would you be mad if your neighbor

put up one of those machines that make your dog stop barking ?

1 of my dogs doesnt want to go outside anymore. the 2 of them would go outside and play together, they bark minimal so I thought maybe she is just still adjusting to the baby. well I was changing my curtains and I see this device on their ac unit facing my house. so I got binoculars looked up the name and found out its to stop barking by sending out sounds when the dog barks. Now our homes are very close and it says it works up to 50 feet.

so DH called the ASPCA and told them how the dog is behaving and they told us to get a lawyer.

what would you do?

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

I'd be mad b/c it is very obvious that I make a lot of effort to make sure that my dog does not bother anyone. My neighbors all know how concerned DH and I are. We even make sure it is okay before the dog goes out to watch my neighbor do her gardening (he loves to stay by the fence and just stare).

If you are also doing things like this, then your neighbor should consider the fact that your dog is on your property, that you are allowed to have pets and that maybe, just maybe they are not so perfect themselves!!!!!

Message edited 9/24/2007 1:43:59 AM.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

I would be mad. There is NO WAY that another person should have any say in how you train/treat your dogs. That is just absurd.

I do have a question though; Did they ever approach you to let you know they had an issue with the barking? Did they just do this out of the blue?

I would google the product they are using and find out everything that you can about it. In any event it is a device for the intent to alter your dog's behaviour, and without your knowledge or permission. I would indeed get a lawyer and look into getting a cease & desist order for them using this device (if that is a possibility).

On a side note, I personally would have been so angry that I probably would have taken it & thrown it through their window, but that's just me. (definitely not the right thing to do)

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Hi ladies, thank you.
Our dogs do not bark just to bark and are not annoying with their bark.
they bark when they play but thats a different kind of bark and they bark if they hear someone- to protect. They are not barking and barking how I could see that would be a problem. We make a conscious effort to make sure if they do start to just bark bring them inside.

They never said anything to us, I just saw it out of the blue.
The funny thing is they used to be friendly- then the husband got really weird. we are talking about someone who would come over right away to chat when you are out to someone who wont look your way now for a couple of months. My DH said wow thats weird? and then we find that device.

We looked it up it is called Life S Good.
It is used to train dogs on behavior and barking. I am ****** b/c we certainly want our dogs to protect our home and this is interfering.

oh we had thoughts of breaking it and DH is going to say something. This guy is a city cop and 1 of my friends in wantagh had a neighbor like this and they used their profession to call the town and make trouble for them.
This morning I dont see it but Im wondering where it is now on their property.

and on a side note- their son who is really bad- they take him out at 7 am anyday of the week to cry and scream outside waking up the neighborhood. now my bedroom window is on that side of their front door and I hear it , in fact it has waken my DD, DH and myself many many morning for almost a year now and we have never said anything cause its a child. But now Im wondering should I?
they obviously wanted us to see this device they didnt hide it at all.
I cant stand people sometimes. they are new 3 years now, young, we have had them over many times for bbq's, parties, they just changed overnight so weird.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

I have to be honest- I'm not sure you're totally in the right here. Do the dogs bark outside? What you may deem "minimal" may not be for others. To actually go and buy a device is extreme- I can't imagine doing it unless they felt there was reason to. Perhaps they bought the device figuring it would save them the trouble of having a possible confrontation with you.

The reason I say this is because my neighbors in my old house would let their dog outside at all hours and the little guy would bark like crazy. When we finally said something, they didn't seem to think it was that bad- whereas, it's all I heard all day, every day. It turns out, my livingroom and bedroom faced their backyard, while they spent most of their time on the other side of their house.

Honestly, if I was less educated on the matter (those devices aren't painful, but they can be frightening to a sensitive dog)and unable to tune it out, I might have bought a device as well.

The same argument about it being your property and your dog should be allowed to bark applies to your neighbor as well- he is entitled to use a device on his property that ensures him peace and quiet.

I can't see that there are any laws being broken considering they are using a device that's legal to buy. Rather than getting angry and potentially causing yourself future headaches, perhaps talk to the neighbor about why they feel the need to use such a device. Explain that it's frightening your dog and see if there is a solution. Maybe putting the dogs outside to play when they aren't home, or just realizing that you may not be hearing your dogs bark as much as they are.

Good luck

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

I posted while you were responding....

You say your dogs don't have an annoying bark and when they play it's a "different" kind of bark. A bark is a bark. It seems that maybe their change in friendliness might be because of the barking.

You mentioned a baby- maybe the barking wakes the baby up and that's why they got the device. And maybe that's why the device was moved today-perhaps they put the device up when the baby is sleeping?

You should just ask about it.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Hi Amy, thanks for posting. Its hard to explain the bark- but no they dont bark bark bark ..................... I would never let them. I do have neighbors on the other side of me who do let their dogs bark and bark and I bring mine in so they dont chime in with the other dogs.
when they play its not really a bark but a playful sound thats not loud.

but I see your point. thanks

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Maybe your neighbor's dogs are the reason for the device then- and your poor puppies are caught in the crossfire.

Either way, it's a stinky situation-dealing with neighbors who may or may not be receptive.

Good luck again!

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

I looked up the device they use (Good Life) and found this:

Will the Dog Silencer Pro eliminate all barking?
The Dog Silencer Pro is specifically designed to stop dogs from nuisance barking – constant barking due to boredom. The Dog Silencer Pro is designed to have no effect on instinctual or protective barking so you will still have an effective guard dog. In the case of hearing impairment or old age, some dogs may not be affected by the sounds simply because they cannot hear them.

