What to do with barking dogs in Canberra?

Many years ago when we moved into our house, the back neighbours had this massive dog. I’m not sure what it was, but it’s head was bigger than the biggest watermelons you see in Woolies, and it would put its huge paws up on the back fence, and it’s head would easily poke over. It used to make the most bloodcurdling growls, as though it was ready to tear you to pieces.

Of course, our mini fox terrier thought this was great, and would have a bit of a yap at it.

One day when we got home from work, we could hear this horrific growling, but no mini fox terrier barking. I checked the back yard, and a small part of the fence had come loose, and clearly our dog had gone into the big dog’s yard.

Fearing the worst, I peeked over the fence at the source of the terrible sounds. And there, lying on it’s back, with the mini fox terrier playfully nuzzling its belly, is the huge dog, growling away. Turns out the dog was a complete wuss. We made friends with the dog, and would often pat its head when it looked over the fence.

The point, I guess, is that things aren’t always what they seem, and taking the more gentle approach is a great way to at least start to solve these kind of problems.

Sadly, the big dog isn’t with us any more. It made a great guard dog for the neighbours, though.

To everyone suggesting feeding the animal; what happens if the animal actually gets baited, who do you think the owners will suspect first?

Mostly true, Tooks, but still a hasty generalisation. There is little question that your point applies to the dog(s) in the original post. The poor thing is probably neurotic through neglect. However, your point blatantly ignores the variation in personality between different dogs.

I have two Siberian Huskies. Both are females from the same litter. Both are Australian Champion showdogs and therefore well trained and disciplined. Both dogs hold Endurance Titles meaning they are able to gait 20km beside a bike (scooter) in under 2 hours, so we have to run the hell out of them to keep them fit. I am at home full-time and both dogs are able to enter and leave the house as it suits them. One dog is as quiet as a mouse. The other was debarked following constructive discussion with a neighbour over a cold beer.

Just as in humans, some are animals are very introverted while others are overly extroverted. Barking is usually attributable to lousy owners, but this is not always the case. Personality plays a significant role as well.

geetee said :

I’m a bit sick of hearing about animal rights. What about human rights?

Poor humans, having to listen to the suffering of neglected animals. It’s just not fair, is it?

geetee said :

PS – Yes I know this situation is probably a result of the owner, not the animal.

There’s no probably about it – it is definitely a result of the owner. Any dog who gets enough exercise, training, and discipline will not be a problem to anyone.

Pandy said :

Leave a box of snail bait by the letter box?

Sorry Pandy, not funny. I lost on & the other cost us $1400 after they got into some snail bait. Not a pleasant experience….

Where are all the dog lovers of Riot-Act on this issue? You know the ones who contribute eagerly to the ‘ban fireworks’ threads??

For the past year, our new (rental) neighbours have had a HUGE dog which barks most of the night and day. Even when it’s not barking, it’s pushing its’ plastic bowl around the concrete back yard (yep) which makes it extremely hard to sleep most nights of the year.

In addition, the huge mother scares the living daylights out of anyone walking past as it almost knocks their fence down when anyone walks past. (It’s big enough to have its front paws and head over the fence which must be about 5 feet plus high.

And recently I think they acquired another puppy – perhaps to keep the other one company since they never seem to take it for a walk. Now in addition to hearing near constant barking, you get to hear the whimpering of the puppy.

Although I consider myself an animal lover, I’m a bit sick of hearing about animal rights. What about human rights?

Are there any people in Canberra who have had success in complaining about such things?? Can anyone share serious suggestions about how to stop this kind of situation.

PS – Yes I know this situation is probably a result of the owner, not the animal.

chrisi said :

“… ‘debarking’ it … isn’t fair.

You raise some great points Chrisi, but I am interested to know why you think ‘debarking’ a dog is not fair?

