Device to Stop Neighbor's Dog from Barking

[planuntilthefisthits]

So my neighbor is a pathological person who is hated by all of the other neighbors. One reason is the neighbor's dog barks continuously, especially when neighbor leaves the house. The neighbor could not care less about the stress on the dog and the other neighbors. We suspect that the neighbor enjoys inflicting pain on us,

So, any effective dog bark training devices that would work across property lines..around 50 feet between homes?

Thanks.

PS: Please don't suggest police or ASPCA. I have a friend who works for the latter, and he says there is nothing they can do. And, I don't want to sue.

 

[TickTock]

As it's the neighbor that's the problem rather than the dog, I'd concentrate there.

Are there any noise ordinances in your neighborhood? If so, try to use them. If not. . . maybe put some focused sonics on the neighbor's property when they're home?

 

[Koolau]

So my neighbor is a pathological person who is hated by all of the other neighbors. One reason is the neighbor's dog barks continuously, especially when neighbor leaves the house. The neighbor could not care less about the stress on the dog and the other neighbors. We suspect that the neighbor enjoys inflicting pain on us,

So, any effective dog bark training devices that would work across property lines..around 50 feet between homes?

Thanks.

PS: Please don't suggest police or ASPCA. I have a friend who works for the latter, and he says there is nothing they can do. And, I don't want to sue.

We actually went that way (Police) and it was very effective. The offending dog was removed. I felt sorry for the dog's owner. She was a young person, just starting out on her own. I think she believed having a big guard dog would be a good idea. When she was around, the dog was quiet. When she left, the dog was not only loud but dangerous to anyone who got close.

 

[badatmath]

Around here barking dogs are civil matters. . . you can take them to court yourself . . . or you can get over it. Check your local laws.

IDK what you can do otherwise.

 

[TheWizard]

There are various ways to stop a neighbor's dog from barking permanently, but most of them are unethical, so I won't go into details...

 

[RetiredHappy]

In our previous neighborhood in CA, we had a HOA and we spoke with them. Their process was to file a complaint with them, and HOA would talk to them. If it didn't work, we would report to Animal Control. In other words, try Animal Control instead of police.

 

[Time2]

I have thought there should be and electronic device to handle this problem. Start with a microphone that picks up the dogs bark. This would trigger a 22kHz Oscillator driving a High Power amplifier connected to an array of speakers designed to work at 22kHz. The High power high frequency would be on for 1 sec every time the dog barked. If it didn't work the first time, take Tim Taylor's advice, "More Power."

 

[Aerides]

If you google your thread title you'll come up with several devices on amazon that claim to do what you want. Please ensure any approach you take does not cause any additional pain or distress for the dog - like animal control...

 

[DallasGuy]

I have the same problem. I live in a neighborhood with basically zero lot line homes. The owners with the very large German shepherd (king shepherd variety) have their yard literally less than 10 feet from the side of the corner of my house. Our back yards jut up to each other. And their back yard is only about 15 by 45 ft (very small). So whenever their dog barks (it has a very loud bark), it echoes through my back yard and I can hear it in my house clearly. It's been a battle for over a year. I've talked to them several times and it has gotten better...they do bring the dog usually if it goes on for more than 10 minutes or so. But I feel that anything over that is unreasonable. Still, there are times where it the barking goes on and on. I did two things that have helped. I bought a very loud megaphone. I initially used that to ask them to bring their dog in. They usually did. I got tired of doing that, so I put up an Amazon Echo smart speaker within about 10 feet of their back yard and sometimes when the barking gets out of hand, I tell my speaker to play some type of horrible music (rap, hard rock, old country, etc.) at volume 10 to make sure they hear it. That usually gets their attention and they bring the dog in. It's still very frustrating because some dog owners tend to be very selfish people and seem to be deaf to their own dog barking. I often wonder "don't they hear their own dog and doesn't it bother THEM too?". There have been times where I've thought of moving. Oh yeah, I've contacted the city animal control...but it's a long process to get them to do anything...very frustrating here in Dallas, TX.

