Neighbors Dogs

My neighbor’s dog used to be so friendly as a puppy. He has now grown up and likes to come down the street and bark at me in my yard. I want to be a good neighbor… is there any tips on dealing with a nuisance dog? Ways I can get him to go home and stay there?

Have you tried talking with this dog’s owners yet? If you begin by assuring them that you liked the dog as a pup, that may help steer the conversation in a more productive direction. Is the barking strictly a nuisance, or do you feel this dog has become a little aggressive as it has gotten older? If you don’t mind him coming around your yard, you could ask the owners to try walking the dog down to meet you. Spend a few moments petting him and letting him get to know you better. It won’t stop the visits, but it may curb the barking once he arrives if he feels he knows you now. If this doesn’t work, at least you’ve shown a willingness to try to make the best of the situation, and then you can ask your neighbors if they could try to keep their dog contained to their own yard.

Yes - I think I would try talking to the dog’s owners also. He really shouldn’t be loose and walking down to your yard. My neighbor has a big rottweiler that he lets outside loose with him and I was afraid to take my dogs (very little) out for a walk. I told him and now if he sees me taking my little guys out he brings him dog into the house or his back yard.

Truthfully, even when the Rottweiler is in the back yard I am nervous walking my dogs. He jumps at the fence barking and growling when he sees us.  But talking did help somewhat.

At the risk of becoming unpopular, I’ll tell you about a nuisance neighbor dog that we had. This was a little terrier mix of some kind. Cute little thing but they let him run loose all the time. So that was strike one already because I have a big problem with people who let their dogs run loose.

Strike two was when they would sit outside and watch as the dog would run up my drive way and bark at me in my garage. I said something about not appreciating being barked at in my own yard and was promptly ignored.

First I tried to shoo him away. He would run but he always came back the next day. One day I was out watering plants and there he came like clockwork, barking his little head off. I didn’t look at him or say a word. I simply turned the hose on him. Boy did he take off.

The next day he still barked at me, but at least he stayed in his own yard to do it. It was still annoying, but I counted it as a victory. I wish their kids were as easy to deal with as the dog was.

Unfortunately in my area (I live in the country) just hoping he will stay at home… is a bit trickier. He will often stand on his own property and bark. I don’t get the sense he will hurt me… it is more a nuisance—especially for my goats! I try to tell him to go home, he listens… but then comes back again to bark. Maybe the water trick is the way to go! Might just have to try spraying him

I have to agree with you Kathleen. I really get peeved about people who let their dogs run the neighborhood. You can’t blame the dogs because they’re going to take the freedom when it’s given to them. Spraying that dog was a harmless thing to do, and you probably did him a favor because he’s less at risk for injury when he’s in his own yard.

These are all very good tips. I have several dogs in my neighborhood I’m not fond of, mostly because they don’t seem very child-friendly and my son has no fear when it comes to approaching strange animals. (I’ve tried to work with him on the rules of not touching animals without an adult’s permission, but he’s totally impulsive.)

We have a neighbor here who we get along with really well… The one problem is, like you, the dog started coming over as a puppy to spend time with our dog.  In fact, now our little female pug always barks toward the neighbor’s house when she’s outside…calling over her boyfriend I guess!

The problem we have is the same - the dog is always loose and constantly coming over to our property, even when our Pug is inside. The neighbor has said he feels like the dog just wants to visit with Lucy (our Pug), and at first I thought it was cute, but sometimes the dog gets very persistent, even once almost getting into our vehicle when we were all loading into it to go on a trip - I was not a happy camper after that!

I like the hose solution. I suppose after a few experiences like that the dog will learn to stay way…at least while you’re holding the hose…

Or maybe even when you aren’t holding the hose. Is it possible to set up a motion-activated sprinkler? I’ve heard of people doing something similar to get their dogs to stop barking. Something that will spray when the dog starts to bark. So why not something that will spray when an unwanted dog approaches your yard?

You could also set up something that will make a loud, shrill noise when an unwanted dog comes in the yard. This is also harmless but effective. People do this to train their own dogs so you could certainly do it to train unwanted dogs.

As a side note, speaking of noise, my husband downloaded a new app. for his iPhone. As he sat playing with his phone, I heard a terrible noise and since I am sensitive to noises I told him (not so nicely) to stop doing that. He started laughing and said he didn’t hear anything. I then realized that the new app. was a dog whistle—and I could hear it.

There is apparently a reason for my affinity for dogs.

wow!! I have never met anyone who could hear a dog whistle! That is very interesting!!

heh The dog came running and I clobbered my husband. It was just one tone though. I couldn’t hear the others. I guess there were several tones but the Rottie and I responded to the same one.

Our neighbor’s dog would howl everytime they left the house. He’s a great dog - just really lonely. After a month or two we finally mentioned it to the neighbor. Now they leave a radio on in their family room when they leave and the dog thinks they are home and he doesn’t howl any more.

My next door neighbor got a dog last fall for their kids birthdays. The mom hates the dog and either keeps it in a crate or in the backyard. The dog is ALWAYS in the yard and she yaps half the day long. On three separate occasions I’ve had to go over to her house at 11:30 at night to ask her to put the dog inside because I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been a dog owner for years, I’m extremely concious of my dog’s barking habits so they don’t disturb my neighbors.

It’s a tough balancing act when it comes to neighbors and their dogs. I think most of us want peace with our neighbors, but they aren’t always considerate of our property or the peace we desire. I love our next door neighbors and even enjoy their dogs, but they leave them outside on nice days. It’s hard to even enjoy our pool anymore, because they bark the entire time. I had a friend over last summer to swim and she could only stand it about 20 minutes and said she had to go. It was just too annoying. Technically, they weren’t in my yard or on my property, but annoying nevertheless. I wouldn’t hurt these people’s feelings for anything in the world though, they are really good people, so I just deal with it. I’m thinking about trying one of those barrier things that is supposed to discourage neighbor dogs from barking with a high pitched tone. Has anyone tried one?

I haven’t even heard of that before, but if you do try it Lori, let me know how it works. I could definitely take advantage of it.

Hi Heather,

I’ve seen them at Petsmart. No clue how much they might cost. I’m going to check it out next time I’m there.