I agree that it does not treat the cause of barking behaviour. Debarking is not removing the dogs ability to communicate or make noise, but rather reduces the volume of the ‘bark’ to a loud ‘coughing’ sound. It can still be heard from quite a distance and satisfies the dogs need to bark. I have not met a vet who thought it was ‘inhumane’ or ‘harmful’ to a dog. It is a legitimate ‘last resort’ option.

Ok…. first thing to remember is its NOT the dogs fault. It’s a dog- they bark… that’s what they do!

Hurting the dog, or ‘debarking’ it, or chastising it isn’t fair. It’s the owner that needs training. Calling the authorities doesnt work.

Option 1). Nice Way.
Knock on the door and introduce yourself. Dont be afraid. Explain that you are a dog lover and that you dont want to cause any trouble, but inform them that their dog barks a lot when they are away. You dont want them to beat the dog or anything, but ask if you can be introduced so the dog knows who you are and can settle him over the fence if need be. Ask if you can give the dog bones on occasion (marrow is a great suggestion because it takes a lot of work and is very cheap!).

Option 2). Rude Way (if owner doesnt respond to Nice Way).
Keep complaining to rental agency. Terms of residential tenancy agreement state that tenant can not cause a nuisance or disturb neighbours. Standard ACT agreement states:

Section 70.
b) The tenant must not cause or permit nuisance
c) The tenant must not interfere with the quiet enjoyment of the occupiers of nearby premises.

As the tenant is in breach of the tenancy agreement, you constantly complaining to the agency ‘could’ give avenue for the landlord to either evict the current tenant (through tribunal) or at very least not renew the lease upon expiry. As the agency must record all complaints and pass on to landlord, this can also have a detrimental affect to the tenant getting good references. Another avenue would be to remind the tenant of his responsibilites (and potential repercusions).

But long story short, if the tenant is causing trouble and isnt doing anything to limit it, start causing him trouble with his rental.

haha…nice work bloodnut!

I say, buy the $5 bag of bones each week, chuck a bone over the fence just before you want some peace and quiet and your problem will be solved. Meeting the dog, also a good idea as they will recognise your voice when you tell them to quit it.

Growing up, we had a large dog who would bark when he was startled..and annoy the neighbours. When my dog eventually died through old age, the street ended up being pretty quiet.

Having such a quiet street meant the neighbours started getting their houses broken into, and everyone would come over to us and say they missed us having a big dog and we should get another:)

I have been on the end of complaints myself with previous dogs – and even had neighbours who became abusive while caught and apprehended in the act of provoking my dogs. On one occasion an empty beer bottle was hurled into my back yard. Thankfully we moved away from that area of Tuggeranong. Predictably, TaMS were unable (or chose not) to enforce anything beyond leaving letters in our mailbox.

For those who believe ‘debarking’ is unhumane – I say to you what a load of bollocks! I have had one of my Siberian Huskys debarked and it does not bother her in the slightest. It simply reduced the ‘bark’ to a loud ‘cough’. Contrary to claims from extremist elements in the animal lib groups, she is still the same happy and lazy dog she was before the surgery albeit MUCH quieter. No dog therapy required.

Another alternative is a citronella collar. Dog barks – collar gives a squirt of citronella. Dog learns barking is unpleasant. The catch here though is to ensure the collar is kept full with citronella. Once the dog learns how to empty said collar, it will simply keep barking until it has emptied the collar of its unpleasant payload and continue barking as normal.

To those who suggest feeding the dog to build a ‘relationship’ – I think this is another good idea. But please, discuss it with the owners first and be careful to avoid rewarding undesirable behaviours.

Dazzlar – Yes, greyhounds do have to be muzzled in the ACT if in a public place. You can apply for an exemption. The muzzles make them look vicious (people cross the street) but they are as gentle a dog as you will find.

Yay for non barking dogs.

