. They run a backyard breeding operation. I suspect that they might run a meth operation too - because we occasionally get a chemical smell waft our way from their house and they act like they do drugs. Their dogs have attacked a child. Although they got rid of the dogs that attacked the child they have about a half dozen more dogs and they are constantly acquiring more animals.

I don't feel safe living next to these people. I'm am renting elsewhere and have my house up for sale. So far no takers on the house.

We have called the police, written letters to the county commissioners, and written letters to all of our elected officials all with no positive response.

You should check out barkingdogs.net (link below) it is a website that deals exclusively with the problem of nuisance barking dogs. You might be able to find a solution to your problem there. You can post your story on their forum to get advice but mostly sympathy.

I am sorry to hear of your situation and hope that you can escape it somehow and achieve peace in your own home.

Here is a link that might be useful: Barkingdogs

Some information from barking dogs website:

"I'm convinced that the extremely large percentage of belligerent people found among those who choose to keep chronically barking dogs is due to the fact that it is a self-selecting population. In other words, there exists such a high rate of hostility among those with barking dogs because keeping a barking dog within earshot of a neighbor's home is a hostile thing to do. That's why we find a disproportionately large percentage of hostile people among those who choose to do it.
It should be no surprise, then, that the great majority of the time, when you scratch the surface of a person keeping a barking dog, you will find someone prone to hostility and/or altogether lacking in empathy. So trying to persuade someone to take responsibility for their canine can be a treacherous proposition, and taking steps to force them to do it can be downright dangerous."

Here is a link that might be useful: Barking Dogs

It seems to me that the situation in general is out of control. I think you have valid points that need to be addressed.

For the sake of everyone, perhaps you should take a deep breath and consider an outside party that can mediate a peaceful solution. In the end, I assume that is what you both want, peace in your own home. An outside party will not be a threat to either of you. Once you take that element out of the issues, things change drastically.

If the mediator is not an option, contact proper authorities in your county. Start with the county executives office. Be very specific about what your problem is and ask if there is a county ordinance that can be enforced about each specific issue. After you do this, ask to speak to who is in charge of that ordinance, and what can be done to enforce it. For instance, where I live there is a very strict leash law for dogs, I had a problem, I called the county executives office, and they told me to contact an office that dispatched an officer with the humane society to the offending party. Problem solved. I did have the option of filing a unanimous complaint, but chose not to.

You might also ask proper authority about your "right to a peaceful existence" and what can be done to enforce that.

If all else fails, consider small claim court. This will bring both parties together, and a judge will settle the problem. If you do this, you MUST have documentation that include dates and what specifically happened, preferably with photos. If you go into court without this, you are wasting your time.

Unfortunately, your neighbor knows you made complaints, and he also knows that he can do many things to annoy you. You see him as a threat, he sees you as one. Not a pleasant thing to have hanging over your head when you are in your home.

Good luck! If sounds like you have a very difficult situation on your hands.

SG

Ok...one thing you might want to do (if you are seriously considering filing a complaint) is to find out what the violation is in your area. I believe in our area it is a 15 minute rule and nothing after like 10:00 pm and before 6:00 am or something like that. If the limit for excessive noise (from a barking dog) is 15 minutes in your area, you will need to record this noise for proof. The police officer won't want to stand around and listen to the dog bark for that period of time, so the recording will justify your complaint. It would be most beneficial if you can get successive violations on record. This type of thing can actually contribute to lower property values, higher anxiety within the neighborhood, etc...

I feel sorry for the dog...I know you said it seemed well cared for, but allowing this to happen shows a lack of responsibility where a pet owner is concerned.

This is just so ridiculous. Like I said, this person is generally not liked in the neighborhood. since we moved in he has shown absolutely no regard for our property rights at all. He used to park his cars (and his guests would park theirs) in our driveway. We would constantly have to ask him to move them. DH finally asked him in a peeved manner about moving them one day. And the guy lost it and copped a big attitude.

