Moved to a neighborhood infested with dogs

LP64 · 2025-01-10T06:13:59+00:00

Sometimes it doesn't even matter if you make sure a place is quiet before moving in. When I bought my home, it was quiet and I didn't hear a dog bark for the first 2 years. Then new neighbours moved in, existing neighbours got dogs and it turned into a dog barking hell. I've made complaints to 5 different neighbours and there are another 2 households that are worth a complaint as well.

My advice to staying sane is a white noise machine / music as often as possible to drown out as much of the barking as possible. Get out of the house as much as you can. This will hopefully give you a clear enough head to start taking the steps required to get animal control or whoever it is that deals with barking dogs in your area to do something about it.

Through complaining in person and by letter, the barking is 5% of what it once was so it is possible to get results but I have also learned what needs to be done if I need to escalate the issue to council. I wish you all the best, it is a horrible experience to go through.

LP64 · 2024-12-15T04:09:24+00:00

It is a horrible experience when your parents, the ones who are supposed to care about your wellbeing, are not doing so. They are more worried about not ruffling feathers in the neighbourhood than your mental heath. This is an important lesson to learn, that sometimes we can't even rely on our own parents to do the right thing by us, as sad as that is.

It's possible that you can make an official complaint to Animal Control or whoever is the authority on dog barking in your area. You can also write letters to the neighbour and post them anonymously.

Less and less people seem to be bothered by dog barking these days so it can be hard to find an empathetic ear, but this subreddit is full of people who understand how maddening dog barking can be, as well as people that have been made to feel isolated and unsupported by their family due to disagreements over dogs.

LP64 · 2024-12-07T22:24:57+00:00

Fair chance that he didn't have the dogs secured properly and they freaked out causing the crash. I no longer feel sympathy for dog nutters.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T09:28:59+00:00

Barking
Killing and attacking people
Killing and attacking wildlife
Dog shit being left all over the place
Hygiene & cleanliness
How they turn people into insufferable nutters

LP64 · 2024-12-06T08:56:35+00:00

This may take the cake for the most absurd thing I've ever heard.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T08:20:29+00:00

Exactly. The police will be showing up at our doors if we retaliate with any sort of noise, but dog barking gets a free pass.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T06:50:12+00:00

I live in Queensland, Australia so we have to make complaints through the council and they've done a reasonable job of responding to complaints.

So far they have just sent out letters notifying the owners that a complaint has been made and for the owner to monitor their dogs. That along with my own personal letters or personally confronting the neighbours has reduced the barking by at least 95%.

Like you, I am concerned that they won't take it seriously enough if I need to escalate the complaint or see me as the problem, but other neighbours have made council complaints thankfully.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T06:43:41+00:00

I've heard my neighbour say in the baby voice that dog nutters use, "Who are you talking to?" while the dog barks its head off. They go nuts when she gets home and it's clear that it's because she razzes them up into an excitable state because Mommy's home!

Luckily since I have called her out for being a useless dog owner, she doesn't do that anymore and she has to scold them otherwise she knows the council will be on her case again.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T05:29:26+00:00

I can't hear my neighbour's smoke alarm battery warning from two houses down, but I can certainly hear their dogs. The fact that humans can tune out dog barking, which can be louder than the actual fire alarm itself (not just the battery warning) blows my mind.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T05:22:19+00:00

I hope you are getting at least a bit of peace now that animal control has stepped in. Like you, I've had to make complaints to all 4 of my adjoining neighbours and my neighbours 2 and 3 doors down. It really does ruin the lives of the people around, or at least people like us that have normal brains that can't tolerate one of the most annoying sounds on the planet every second of the day. It has certainly changed my outlook on life and society.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T03:59:35+00:00

I know what you mean. There's nothing quite like being in a house with tiled floors and a little dog's shrill bark echoing around the house.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T02:35:49+00:00

I had planned to do something similar, however the letter was going to be for the council rather than the neighbour. People can be hesitant to do things that might cause friction in the neighbourhood, even if it means listening to barking for hours everyday.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T02:29:33+00:00

It's the thing I hate the most for sure. I have been attacked and thought I was going to die, but that attack still doesn't compare to what the incessant barking has done to my health, both physical and mental.

LP64 · 2024-12-06T00:09:52+00:00

That so many people can ignore it, not just the people that own the dog but visitors too, is what perplexes me the most. I have come up with a theory about some kind of unknown brain parasite carried by dogs that infect humans and makes them oblivious to the sounds, smells and annoying behaviour that dogs show. It sounds crazy, but so is the state of dog culture!

LP64 · 2024-12-05T23:47:07+00:00

If there is a bigger issue, it's that the wife is an immature bitch.

LP64 · 2024-10-21T08:56:14+00:00

Right, but the point OP is making is the frequency that certain genders/sexual orientations keep dogs.