I’ve been on the other end my neighbors have issues with my dogs and also vice versa, as my dogs are the larger breed we were hit harder by the law as such, we complied with all that was asked of us except muzzling them in public which I refuse to do as they can’t defend themselves against other dogs, I’ve seen a friend lose their dog due to this poor thing was mauled by 2 dogs and there was nothing we could do and the dog had no chance of defending himself as he was muzzled. We have all gates sign posted with “DO NOT ENTER GUARD DOGS” we have yards for dogs to be locked in etc etc. We were unaware of the over protective nature of the dogs when we weren’t home and the neighbors brought it to our attention and told us they had been feeding the dogs chicken and bones we were none to happy about this only out of fear to a bait attack, we accepted that the neighbors feeding our dogs helped the relationship and retrained them to only expect food for 2 fences and peace has been restored all the dogs bark it something you live with living in an urban area. try talking to owner again ask to meet the dog and suggest a bone or something it may help.

I don’t know if this will help, but this website seems extremely comprehensive in terms of dealing with dog barking, although the legal stuff may be geared slightly more to the US.

http://barkingdogs.net/persuadeneighhead.shtml

Where is the “Like” button?

The occasional dead cat, lobbed over the fence will shut them up for hours. Drop me a line if you need any.

The dog diary thing does nothing. I’ve spoken to the owners, submitted dog diaries, written a letter of complaint, and when somebody else in the street also complained I replied in the affirmative to the official letter asking for supporting evidence from neighbours.

Nothing ever happened. The dogs yelp and bark and howl as much as they ever did. They howl until 1-2am in the morning most nights, or start a barking session with the other half-dozen untrained dogs in the area. I’ve taken to wearing ear plugs at night.

The urban services department is useless. I don’t blame the dogs either; I blame the thoughtless owners who buy a dog (typically for their kids) and never bother training, disciplining, or caring for them. The dogs are probably half insane from lack of attention.

madamcholet said :

Thanks Amanda Hugankis.

Tooks – I do believe I provided a precis of my efforts with the neighbour. He does not really want to believe that she barks, insists that if he is walking up the street and does hear her that she “knows he is coming and gets excited”, even though he shouts at her to “shut up”. He won’t try Bark Busters as they are too expensive – $400 for them to work with your dog as long as there is a problem. He won’t buy a collar as they cost $350 a week to hire (???), and has an “email number” for someone in America who will sell a collar for $5.

Hence why my question wasn’t directed at you or anyone in particular.

Amanda Hugankis said :

Why should the poster, who was previously living in their house apparently without issue, spend their OWN money or turn their lives upside down to solve the problem?

My point is this – in real life, there are problems that don’t go away until you walk away.

Polarizing arguments are great if you host a website that exists on the back of petty social bickering about who’s right and who’s wrong. Cyclists not following road rules or drivers not noticing cyclists or smokers not disposing of their butts or people not indicating and drving in the fog with no headlights or police parking in no parking zones…

In these situations it’s fun to watch Clown Killer and WMC waste hours of their life, both too proud or too stupid to quit a fight that can never be won. Both left broken and scraping together what small remenants of their dignity lie scattered across around internet. But it’s fun because it’s make believe and no one gets hurt because it never really mattered anyway and everyone just turns off the computer an goes back to watching old episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

But in real life, polarizing issues between neighbours will ruin your life if you don’t know when to walk away.

Just ask these guys in Newcastle. But you can’t. Because they’re dead.

Now that’s the extreme, but really – you put dollar sign next to the wasted hours the OP has spent trying to change the unchangeable. Now add the cost of losing two years off her life expectancy and the cost of surgery for her rapidly developing ulcer.

Now go and get a glass of water to wash the nasty taste of foot out of your mouth.

I wonder if your son as a baby ever cried and your neighbours heard? Does he play out the front and make noise? Do your neighbours complain? Did they bait him? Did the kidnap him or request that you de-cry him? You live in a shared space, if you can’t adapt move to the country. Neighbourhood kids playing in the street and making noise drive me crazier than a barking dog ever would, but I tolerate it, because thats what happens when you live in an urban environment. Get over it.