He put a giant earth berm partway into our yard, but we honestly did not notice it was into our yard that much until we got the fence survey. then WHOA! We put the fence over it. But likely at some point soon when we can afford it we will get a privacy fence and we are digging it up on our side. No regards.

Each autumn he would blow his leaves from his 30 maple trees into our yard.
He is the miserable type of person who keeps the kids balls if they go into his yard even though I throw his kids back when the same happens. A neighbor once asked him back for his tools that he had borrowed and the guy acted all put out.

He would let his dogs poo in others yards and did not care. But one time a little boy was running down the street trying to catch his dog that had gotten off the leash. And the dog stopped into this neighbors yard and did his business. And this guy just bawlled this kid out, the kid was crying.

I told the sheriff that I think this person had a serious mental disturbance since he is so hostile about our fence. Even though we got a survey down to every 25 feet so it would be absolutely perfect because we knew he would question it. And he did of course. we whipped out that survey.

When we called the sheriff, they did give us a mediation number to call. I think I may call and ask about the dog thing anyway. I doubt a mediation would be good with this person because he is the type of person who is ALWAYS RIGHT. And he is ALWAYS the wronged party. He is a liar and will make stuff up which is why I want to try and avoid legalities with him. He just is the type of personality that enjoys poking you with the stick until you lash out. Then YOU are the bad guy.

Even when we were speaking to him, every single day he would let us know what we should do to our house. What looks terrible, you need to do this. Your dog barks too much, even though we have her in the house 80% of the time. General little nit picky comments constantly.

He also used to drive through our yard and he tore the bejeesus out of the dirt and put giant ruts in it. We told him we only wanted him back there if he asked. But he knew when we came home from work so before we got home he would sneak back there in his car. We caught him several times.

He is very sneaky. That is why we initiated the fence, he kept getting weirder and weirder. And we built it to protect ourselves and our property. Unfortunately we went with a split rail because we did not have to get a permit to put it in. But when that goes we are getting as high of a privacy fence as they allow. I think if this person could not see our property it would help. And I am also currently planting evergreen bushes as a screen until we can afford that fence.

We are considering video surveillance. I mean this man just HATES us over absolutely nothing. It is very stressful. I never thought I would have this psycho of a neighbor.

Thanks for the tips. I may do videos if I have to. I already have photos and have started a log.

Went to that site. Was not very encouraging for getting relief from the barking dog. Actually I am lucky in that the barking dog sound does not bother me much. It just annoys me that this owner purposely gets his dog to do this in our presence. He does not let the dog out all the time, only when he is home.

And I suspect (being the charming fellow he is) since we called the sheriff on him, he will purposefully let it out to bark at us when we are in the backyard now.

In fact, the sheriff did warn us that they make sure they note the date the complaint was made. Because if they get any complaints from them directly afterward about OUR property, they generally take it with a grain of salt because they figure it is retaliatory in nature. Esp. with proven hostile individuals like our neighbor.

I did locate a few products like dog dazer and super bark stop. Maybe I could just use these as an ultrasonic deterrent only when we are out in the yard. I wonder if they would work?

The neighborhood would love me.

I've lived in situations like this and unfortunately there isn't much of a way to win. Even if you're successful with the dog issue, will you really be able to sleep at night with this nut madder at you than ever?

My solution when it happened to me was to just move, but I realize this is not always possible. Maybe you could try killing him with kindness. Go over with a plate of cookies and tell him you'd like to bury the hatchet (now don't tell him where) and get off on a better foot together. Then ignore all his annoying behaviors, smile sweetly and ask how he is when you see him. Act like you are totally blind to all the ignorant things he does. It will drive him crazy that he can no longer get under your skin and it will take the joy out of trying. Eventually, he may give up and move on to something more entertaining for him. You'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you controlled the situation.

It's such a shame that there isn't reliable recourse for someone who's being harassed in their own home, but unfortunately the police usually think they have bigger fish to fry.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. I really feel for you.

Whatever you do, don't start retaliatory measures, as that will make the situation far worse than it already it is, and likely make the police or animal control not take your side at all should you ever need to call them. Document everything.