 

[Chuckanut]

Here’s what you need - Steve Gibson’s Portable Dog Killer.
The engineers in this group will probably admire this 16 year old's inventiveness.
No, it doesn’t actually kill the dog.

A young inventor defends his neighborhood from a vicious dog.

https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-281.pdf

I mean, it was a serious problem, people walking by the sidewalk would virtually be
attacked by this amazingly vicious dog.

And this dog scared this elderly lady
so much that she tripped and fell off the sidewalk into the street. I mean, it was that big a problem. It was just unbelievable.

And so I assembled the oscillator, built the output, the power amplifier stage that was
transformer coupled to this piezoelectric transducer, and it worked. Then I built this thing together, you know, mounted the pistol grip on the bottom of the box, this perfect photoflash parabolic mirror on the front, and then positioned the transducer in the focus of the parabolic mirror so that it would work. And the machine was finished. Now, back then I was 16. I called this the "portable dog killer."

 

[calmloki]

Down in SoCal our house, as with the others, is in tight with our neighbors. Very easy for our cat to hop from the side fence to the neighbors roof for a stroll. Small lots. Most seem to think that having a dog or three enhances their security, so the little yappers sound off a bunch, particularly when the boss isn't home and they are on high(er) alert.

We invested in electronic bark stoppers. They do not work on older deaf dogs, and mainly seem to work as a surprise to the dog which interupts their dialogue. If a deaf dog doesn't notice the tone and the tone keeps going there is no surprise and a dog that can hear it isn't startled and just keeps barking in concert with old dog. Surprise factor - intermittent use is better than nonstop use. Best chance of the device working is if it is angled to point at the dog and within 20-30'. Do not expect the device to grab the puppy by the throat and choke the sound out of it, at best you may hear a stumble in the song and some surprise and complaint and maybe silence.

They help, a little bit, but the primary way they help is it makes you feel like you are doing something. Like maybe you are bugging the dog a bit in payback for the unceasing background barking. More socially acceptable to step out of the house, point the device and watch it's indicator light flash active than stepping outside and shouting "SHUT THE F*/# UP YOU *#@!".

 

[pacergal]

My best bet would be on a noise complaint to the local police, or animal control officer. Is there reason you do not want to do that?
Do others in the near by homes feel the same? Perhaps multiple complaints by various homes would help.
If you can document potential abuse/neglect (dog left out with out food/water/protection from the elements for hours at a time), that may help.

I am not aware of anything you could do from your yard to stop the dog from barking.

Last resort would be civil court, but that is time and money. May be worth it depending on the intrusion of the barking.

Sorry you are experiencing this. Not a fun thing to have such a uncaring neighbor, both for you and the poor dog left outside.

 

[Sojourner]

So my neighbor is a pathological person who is hated by all of the other neighbors.

The neighbor could not care less about the stress on the dog and the other neighbors. We suspect that the neighbor enjoys inflicting pain on us.

I'd suggest being quite careful in your dealings with this person (and their dog) if you think there could be a mental/emotional issue at play here. I would not want to draw the wrath of a sociopath living 50 feet away from me. I doubt that any person so callous and indifferent to his neighbors (not the mention the suffering of his own dog) would simply "give up" if you were to take measures to mitigate the dog's barking. The last thing you want is to get into a tit-for-tat battle with someone who has no social conscience or empathy for others.

 

[street]

A dog whistle I tried once and seemed to help at the moment but not long term. You think it would have caused dog to bark more.

Sadly but the only way electronical way is for them to electric collar the dog. The other suggestion is what others have already stated get the law involved. Always a bad thing with keeping the peace among neighbors.

 

[GenXguy]

I notice these uncaring selfish dog owners every time I go on a walk through several blocks. I have a family member that lives close to their neighbor, and she can hear the neighbor's yapper yapping all the time even when it's inside. Her neighbor said something once to her about how someone else had mentioned her dog barks a lot and the lady said, "that's what dogs do." I don't hear much dog barking when I'm at home.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

If you can't have a civil relationship with your neighbor, try establishing one with the dog. Get in the habit of tossing a milkbone over the fence when he's outside so he sees it. After a week or two, try calling him over by the fence, and reward him if he comes. Get him to sit for his treat.
Dogs can develop relationships with people. If you make this dog your friend, he should be less likely to treat you like an intruder.

