I feel your pain. Literally. We have a pair of little yappers like that across the street. Sometimes our dogs stand in the front yard and listen to them in what appears to be great puzzlement.

I'm honestly not sure that the prickly rose will discourage squirrels -- hasn't done that here. And I have also seen full-sized roses eaten right down to the ground by squirrels and rabbits.

But I am seriously contemplating a whole HEDGE of 'White Surprise' (the thorniest rose I know, barring 'Alba Odorata') as a separator between us and our new-and-obnoxious next door neighbor. Something along those lines might help, assuming the squirrels don't regard it as a salad.

"Pink Surprise" is my most thorny rose too, Jeri. It is really beautiful also. Sounds like a perfect separator.

I was thinking of Darlow's Enigma, it's fast growing, dense & thorny, mine is 3yrs old & 8'x8' & growing, heavenly scent & beautiful panicles of white flowers. Disease-free so far. I highly recommend it.

Jane

One thing to think of, when you talk about espaliering a rose against a fence is that you have to HANDLE it a lot. If it has vicious prickles, that is so not-fun.

I once self-pegged 'Mme. Isaac Pereire' to induce more bloom in my minimal-winter climate. I did it all by myself, and it worked. But I cannot sufficiently describe what an absolutely AWFUL task that was! Even with elbow-length gloves, it was carnage. I would never again do anything like that with a heavily-prickly rose.

If I use 'White Surprise' as a "separator" (what a great term that is, Sheila!) I would just let it grow as an upright, prickly, flowery mass.

The "Enigma" often develops a semi-shrubby, dome-like habit. And I, too expect that squirrels will still run along the fence with a rose there.

Let me get this straight, you are going to plant a squirrel food source, and safe haven to deter the squirrels.

A bird feeder would be easier to handle.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions for thorny separators! And thank you Jerijen for empathizing. I'm willing to try anything to deter the squirrels with the hopes that the neighbor yappy dogs stop barking in that corner, but you're right Jerijen, the idea of being in that corner handling an especially thorny rose while the dogs continue to yap sounds like a recipe for extreme frustration. It's something to contemplate for sure.

Mad_gallica I guess I didn't think of an extra thorny rose bush as a squirrel food source or safe haven... Just a hopeful deterrent. I think what you're saying is to try other repellents first. I'm not sure a bird feeder would work, but maybe hot chili pepper on that area of fence would.

Not a bad idea. Thanks everyone!

Cori -- You might see if it is feasible to install a squirrel baffle:
https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=18+squirrel+baffle&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=36377199888&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7687708446369600794&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031617&hvtargid=kwd-11142329485&ref=pd_sl_9mpuojuyvx_b

If the squirrels can't get past such an obstacle . . . That might help.

Here, the squirrels find our fences a highway between the giant evergreen where most of them live, and the remnant of an avocado orchard below ... so they go back and forth all the time, and play games in our ficus trees.

Though our dogs are fascinated, they (fortunately) don't bark. They just chase around the place trying to catch them, which gives them some good exercise.

Thanks Jeri. The squirrels use our fence as a highway too. They seem to be pretty smart and agile, so I think the squirrel baffle would have to be ginormous in order to stop them from running along the fence. It got me thinking about installing something like pigeon fence spikes though. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=pigeon+fence+spikes&tbm=shop

It's definitely worth a shot! My dogs (fortunately) don't bark at them either... usually. Although sometimes the yappy dogs get everyone going and the whole neighborhood is barking. And there are a few particular squirrels who sit in the trees and basically bark back at the dogs, which of course escalates everything. I think if I could just get the squirrels out of that area it would ease the tension.

Pigeon fence spikes might be a smarter idea than planting a super thorny rose to espalier. :)

Thanks for helping me think that through everyone! :)

If the neighbour is not prepared to do something about his dogs there's not much you can do, I'm afraid... I have to confine my barking Lara during nightime and afternoon siesta hours. Maybe lure the squirrels to another spot in the garden?

I feed my squirrels and rabbits dog food. However, ours is a country property where you can do things like that. The upshot is that the rabbits have become half tame, with names like Tripod and Notch Ear, and sit there in the morning and evening tapping their feet, waiting to be fed. This only works because we have coyotes and bobcats that thin out the population every year. Our dog food bills are huge without our having a single dog any more. The squirrels are a little more shy but also love the dog food and both species only rarely touch larger plants, and the new bands that I plant get thorny barriers put around them until our little friends lose interest. Tripod and Notch Ear have been with us for quite a few years so they are very wily rabbits, especially with Tripod having only three legs. Those two have become dear friends.

You can leave an anonymous complaint with the humane society. Don't get me wrong, I love animals too. But when barking becomes intolerable, at least the owners will be officially notified. The office just sends a letter to the owners. I had to do it years ago, in another house. The result was that when those little yappers started up, the owners came out and hushed them, or brought them in. If they are not at home of course, that won't help. In my case, at least it made the owners officially aware that they were disturbing the whole neighborhood. It was nice to have see the owners finally take notice and put in a little effort to quiet them.

The neighbor across the street once asked me if her dogs barked. (NOTE: She ASKED me. I did not go to her complaining.)

I answered: "Yes."

She said: "OH! How much?"

I said: "Ummm . . . Pretty much all the time."

She turned on her heel and walked off . . .

Nothing changed.

My neighbor sounds very similar to your neighbor Jeri. Not the most pleasant person to interact with.

I try to imagine that she has something really overwhelming happening in her life to make her act like that. It helps me tolerate her and shrug her off.

Ingrid it's really funny that you're feeding your neighborhood squirrels and rabbits and here I am trying to put spikes up to drive them out.

I really think that if I can just get them to take a detour away from the fence line (AKA squirrel freeway), the neighbor dogs will be less obnoxious... at least in that corner, which is along our shared fence line. I'm going to try the spikes on the top of the fence and see how it works. I might also try something like this ultrasonic animal repellent at the base of the fence.

https://www.amazon.com/Anpro-Repellent-Activated-Ultra-sonic-Protection/dp/B01LNH0IYQ/ref=sr_1_17?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1475191064&sr=1-17&keywords=squirrel+repellent

It could at least keep my dogs away from that area, which might help those yappy dogs calm down too.

My dogs sometimes go over there to sniff through the fence to see what they are barking about.... which only infuriates the yappy dogs more.

I will update to let you all know how it's working once it's all up running.

Thanks for your help! This is a much better plan than espalier with a thorny rose. :)