I read barkingdogs.net, too, and they have a forum on LJ where people post can stories. This story here is an example of how NOT to handle a barking dog situation, if you ask me. Talk about pissing off both your barking dog neighbor, and everybody else around you. I think this story is a good example of how giving it back in kind just made the situation about 10 times worse than it needed to be.

I'd start documenting, and recording the barking, if possible. Then start with mediation, and if that gets you nowhere, take it to the next step, and get animal control or the police involved.

DH and this person have had too many "words" over the years to have any hope of a truce. This person is just a crazy redneck.

I would love to move, although it is out of the question because we could never get as large of a yard anywhere for what we paid for here. We made a great investment here and with the market being what it is, houses are not moving here.

We do plan to move when we retire though. Our property is worth lots of money and I am going to get sick of paying the high property taxes here in Chicagoland. I am SO out of here...

Actually, I suspect he is doing what he is doing, to make us move. But being the personality he is, he would just start to find fault with whoever moved in next to him. He is just like that.

I know when we first moved in, when we actually spoke for the first two years, he had to tell us all about what was wrong with the house we bought.

We have not been even on "looking" at each other terms for 10 years or more let alone speaking... And the dog is not a constant barker. I think it is considered a form of harassment, but just will be hard to enforce it on the jerk. Hopefully it will never come to legal action. I think a nice TALL fence will help out immensely too. I checked it out, we can go 6 feet here. And we will!!

We aren't even home much, both of us work full time, and we are busy with activities and we have summer recreational property. So we aren't even around much to bug this guy, he is just one of those obsessive personalities. And we had the unfortunate bad luck to move next to him.

Strangely, he does not bother the person on the other side of him. We mentioned this to the sheriff and she mentioned that this only strengthens the harassment complaint since he has singled us out.

Thanks all!!

I feel for you. So sorry.

I had a neighbor who mistakenly trained her dog to bark. She called to it to come inside and gave it a treat every time it barked. Therefore it barked more and more often.

Look, even if that is true... do you realize just how "nutty' YOU will come off as if you insist that the dog is purposely barking at you? Seriously..I don't care if the sheriff backs you up...it would never hold in court. Dogs are dogs... who can say why they bark at some and not others.
Hey, apparently (according to you) the guys a neighborhood busybody... big deal... every neighborhood has them (including mine... he's an ass.. the whole neighborhood knows this and just humors him and makes fun of him... we all call him the self appointed mayor of the neighborhood..ignore him (nothing bothers a NB more than being ignored)...
I do think you need to ask yourself if the fact that EVERYTHING else he has done in the past has magnified the dog situation? Go about your business.. pay no attention to his comments to you (or your neighbors) about ANYTHING that goes on, on your property. To acknowledge this guy is to empower this guys... plain and simple.
Really, you already said the dog is not a habitual barker, right? And, no matter what, none of this is the dogs fault.
Again, I gotta say, ignore this.. you are giving this PIA neighbor power over you by making this an issue.. AND, sorry, but it does make you look nutty.. not saying you are.. but, really, ok... Dog Officer.. the neighbors dog is being trained, or forced, to ONLY bark at us.. not menacing or threatening us, just barking directed to us, only.
DO.. really? and how do we or you, or anyone else, exactly, prove it?

Silly

Actually, this person is not a busy body. Parking your cars and leaving them in others driveways and not telling your guests to not park in the neighbors driveway is just ignorant. And so is blow 30 trees worth of leaves into your neighbors yard to have them deal with them so you don't have to is also ignorant. As is building an earth berm that sticks 2-3 feet into your neighbors lot is also jerky. This person has no regards for anyone's existence except his. Everyone else can go to H*ll is his general attitude in life.

As he is only hostile to us, he does not speak to the rest of the neighborhood hardly. He is the type of person that will only speak to others when he needs something from them. And after he has gotten it, he treats them like dirt again.

Yet, this man's yard is full of junk. One time even he had two dead racoons that he had hunted and he threw them into his side yard where they laid for days. And this man is NITPICKY about our stuff?