Gertel – does the Greyhound have to wear a muzzle in the ACT. I saw that episode too and they seem like lovely animals!

Yes I had someone complain years ago about my dog, she only barked for a reason, someone was stealing our pump for the pool, this happened twice, so I guess I know who complained, as to the other problem just throw a big bone over the fence, that will keep the dog busy for hours.

Pommy bastard said :

Ok, log all the complaints, and record the dogs barking.

Set up a good sized sound system with the highest wattage you can muster, (Lemmy has one you may like to borrow.)

Wait until the neighbours go to bed.

Play the barking back at x 100 the volume.

Await police.

I like this one, but get a recording of Stanhopes latest dribble in the assembly, then play that back instead, cops will turn up quicker, I guarantee.

When we were looking to get another dog last year (RIP Ted the kelpie) I saw a story on Better Homes & Gardens about greyhounds – who essentially don’t bark.

We now have two beautiful ex-racing greyhounds from http://www.gapnsw.org.au/ and they only bark if they get really excited (possum) – and only briefly – they spend most of the day asleep.

It’s a shame they aren’t more widely know about as great pets – it would mean a lot less annoyed neighbours and many saved lives for these beautiful creatures.

Chk-chk-boom.

Been there, done that, tried everything.
A knobhead of a dog owner will do nothing, the *legal* processes available are a complete waste of your time and do nothing but add to your aggravation levels.

We got Magnatite (sp?) windows installed. Problem gone.

Tooks said :

How many people actually go to the neighbour’s house and talk to them about the problem before complaining through official channels? Surely that should be the first step, especially since the dog owner may not be aware their dog barks when they are left alone.

I read through 26 comments before coming to the most logical one. I have lived near homes with problem dogs. Two Rottweiler’s which were quite vicious, a staffy next door to me now which is a bit of a barker, a chocolate labrador behind me which is also a barker. The one thing I have always done is spoken to the neighbours. When the people moved in next door with the staffy, we found she barked a lot when they weren’t home. I went next door, introduced myself and told them that they dog was barking a lot while they weren’t there and that I would rather approach them than to whinge and moan and build up resentment behind their backs of which they wouldn’t even be aware. I asked if I could meet the dog. No problem. Met the dog, she knows me now, knows my voice and shuts up when I tell her to do so. We don’t hear her very much at all any more and still have a good relationship with our neighbours.

dog knappers.

What? People who make flint stone tools out of dogs?

lol Thunmper. An archaeological pun. Such a rare treasure!

@#37 – I think the poster is saying this dog barks excessively … not just that it barks.

Now that all the fireworks are banned, i thought that these sorts of issues would just disappear. As we cant stop them barking i suggest we simply ban all dogs and impose fines upon people having illegal dogs.

Buzz2600 said :

Two words…..dog knappers. There seems to be a spate of dog knappings in Canberra, you might get lucky.

Dog knapping sounds just as harsh as de-barking, and less effective.

64 stitches. Holy crap!!! Damn good thing it was the owner and not someones kid. I’d be pretty concerned too if I had a 2 year old child.

Surely you should be able to compel the RE agent to at least fix the fence if the dog is so vicious!

This may or may not help – we tried everything (note to neighbours with our contact details so they knew it was from us, spoke to them directly on 2 or 3 occasions, that horrible diary thing that goes nowhere) without much success. It was eventually resolved when the owner came back to Canberra and put the house on the market, forcing the neighbours to move out.

However, it turns out some of the longer term neighbours knew the owner of the place (he was living in Darwin), so when he did come back he told us we should have asked them for his contact details and got in touch with him directly to let him know that there was a problem – he would have been more than happy to get the agent looking after the property to act.

In fact, he was so apologetic that he helped me clean up the front garden while he had a skip bin on hand – sure I knew it was going to benefit him in trying to sell his place, but I like to think it was out of guilt, even just a little….

So maybe ask around and see if anyone knows the actual owners? Worth a shot.