At least you know it won't affect their guarding capabilities.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

to be totally honest here....

obviously your dogs barking bothers them.
what you say is playful minimal barking is different to someone who doesnt have dogs.
your dogs barking annoyed them enough to go out and buy this thing.... so i find it hard to believe your dogs barely bark.

BUT....
i think they should have most definatly spoke to you first. its kind of ridiculous that they went and bought that before asking you to keep them quiet.
maybe they didnt want to get into an arguement with you since tehy have to live next to you and are trying to somewhat keep it harmonious?

they obviously didnt want to tell you about it, and werent planning on your spying on them with your bonoculours.

i would talk to them before paying for a lawyor.

also, that thing is only suppose to stop nosense barking, not protective barking

Message edited 9/24/2007 11:57:16 AM.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Posted by Jesaroo

to be totally honest here....

obviously your dogs barking bothers them.
what you say is playful minimal barking is different to someone who doesnt have dogs.
your dogs barking annoyed them enough to go out and buy this thing.... so i find it hard to believe your dogs barely bark.

BUT....
i think they should have most definatly spoke to you first. its kind of ridiculous that they went and bought that before asking you to keep them quiet.
maybe they didnt want to get into an arguement with you since tehy have to live next to you and are trying to somewhat keep it harmonious?

they obviously didnt want to tell you about it, and werent planning on your spying on them with your bonoculours.

i would talk to them before paying for a lawyor.

also, that thing is only suppose to stop nosense barking, not protective barking

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

perhpas the use of the word "spying" was incorrect on my behalf, sorry. i guess i just saw that you had binos and i was like 'huh'. so forget about that.

i understand there are alot of kids on your block, but kids and dogs make totally different sounds.

fact is, alot of people are irritated by the sound of dogs barking.

i dont for one second think you let your dogs carry on and make a ruckous... i am just saying it is obviously really annoying them if they went as far as to put that out.

i looked it up and one of those gadgets is even advertised by saying "neighbors dogs always barking?" which i thought was very odd.

since your cousin is a lwyor that definatly helps on your account, but i would maybe even just take a walk next door and ask them about it. i mean, id talk to your cousin first, but it maye be easy enough to resolve having a conversation with them.

hope it works out.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

I would, definitely, check out the legality of this. It is legal to buy and use on your own dogs, but, it seems to me, that it crosses a line when it is being used on someone else's dogs. I have three dogs and can't stand when they bark for no reason. It drives me right up the wall. However, it does not appear to me that your dogs are just barking for the heck of it and causing a disturbance. I think these people have a h*ll of a lot of nerve. No one knows what the long term effects are and if your dogs are getting shocked every time they bark, they will soon stop barking all together. Wouldn't you stop a certain behaviour if, every time you did it, you were hurt? After I found out what my rights are regarding this, I would approach these people and let them know exactly where I stood. I know this sounds mean, but, dogs are considered property under the law. These people are encroaching on your property. I don't see how this would be any different than if they went into your car and ripped out your horn because they didn't like the sound of it. Neighbors. Some can be real PITA.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

i would be infuriated.

If you live in the suburbs, people have dogs. dogs bark. such is life.

if they are barking during the day, tough poop. If its 5am thats another story, but if its not breaking any noice ordinances, dogs barking is a part of life!

I would talk to the neighbor and tell them to stop using it.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

None of us is there to analyze how much barking is going on, so why are we not accepting at face value that the OP's dogs do not bark all day? Haven't we all been in the situation and seen posts on here about people being blamed for their dogs when it was not their dogs? My dachshund has been blamed for a poop on the lawn of someone on the next block just because they saw me walk past there. The poop was bigger than he is, I have never not cleaned a poop and I carry 2 different types of bags for the job!

We also have the situation here where there is a chain reaction in the neighborhood. One dog barks and the rest of the dogs start. Our houses are not even that close together but it happens. I still pull Oscar inside so that he does not prolong the situation. Thankfully, our neighbors kinda like Oscar, everyone likes him except those people on the next block who think that a dachshund can sh-t an elephant.

I guess I would talk to the neighbor. that is what my DH would want to do. After that, I'd consider putting something in writing.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

wait, i just reread and saw that it is gone now......

and you said earlier that it was right in the open and they were not trying to hide it....

maybe they took it out of teh garage to lend to someone or something?

are you even sure its on?

if its gone now i wouldnt worry about it.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

We have one of these in our window.

We have sopken to the neighbors, who have a Border Collie.

He barks at every single squirrel.

I do not need to be awoken at 4am.

There is a noise ordinance and they are breaking it. I have a dog - when he barks to come in the house, I let him in.

My other neighbor, to whom we have spoken in the past, lets his dogs out at 4 am and they will bark for half an hour to go in the house. When I tried to speak to them, the man got agressive and threatening. I was calm and polite.

Yes we have this in our window, and it works on the border collie but not the other dog.

I spoke with a cop about it - he said next time the dog is barking at 4,5 or 6am to call the cops, and call every single time. And I will.

The signal sent out does NOT hurt your dog. And it is not illegal.

Keep control over your barking dogs and you shouldn't have any problems. Sorry, I am on your neighbor's side as I have been in this situation myself (obviously) -- and it's worse now that I have a baby.

PS I happen to love dogs. It's the owners that I am not crazy about!

Message edited 9/24/2007 4:47:42 PM.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

kara.... where did you buy yours?

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

cool. thanks. im interested in getting one.

Re: would you be mad if your neighbor

I would be ******. They could have at least tried to talk to you.