He is a bow hunter and he often practices in his backyard which makes me nervous. And I mentioned that to the sheriff. He has never done it when we are outside so I let it go. Except when DH is around, then he does and he makes sure DH sees the bow and arrow too. The sheriff told us whenever he is doing this, to call them right away.

I am not going to push the dog thing with authorities. I am going to try an ultrasonic control when the dog is in the yard barking when we are in the yard.

Actually the dog annoys the entire neighborhood. I know the neighbors on the other side HATE it. The wife actually does try to control the situation when the dog is barking and she will call it off. The husband neighbor and his kids ignore the barking. Even though it barks the entire time they are out with it. You think they would be annoyed by it as well.

Since we are rarely home, I am not too worried and we rarely entertain any more. I just wanted to know if it was harassment to train a dog to bark at someone so we can put it down in our "log". So if we have to go to legalities with this nightmare, likely will be about an instance totally unrelated to the dog barking, we have instances. The log book was recommended by the sheriff.

And you are right, I do agree I would look like an idiot complaining. But if it gets worse, I think I will talk to the neighbors next door and see if we can get a recording thing going. Because they ARE home all day long since they are retired. I don't know how they stand it.

Thanks all.

I suggest putting all of your effort into designing and building that fence. Make it as tall and thick as you are allowed. Then plant shrubs next to the fence on your side. Make them as thick as you can. Get them as mature as you can afford, and let them grow well beyond the 6ft max of the fence (check with your county to see if there is a limit). Maybe even use a checkerboard layout to make the shrubs even thicker.

Also, consider putting any type of storage sheds or other items in your yard against that perimeter, and the kids play area at the opposite side of the yard.

This type of physical barrier will go a long way to give you peace of mind..... "out of sight, out of mind". The other guy won't see you and won't be as provoke to cause problems.

Spend money figuring out which "anti-barking" product is the best on the market. They are $35-$100 each. Check out this forum... http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/petdebate/msg1004004813884.html?13. And these products....
http://www.ultimatebarkcontrol.com/>bark control
http://www.ultimatebarkcontrol.com/Super_bark_free.htm
http://www.smarthome.com/61392.html
http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page848.html
http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page849.html

All of this will be expensive, but finding something that works will be well worth it. Consider the value of just a few peaceful weekends at home compared to the cost of a spa weekend to get some peace and relaxation.

Good idea, that barrier. I have already planted yews, and tall juniper. I plan on getting more this year. Eventually they will fill in. I have to avoid bushes with large leaves because the leaf thing so obviously sets this person off the deep end.
I think that will help out a lot, since the contents and condition of our yard had always been of a "more than is normal" interest to this neighbor anyway. Those things can't grow fast enough!
Although we have to watch what we plant as we also have a deer problem and they like to munch things down to the ground. I buy lots of "liquid fence" for my roses.
Thanks for those links and the barrier suggestion. I knew someone here could help me

What a jerk! And you can't reason with people like that... they actually think they're in the right.

Good post by mapski99. Too bad you can't move. You could probably go on and on, post after post about how many times and different ways this guy has made your life miserable. I don't envision the coming years to be any better, although those barriers may help some.

Move.

Or put up with it and don't call the police.

That's my advice.

klimkm, I have a neighbor down the road from me that is your neighbors twin brother. Have posted about him and his goats etc on this forum.
He is not a sane person. Last 4th of july our county had a firecracker ban because everything was so dry. So he puts on a big fireworks display aiming everything toward our very dry field. We called the sheriff and fire dept. He got a big fine tho i don't know how much. He also has started a car junk yard beside another neighbors land. He also had his 7yr and 8yr running our road on atv,s speeding and getting in the way of our cars. I almost ran over one coming around a curve when one went one way around me and the other the other way. That did it for me. I drove straight to his house and chewed him out and asked if he wanted his kids to get run over. He told me his kids had a perfect right to be on the road,which they did'nt because it is against the law to drive atv,s on a public road and we called the sheriff.
After that the kids were still on the road sometimes but they were a lot more careful.At least around me.
This guy has even shot a couple of his dogs because he was mad at them.
Once when he first moved here he kicked one of his dogs. He looked up at me and stopped because i was preparing to kick him.