And for what it’s worth – when we approached the dog owner in person with a perfectly polite request to see if he could do anything, he was pretty aggressive and threatened to shoot the dog in front of his young kids. Total douche bag.

nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Interesting – $400 is too much for HIM to pay to fix the problem, but some people here think you should spend that and more to fix a problem that is not of your own making. I like Pommy Bastard’s idea – taste of own medicine and all that. But you can bet ur granny’s socks that police would be round knocking on your door to issue you with a public nuisance warning.

Two words…..dog knappers. There seems to be a spate of dog knappings in Canberra, you might get lucky.

We had a couple of issues with our dogs and our neighbours’ dogs working each other up a bit. But as mentioned by Tooks above, we spoke about it and found ways around it. Yes, our dogs bark at the neighbours dogs and vice versa but we both (if we hear it I guess) tell them to be quiet and they know to be quiet then. Both of us also walk our dogs every day, give them bones, keep them inside when we are home and sleep them inside, so at least there is no barking during the night. These strategies have really worked well for us and I am sure they would work for others too. Although it does sound like madamcholet’s neighbours are not as lovely as mine, so maybe the solutions would not be as easy.

In the end if there is a welfare issue for the animal it can be addressed on that front otherwise I’ve been told that repeated complaints to TAMS, recordings, diarising and generally being a nuisence to TAMS has worked for some people.

best of luck

Thanks Amanda Hugankis.

Tooks – I do believe I provided a precis of my efforts with the neighbour. He does not really want to believe that she barks, insists that if he is walking up the street and does hear her that she “knows he is coming and gets excited”, even though he shouts at her to “shut up”. He won’t try Bark Busters as they are too expensive – $400 for them to work with your dog as long as there is a problem. He won’t buy a collar as they cost $350 a week to hire (???), and has an “email number” for someone in America who will sell a collar for $5.

If you love your dog, (and who doesn’t), then you would try to do what you can.

As a postscript – intrigued by the number of posters who said TAMS do nothing, I called Animal services to find out what happens next in the process. Basically she couldn’t and wouldn’t tell me. I was trying to make the point that as the person submitting the complaint I have should have a right to know their process and how long I wait before I complain again. They didn’t even tell me originally when to start the dog diary – I had to ascertain that from them myself in case I got the dates wrong and it ended up being invalid.

All I can say is that the ACT Gov has them well trained.

If the problem is next door, something like this might help.
http://www.dogmaster.com.au/shop/item/stop-dog-barking—super-bark-stop-003

How many people actually go to the neighbour’s house and talk to them about the problem before complaining through official channels? Surely that should be the first step, especially since the dog owner may not be aware their dog barks when they are left alone.

Stick some fireworks up their arse.
The neighbours that is.

troll-sniffer said :

When I were a lad I cured the barking dog next door, but my methods required vigilance and persistence.

Clod throwing etc.

Hope this helps, worked wonders for me.

Also works with flashbangs.

Why should the poster, who was previously living in their house apparently without issue, spend their OWN money or turn their lives upside down to solve the problem? They are not at fault for the barking dog – the owners are. Moving house and purchasing expensive soundproofing (which requires the windows to be shut) all because of someone’s refusal to do something about their dog barking, is just unreasonable and unfair. As for buying the house next door in order to solve the problem – is Bloodnut right in the head?

My suspicion is that Bloodnut just loves to give people fingerwagging, tongue clicking, headshaking lectures about how well they’ve managed to adapt to a shitty situation, and that anyone who is not like them is to be held in derisive contempt. Right on, Champ! Sounds like you work at TAMS.

Get a friend to clap you on both of your ears simultaneously and very hard.

The dogs barking will never disturb you again.

When I were a lad I cured the barking dog next door, but my methods required vigilance and persistence.

