Neighbor's barking dog!

I live in a condo that is a converted apt building (so somewhat shoddy/cheap construction). My neighbor got a dog recently, which is fine... I like dogs, my family has 2. But when she leaves she locks it in a spare bedroom and it barks and whines nonstop until she comes home. This spare bedroom adjoins my spare bedroom, which I use as an office when I work from home/browse GRM/etc. So it's a bit annoying.

I realize the dog is new and it's going to take some time for it to adjust. My question is, how long is reasonable before I have to go talk to the neighbor about it? A week?

Sounds about right.

good luck, similar living arrangement, but upstairs neighbors with a toddler who loves to stomp. ALL DAY LONG.

I won't be any help, other than to agree that you should politely talk to your neighbor about it. I used to live in apartments. Given a choice, always take the top floor. It makes for quiet ceilings and climbing stairs is darn good exercise. Best apartment ever was a 55 and over community. Not sure how I got in since I was in my 20's at the time. It was very peaceful, and I didn't host many loud parties, so we all got along splendidly.

Maybe offer to dog sit when you're working at home since you're used to dogs?

Immediately. They need to know that the dog is having separation issues and deal with them asap. It is not healthy for the dog or for you, and it will get worse if they just lock it up and leave. Besides, why wait until it becomes unbearable?

Just bring her a kong and some peanut butter. Be nice and explain the problem. The kong should help.

WTF is a kong?

Honestly, I'd give it a few weeks. It sounds like the dog has seperation anxiety which isn't uncommon. SA takes a couple weeks to a month to break. Once the dog gets used to her routine, all will be well.

Lesley wrote: WTF is a kong?

It's a rubber dog toy that you can fill with dog treats or peanut butter. Quite effective.

Lesley wrote: WTF is a kong?

It's a dog toy that's semi indestructible and hollow so you can fill it with treats. Keeps the dog busy and quiet.

Our neighbors have a yappy dog that doesn't shut up. Month after month. I can't see their house through the trees, but I can always hear him.

So I countered with this:

She's generally VERY quiet. But, should she decide the time is right, she is deafening.

Nice ass!

Thanks guys! I'm definitely going to suggest a kong, my family's dogs love them. I considered the dogsitting thing but my schedule is not the same all the time so it may disrupt any kind of routine she is trying to get the dog used to. Also I'm pretty sure the neighbors upstairs are going to more disturbed by this, since they are home almost every day.

To be fair... she left the dog for 2 hours on Saturday and it barked the whole time. She did the same thing on Sunday and there were breaks in the barking. So maybe it's getting better already. It's a pretty noisy place with traffic and trains going by all day.

I will definitely mention it to her if I see her though. We've been neighbors for almost 10 years so I don't think she will get all mad or anything.

Not a bad idea. Will see what transpires...

Buy her one of these? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004S5P918/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item

It works off vibration, not shock. I don't like the shock collars, so when I found out about theses I thought I'd give it a shot. I bought one for one of our rescues who only barks at night. It's not here yet, but should be here this week so I'll have a chance to try it out. I hope it works.....i'm so tired of getting up multiple times per night to tell her to shut up.

It's a dog toy that's semi indestructible and hollow so you can fill it with treats. Keeps the dog busy and quiet.

semi being the key word, my dog ate her red kong, had to move up to the black kong.....a guest of my neighbors yelled down to my wife yesterday that we should put a shock collar on my dog because (the guest) did not like her barking, she barks about 6 times a day in the backyard....my wife shouted back something like why dont you come down and we can "talk" about who is going to get a shock collar, she (neighbors guest) went inside, this neighbor happens to have two of those little yappie dogs that bark the whole time they are outside, and we have never said a thing......so i go up and knock on the front door, and they say they are not responsable for their guests actions. i beg to differ.

I heard something about collars that squirt citronella, too.

I'm hoping to avoid yelling...

Shotgun?

pinchvalve wrote: Immediately. They need to know that the dog is having separation issues and deal with them asap. It is not healthy for the dog or for you, and it will get worse if they just lock it up and leave. Besides, why wait until it becomes unbearable?

THIS x100000. People don't understand how bad it really is for the dog. I bet they excite the crap out of the dog as soon as they get home, too, which makes it worse. If you gotta lock up a dog(especially in a new environment), give it something to chew on/keep it busy.

Is she hot?

It hears the bark and sends a sonic "dog only" sound which discourages barking.
Should still work if you keep it on your side of the wall.

No, she's not hot. :)

Looks like this is probably going to go sideways. I heard one of my other neighbors confront her about the barking last night. It was somewhat antagonistic ("Why does your dog bark so much?") and the response was pretty defensive, although she did claim to be working on it. So at least she's aware of the situation. I fully expect there to be at least the threat of a lawsuit by spring. But I would be happy to be wrong.

And now off to Zillow to look for a house. :)

1988RedT2 wrote: Nice ass!

Hahahaha. Sometimes it's the simple things that make me laugh. Deep down I'm like... 12.

Just wanted to post an update on this. I talked to the owner of the dog 2 days ago and she was reasonable about the situation (she must not like our other neighbor) and asked me to let her know if it bothers me. And just this week my work notified me that I have to come in every day again (Thanks Marissa Mayer!) so I haven't really noticed anything.

Last night when I got home the dog was not barking. I had to leave again right away so I didn't get to see if it was temporary or what.

Then this morning I saw the neighbor outside with the dog. She asked if it was barking when I got home the previous day, I said no, and she it broke out of it's cage and that's why, so she is going to try not putting it in the cage now.

And I also met the dog. It's a nasty little thing, half Maltese and half Shih-Tzu. It tried to chomp my hand. But it is a year old, so not a puppy.