I feel for you and i don't really think there is a solution for some people except an institution.

If you can get hold of a vcr camera that might help in court if you can get pictures at the right time.
Good Luck
oakleif

fence. BIG FENCE, and I am kind of a spiteful person, forsythia is a fast grower, and watch those leaves fall!!
if it is on YOUR side nothing he can do, hey you have had to put up with him all this time, is there a particular sport team he hates (know you wouldn't know this as you wouldn't want to know anything about him) but wouldn't it be funny to paint a beautiful murial of a team he can't stand, on his side of the fence? We are rednecks, but we sure don't spend our time and energies trying to bother the neighbors, no instead I sit on the couch that is in the yard in front of the Blazer that is up on cinderblocks reading the latest edition of hog hunter (just kidding) boy my neighbors would be the ones to blow a gasket if we did that.
the best thing you can do is the fence, maybe the dog will even stop barking if he can't see you.

I will most likely stop calling the authorities - unless this person finds a new creative way to do something to our property.

I have tried talking to this person for years, about the things we do not want him to do in our yard, and it is totally ignored until DH decides to have a shouting match. Only then does it stop, actually not really stopped, he just finds new creative ways to harass us (like saying "good dog" when his dog is barking at us).

There have never been any threats on either side which is good.

So once again by totally disregarding us, he backed us into a corner where we had no options but either a. another shouting match or b. calling authorities.
I mostly called the authorities, (non-emergency number) only because I thought after all these years, we needed their advice on how to deal with this neighbor should things escalate even more.

And they did tell us what he is (and has done in the past) doing is considered harassment. Which is a pattern of unwanted and/unwarranted acts against person and/or property. Which is exactly what has been going on all these dozen + years.

Thanks for your stories about your nightmare neighbors too. I realize I am not alone. I mean, it is not THAT bad, at least he is not a drug dealer or something like that. (Although I do suspect he drinks, which would explain his irrational behavior)

Thanks all!

Three more words of wisdom for ya.

1.) Neighbor relations are NEVER, EVER improved with having the authorities come out. The extent to which they offer a band-aid solution ("You stay on your lot, you stay on your yard and don't talk to or go near one another")

2.) For every action, there's a reaction.

3.) Remember in grade school when some dumb kid was picking on you and blowing spit balls in your hair? And when you told mom or the teacher about it, they said "Just ignore them and after a while, they'll get bored with you ignoring them and move on to somebody else"? Well as it turns out this is actually a very effective technique in adult life too.

What a shame, neighbor disputes are horrible.

I have in fact had SUCCESS bringing the law into a neighbor issue, specifically a barking dog issue which was forever fixed when the neighbors dog was removed after the requisite number of complaints.

It is my understanding that the old and largely outdated notion that ignored bullies "will just go away" has been retired and replaced with a zero tolerance policy on bullying in most schools; in light of the FACT that young bullies, left to their own devices, turn into old bullies and worse.

The peculiar behavior of this neighbor is troubling. I find the notion of parking or allowing your guests to park in someone elses driveway WAY over the line. Building an earthen berm over the property line is a real problem, could have been a mistake, but sounds as though not. Driving in your backyard and rutting up the lawn, ostensibly to access his backyard? Is also way over the line.

As cheap as video cameras are these days I would invest in one and document everyting with a time and date stamp. I have a digital voice recorder which is always in my jacket or pants pocket and has proven very useful on several occasions where there became a question of who said what; though there are certain considerations with it's use.

Moving may be your best option.

more to grow, please tell us about the success that you had.
The dog was removed, was it neglected? That sounds like an emergency situation that would definitely warrant calling the authorities. I just want to make it clear that squabbles between neighbors and neglected pets are two different things.

I think the bad neighbor is getting the short end of the stick in this instance. The barking is a lot louder on his end so great he's got a dog that barks constantly. Wow! What a great thing to have! That's going to annoy the crap out of him. So let the dog bark and everytime it does, just smile and think about how irritated the neighbor must be getting. I would start making regular use of the yard!