As soon as I heard the dog start barking, I would grab a dirt clod as silently as possible and throw it in an arc to land somewhere near the barking offender. now dogs do not like the thought of standing somewhere and having mysterious things falling from an empty sky, so generally they take a bit of fright and stop barking for a few moments while they assess the situation. As soon as they think there are no more surprises, they start barking again. And that’s when you immediately lob another dirt clod in their direction. After a few weeks all I had to do was gently open the rear door when I heard barking and I wouldn’t hear a peep until something genuine caused the dog to bark.

It was important to select soil clods as they could cause no harm to property nor the animal in question.

It was also important to differentiate between the mindless attention-seeking barking and a genuine bark at something, if the dog is responding to a passer-by, let it bark until the intruder has moved on before lobbing a clod.

Hope this helps, worked wonders for me.

Eye for an eye, ey? Some of the comments make me just shake my head in disbelief… Is this the society I live in, are you guys my neighbours, line up in the supermarket queue behind me, walk past me in the mall, or sit next to me in a cafe? That thought creeps me out.

Or you could poison the owners.

now, that’s some good advice…

that, or get a cat from the rspca and throw that over the fence when barking commences – should keep it quite for while; quite pre-occupied, i’d imagine… 🙂

In the end it comes down to my overall cure all: Land mines.
Land mines can fix all manner of issues.

Got a noisey dog? Just chuck it a few land mines and that will take care of it.
Neighbours getting on your goat? Stash a couple of land mines on their door step and the issue will resolve itself.
Too much junk mail? A land mine in the letter box will stop all mail issues.
Traffic in your street too fast? Land mines will slow them down.
Got a flat tyre? Bung a land mine in there and you’ll have no more tyre problems, and as a bonus any issues with your wheel, brakes, and axle will dissapeer rapidly.
And don’t get me started on how quickly land mines can get rid of mould, grime and grease!

Yep, there’s nothing land mines can’t fix. They are so versitile! No wonder they make so many of them and they sell so cheaply. Plus there’s so many of them just laying around waiting to be reused for whatever purposes you need. Talk about doing your bit for recycling.

Err, yes, it is a Friday. 😉

My next door neighbour’s dogs do this, except they have four – not just one.

Whether it’s parties, freeways, dogs, children, band practice…. you live in a shared space full of noises. One day, when your son is older, he will likely annoy the shit out of other neighbours. So be tolerant – that way you won’t seem like such an astonished hypocrite, when at some point in the future, someone takes offence at something you thought was totally reasonable.

In the interim – you should focus on problems you can control. There are a range of low to high cost solutions available to you.

Relocate to the country.
Make an offer on the property next door and get new tenants in.
Soundproofing – buy new doors and get double glazing on the windows in your main living and sleeping areas.
Negotiate with the landlord to share the cost of improving the integrity of your fence line
Buy earplugs.
Grow tolerance.
Wait for them to move.

So many solutions that start and end with you, none of which involve the uncontrollable elements that live next door.

But you probably won’t do any of this, as my suspicion is that you – like most suburbanites – just love to instigate some good old fashioned neighbourly drama. It alleviates the boredom of your overly domesticated life.

Ok, log all the complaints, and record the dogs barking.

Set up a good sized sound system with the highest wattage you can muster, (Lemmy has one you may like to borrow.)

Wait until the neighbours go to bed.

Play the barking back at x 100 the volume.

Await police.

I’m there with Inappropriate. I had a yappy dog (since deceased), and had several unsigned notes from irrate neighbours.
Dogs generally bark because they’re bored or lonely.

If the neighbour doesn’t care, maybe you can take the active solution and walk the dog to try to wear him out. Unlikely to happen I know, because then you’re responsible for the dogs safety.
Dog anti-bark collars work, but if the neighbour doesn’t care, again, you’re out of luck.
De-barking is cruel and dangerous. And expensive for the neighbour. Cuts into their beer money.
Ultrasonic over-the-fence gizmos didn’t work on my dogs. Just confused him, and made him bark at it.
Marrow bones are a good solution, until you neighbour accuses you of trying to bait his dog. Marrow bones will actually wear out a dog.
Tams is useless. They don’t care. They’re just there to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

Best solution – either adapt, move or buy a good pair of earplugs.