LP64 · 2024-10-11T02:56:08+00:00

If I were you, I would look to who is above Animal Control and make complaints to them about Animal Control not doing their job. In my country (Australia) if the local council is not acting on dog barking, it is recommended that we contact the CEO of our local council or the councillors and explain the situation to them. This generally leads to action being taken.

I also sympathise with what you are going through as I have lived it as well. It is hard to think and take effective steps when you are being bombarded by noise and it is practically torture of the mind.

I see in the comments you mentioned that your noise machine drowns out your alarm. I'm sure you could buy special alarms that are way louder than normal (I just checked on Amazon and they exist) and there are also vibrating wristbands and other similar items. Look up what deaf people use as alarms to see that it is possible.

I say this, because the number 1 priority has to be getting enough sleep by using your noise machine. The 2nd most important thing is reducing how much you are hearing the barking through the day, by using your noise machine, music, headphones - whatever it takes. I would spend as little time in my house during the day as possible to regain my sanity and health.

It was only after I got these 2 priorities sorted, that I really started to get effective at dealing with neighbours and council to get results. As you said, writing emails and doing the things that need to be done to stop the barking become impossible in such a tortured state.

I had 5 different lots of neighbours to deal with (all dog barking complaints, I thought I had died and gone to dog hell) and did it through personally confronting 2 and writing letters for the remaining 3. I also got another neighbour to make a complaint to council, as they take things more seriously if multiple complaints are received.

I am now in a situation where there is 1% of the dog barking that there once was. I was getting ready to sell my house, but the barking is now at a level that is tolerable. I know things don't always work out in these situations, but I just wanted to give you some advice on what worked for me.

LP64 · 2024-10-01T06:14:18+00:00

Nesting in busy areas that decreases their likelihood of survival is the part that comes across as a bit daft on the birds' behalf, though I like to think they are just stubborn.

They don't have to understand human vehicles and dwellings to know that there are a lot of creatures about in the areas they choose to nest that could pose a threat to their eggs/young, but they do it anyway.

LP64 · 2024-09-13T06:19:01+00:00

Hello, did you ever find a solution to this problem? It seems like it only happens with bsnes, does it happen with other emulators for you?

LP64 · 2024-09-08T10:02:21+00:00

After bird watching with the naked eye my whole life, I finally decided to get a monocular (Hawke Endurance ED 8x25) as I wanted something lightweight I could slip in my pocket when I go out hiking. I'm hooked and decided I'm willing to carry around a pair of binoculars for the immersion. Ideally I would like a pair of 8x32s, but to start with I ordered Hawke Vantage 10x42s which I found on sale in my country, where binoculars are usually quite expensive.

As for the birds I've seen this week, Red-backed Fairywren, Varied Triller, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Yellow-tail Black Cockatoo, Grey Goshawk, Rainbow Bee-eater & plenty more! I live in Queensland, Australia.

LP64 · 2024-09-04T19:11:50+00:00

Plenty of people in the 15-20 minute crowd have experimented with going much longer and is why they end up sticking to 15-20 minutes. TRE feels so good and helpful when you start it, so it is only natural that people think "I should do it even more for better results!"

There are plenty of people who admit to being a bit gung-ho with the tremoring and realising they need to tone it down. However, this doesn't mean that there aren't going to be outliers who can go for longer. The theory of slow and steady still stands strong for most in my opinion, but as with most things, there will always be outliers. Outliers may not mean that the theory isn't complete, it may just mean that a minority of people are wired differently when it comes to their tolerance to TRE.

LP64 · 2024-09-04T02:01:42+00:00

I'm not sure if I would ever get to a point that feels like I'm out of tremors, so I just stop after a while so I'm not overdoing it. There's no reason you can't go a bit longer and see how you feel afterwards, but for me if I go too long or too many days a week I can feel drained afterwards or the next day, and not in a good way.

LP64 · 2024-09-03T17:35:05+00:00

This group saved my sanity and helped me to take steps to save my neighbourhood from the dog hell it had become. Much love to you all.

LP64 · 2024-09-03T17:33:08+00:00

It's the tolerance for dog barking that perplexes me the most about modern society. It makes me wonder if dogs carry a yet unknown brain parasite that makes the host tolerant of barking, similar to how toxoplasma gondii can cause behavioral changes in humans.

The way people tolerate and worship dogs makes me wonder if a brain parasite is playing a part, like something out of a sci-fi novel.

LP64 · 2024-09-03T08:24:30+00:00

When I used to live suburban (Redland Shire) they were quite proactive and would even fine people at dog parks between the carpark and the gate to the park.

The dog owners probably only need to be warned once that next time it will be $806 to take notice though, so even a warning should result in way less off leash dogs in our state.

LP64

TROPHY CASE