Setting up video cameras and documenting stuff is a swell idea if you want to waste more time and energy getting upset over this silly squabble. But not if lives, pets and property are in danger.

When I got my dog from the pound, I was told he was surrendered because the owner was tired of having the law called for his dog disturbing the peace. So see, reporting a noisey neighbor can work.
BTW, it turns out, Josh is a very quiet dog. He just didn't like being tied up 24/7 with nothing else to do but bark.

Actually I am lucky in that the barking dog sound does not bother me much.

We aren't even home much

And the dog is not a constant barker.

Since we are rarely home, I am not too worried and we rarely entertain any more.

I don't think this is about the dog. It sounds as if it is about your relationship (or lack thereof) with the neighbor. You have posted before on other forums and received advice regarding fences. Perhaps instead of writing to these forums for more advice, you need to take some of the advice you receive.

Here is a link that might be useful: klimkm thread

And, by the way, I realize my previous post might sound "snarky" - that is not how it was intended. I was simply trying to say - this situation isn't going to change. You are the only one who can make changes to the situation.

Prairielove:

If you read my update to the situation this year, you will understand that I did take proactive action to keep this person from blowing his leaves into my yard by stacking logs about 3 feet high and 100 feet long along the one border of my property. And this person did still manage to blow his leaves into our yard. Even though he knew that we did not appreciate it.

This neighbor is obviously unbalanced in that he has held a grudge about this fence for 7 years. I mean, how weird is that in the first place? I mean, it is our property, I can do whatever to it that I want under jurisdiction of the county I live in and no one else has anything to say about it. It is a nice looking fence.

DH has done the "talking" in the past and it ends up that the neighbor ignores it. When we finally get fed up and confront him in a stern manner, it ends up with the person getting all "you are the bad guys" and ends in a shouting match. Or we get lying, or cocky replies. And this person continues to sneak around to access our property, to blow leaves into our yard, etc. You cannot have a "relationship" with a neighbor that is crazy.

We just want this person to leave our property alone - totally - 100%. That is all... if I have to call in authorities to get that accomplished so be it.

However, I really think that telling your animal to bark at someone on purpose is totally uncalled for. I mean, what is next, telling the dog to attack on command? I had no intention of calling the authorities back about the barking dog I just wanted to know if it is considered harassment which I think it is. So I am noting it in my log.

Although to note, that the dog was out for about 4 hours yesterday afternoon and he likely barked for about 2 of those hours... he is a coonhound and that is what they do. And I am willing to accept some barking, all dogs bark, I own a dachsie I know, but to train the dog to bark on command at a specific person is just uncalled for.

I am now looking at places to get cheap shrubbery until I can afford to put in a 6 foot fence. And I just bought some no trespassing signs. And I am going to get an ultrasonic bark control for when we are out in the yard to see if that works.

Thanks all. I'll let you know how this situation unfolds!

Can you tell me how this is resolved. My neighbour leaves their dogs outside while they blast music and the dog barks at us and my dog who does not bark back and lays down. They actually get encourage to bark after 30minutes they will start barking back and calling them a good dog. Meanwhile we are encouraging our dogs not to bark. My mother constantly has to bring her dogs back in because they are upsetting her

I have had the same problem in Cherokee Village, Arkansas! One person after abother on different streets. I don’t like dogs suddenly developing aggression like that towards anyone. It could happen that they bite someone. They are starting to chase cars for starters the mail man. I don’t think I will do anything, if they start doing that. Owner got them trained to come up to an open window I’m looking in. It will attack only trees that I feel fond of. Then aggressive towards them or to any bird in my yard. A few years back, my BF and I yelled at a boy trying to shoot a woodpecker. Cannot look or get outside, at out without them seeing from more than several feet feet away, when you are quiet. They will look inside at you and try to get at the house. The owner just says, bad dog. Then he hit one. Police turn a blind eye and so does animal control. It’s too scary to talk to the dude. He is a smiling narcissist.