 

[CO-guy]

If you can't have a civil relationship with your neighbor, try establishing one with the dog. Get in the habit of tossing a milkbone over the fence when he's outside so he sees it. After a week or two, try calling him over by the fence, and reward him if he comes. Get him to sit for his treat.
Dogs can develop relationships with people. If you make this dog your friend, he should be less likely to treat you like an intruder.

I agree with the kindness approach. We have dogs and all of our neighbors have dogs. Each morning begins with some period of a sounding off in concert. There's less coordinated barking throughout the day, but at any given time someone's dog is barking.

 

[Spock]

1. with new "emotional support animal" laws you're not going to get very far with animal control or the courts unless you can document the animal is dangerous or being abused.
2. Anybody trying to feed my dog is going to have a big problem. She was on a severely restricted diet due to being poisoned which damaged her liver and kidneys. She was still a very happy dog, but lost the battle last month.

 

[Gremlin]

1. with new "emotional support animal" laws you're not going to get very far with animal control or the courts unless you can document the animal is dangerous or being abused.
2. Anybody trying to feed my dog is going to have a big problem. She was on a severely restricted diet due to being poisoned which damaged her liver and kidneys. She was still a very happy dog, but lost the battle last month.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your dog!

 

[jollystomper]

If you can't have a civil relationship with your neighbor, try establishing one with the dog. Get in the habit of tossing a milkbone over the fence when he's outside so he sees it. After a week or two, try calling him over by the fence, and reward him if he comes. Get him to sit for his treat.
Dogs can develop relationships with people. If you make this dog your friend, he should be less likely to treat you like an intruder.

This is what I have done with the 3 dogs across 2 of my neighbors (who are nice people, BTW). It has gone from them barking their heads off whenever we were in our backyard to pleasant "hello hooman, might you have a few treats for us?" barks. I give them a few treats (and I have taught them to sit and be quiet or else the treat does not get dropped over the fence), announce "no more, all gone", and show my hands are empty. They pleasantly sniff and lick my hands in thanks and go off, and they are silent after that. Unless of course a squirrel or rabbit runs by, but I can't blame them for that .

 

[wrigley]

So then are you truly in "Paradise"?

 

[Chuckanut]

My Grandmother used to have a saying, “A happy dog is like a happy husband, well trained, and easy to take out in public.”

 

[Andre1969]

I saw an episode of Magnum P.I. where peanut butter seemed to shut the dobermans up. For a bit, at least.

 

[marko]

Animal Control is a sub-department of the Police here. Works wonders. First a warning, then a citation or two. At some point the dog is removed permanently.

It's a progression where at first it's considered a mistake and slowly escalates to a legal action, just as they sometimes remove kids from parents. IIRC allowing a nuisance barking dog over a period of time is considered abuse.

 

[planuntilthefisthits]

I'd suggest being quite careful in your dealings with this person (and their dog) if you think there could be a mental/emotional issue at play here. I would not want to draw the wrath of a sociopath living 50 feet away from me. I doubt that any person so callous and indifferent to his neighbors (not the mention the suffering of his own dog) would simply "give up" if you were to take measures to mitigate the dog's barking. The last thing you want is to get into a tit-for-tat battle with someone who has no social conscience or empathy for others.

Exactly, this neighbor is a nut job. Thus, our avoidance of anything that could lead to retaliatory escalation.

If you can't have a civil relationship with your neighbor, try establishing one with the dog. Get in the habit of tossing a milkbone over the fence when he's outside so he sees it. After a week or two, try calling him over by the fence, and reward him if he comes. Get him to sit for his treat.
Dogs can develop relationships with people. If you make this dog your friend, he should be less likely to treat you like an intruder.

This dog is constrained to inside the owner's house, so it is not barking at me or anyone else. It just barks. I would not go near this neighbor and dog if I could avoid it.