As someone who had a noisy dog that made the neighbours complain: TAMS did nothing. All I got was a letter informing me that someone had made a complaint and that they would be monitoring the situation, but nothing came of it.

In the end though, I got rid of the dog as she was better off elsewhere and not cooped up in a backyard all day.

Two words – Air Rifle.

De-barking a dog sounds kinda harsh to me…

I own a dog that likes to defend his territory (Mostly when we’re not there).
We got an amazingly cheap and tacky ultrasonic bark-stop collar of eBay. To my surprise it actually seems to work quite well. We only put it on him when we need him to shaddap (e.g. going out at night), because the low build quality has let it with a bit of a hair trigger.

_Maybe_ the dog’s owners would permit you to get one of these for their dog, but it sounds like this is not going to be a viable option.

OTOH, there are similar ultrasonic over-the-fence gizmos that look like birdhouses. Can’t say how effective they are or whether there might be legal/cruelty issues. I doubt it’s considered “cruel” as it’s very similar the audio-collar that vets prescribe (Anyway, seems less cruel than de-barking IMHO).

Joker said :

Buy a bag of marrow bones and chuck one over the fence occasionally. That should shut it up.

I really like this answer. Practical, not cruel, reasonably cheap, and if you work at your interaction with the dog you might even be able to train it to shut up without the bribe.

Or you could poison the owners.

We’ve had similar problems, which we thought were finally over when the old dog died of natural causes. The neighbour then became highly abusive and accused us of killing the dog! We’ve been on great terms ever since! (As much as I may have felt like it at times, I would never kill a dog.)

Anyway – they went straight out and replaced it with an equally stupid barking dog, which they weren’t there to hear 95% of the time.

We did the same as you and submitted a complaint. They did come around to check and, after a long wait, sent us a letter saying that nobody else had a problem with it. Extremely frustrating. We’re just very lucky they finally realised how bored and neglected their pet was and they gave it away.

So on the one hand it’s good that there is a complaints process – but good luck with getting any result out of it.

Buy a bag of marrow bones and chuck one over the fence occasionally. That should shut it up.

I’ve also had this problem. I’ve made multiple complaints, submitted multiple dog barking diaries and the lousy Queanbeyan Council does stuff all because to do so will cost money to take the dog owner to court. I found out the neighbour’s number and used to ring them up to ask them to please quiten down their dog. That didn’t work either because they’d just abuse me and let their dog continue barking. Other neighbours used to yell at this neighbour over the fence and more than the occasional firework were thrown over their fence. I myself felt tempted to do something akin to that, but retrained myself.

Really, the only options to resolve the issue in the end are the illegal ones. Since I’m law abiding, after three years of complaints the damn dog down the street is still barking it’s head off. Though I’m definetly not advocating it, I realise why people resort to poisioning dogs or dognapping them and dumping them in the bush.

I just try ignore the thing and live in the hope and knowledge that dogs live shorter lives than humans and eventually the bugger will die. Pity thye neighbours won’t.

I don’t hate much in life, but yeah, things that deprive me of sleep occasionally get put on my list.

Leave a box of snail bait by the letter box?

Seriously, as a dog(s) owner, if they were causing neighbiours grief, i would have them de-barked.

Kill them all

We have the same problem with next doors two dogs, We cant walk out our back door without the dogs going off, The owners never tell them to be quite. Someone has complained to the government as we recieved a letter in the post asking if we had any issues with the noise from the dogs, I replied that i did and that it was a real concern etc, 6 months later nothing has changed.

I’ve always wondered how dog owners are the only ones that can’t hear their dogs incessant barking.
I’ve tried official complaints, un-official complaints, un-subtle hints, threats to owners, threats to animals…… none seem to work.
Good luck.