We got a Letter....(Noise Complaint)

[Hades]

Well Im rather worried, we have Hades for a while now and he was quietening down when we left for work, he would complain a bit but thats to be expected and would remain relatively quiet whilst we are out, there was the time he locked him self in the study and howled all day and the co-op complained below us, and months later they have complained again?! about the noise level that is coming from Hades, but I do not think It is him to blame, we recently had new nabhours and the old ones only complained once about Hades but he was still getting used to his new life and they compleatly understood that and we worked together to get the issue sorted, however since the new nabhors have taken their place he has been more sensitive to being left alone and has become slightly more reactive to day to day sounds and I cant help but link the two together and believe its something to do with them,

they them selves are not too noisy but they do smoke a fair amount of weed, and Hades has this Hatred for it...

My only concern is that we will have to get rid of him if they file in a complaint to the council....Hes a pain in the ass but very much apart of our little family and if we have to get rid of him I will hate my self for as long as I live, he just means so much to us now...

My partner is Mailing them back so we can try to work this out but I doubt they will understand much, Im just not sure what to do other than take him for another run in the morning but he does get quite a lot of exercise now and I dont want to harm him by over doing it as hes still young and developing...

Any thoughts?​

 

[Drogon]

Get a bark collar.

 

[Hades]

Get a bark collar.

We have, multiple in fact! We have a petSafe one, an a Vibration collar, and a beeper/buzz one (forgot what its called), the Petsafe one he responds most to but still has a good ol moan to him self regardless just broken up into sessions, the others he has stopped responding to... :/

 

[Doberman Gang]

Is he crate trained or loose. Crate training is so important to do at a young age and fixes many of these problems.

 

[Horselady]

As a VERY last resort, and only something I would do so as not to rehome him, you could have him debarked. After that they just whisper/cough. I worked with a lady while working for a big breeder/kennel who had to have her standard poodle debarked. All that dog did was bark, even debarked, but it was significantly less annoying as a debarked dog. It sounds more like a cough.

Other than that, I'm sure others can help more. I live in the country so barking has never been an issue.

 

[Hades]

Is he crate trained or loose. Crate training is so important to do at a young age and fixes many of these problems.

Hmm yes and no, he will happily pop in his crate when told to and he sleeps in there downstairs whilst we sleep up stars, he complains for about 30 minuets then relies hes not getting let out and goes to sleep, but if hes left on his own in the crate and knows no one is in the house he goes ballistic.. :/ even if you give him a lot to do in it, though granted this was in the stage of introducing the crate so Im not sure if he will nod off like he does at night or still go barmy, Will have to test that out as at the moment as we go to work he is left loose.

 

[Hades]

As a VERY last resort, and only something I would do so as not to rehome him, you could have him debarked. After that they just whisper/cough. I worked with a lady while working for a big breeder/kennel who had to have her standard poodle debarked. All that dog did was bark, even debarked, but it was significantly less annoying as a debarked dog. It sounds more like a cough.

Other than that, I'm sure others can help more. I live in the country so barking has never been an issue.

We did look at this as a last resort but its illegal in the UK, We are looking to move however it will be some time before we can :/

 

[MyBuddy]

We did look at this as a last resort but its illegal in the UK,

Thank God, I think that's a horrible idea! Inhumane in my opinion.

That said I'm at a loss to help with a barking dog when there's no one home all day. I've never had to go through that and the only thing I come up with is exercise to wear him out, lots of training along with a graduating time he's left alone and perhaps a friend to stop by during the day for a break. If he was gradually trained to be alone during the day, I would think he would be good with it. There are a lot of people who have dogs and work. I don't know your back story on that but if people get a dog and don't do some work with him but simply 'go back to work', I can see the dog being lonely and confused. They are pack animals so being left is something I feel they need to gradually get used to.

Hmm yes and no, he will happily pop in his crate when told to and he sleeps in there downstairs whilst we sleep up stars, he complains for about 30 minuets then relies hes not getting let out and goes to sleep, but if hes left on his own in the crate and knows no one is in the house he goes ballistic.. :/ even if you give him a lot to do in it, though granted this was in the stage of introducing the crate so Im not sure if he will nod off like he does at night or still go barmy, Will have to test that out as at the moment as we go to work he is left loose.

I would try to put him in the crate. But not on Monday morning. You need to do this in intervals. Put him in, leave the room and pretend you left. Wait for him to quiet down and when he is quiet for say, 5 minutes, 'come home'. Do this in graduating time and it teaches him that you will always return. But it takes time. You can't just put him in there for 8 hours and hope for the best. Its a learning curve.

I think being left free in a house is much more frightening than being in his own little man cave.

 

[Gelcoater]

We did look at this as a last resort but its illegal in the UK, We are looking to move however it will be some time before we can :/

Is smoking weed illegal in the UK?
If you suspect they are the complainant of the noise maybe you just need to have a talk with them?
Complaints go both ways, you know.
Use their stoned paranoia to your advantage.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Boy howdy, that's a pickle. (some American flavor)

What to do? I thought of the same thing Gelcoater did. Is it legal for them to be smoking pot? So, you're in sort of a condominium building or apartment? The smoke smell gets into your unit? I sure do not envy you there!!

I've not used a bark collar before, rather I use a regular e-collar to correct violations of the silent command. Mind you, he has demonstrated that he knows what the command means and how to follow it. This won't really help your situation though.

We really have the same situation, though I don't know really how long he carries on after we leave. Fortunately, we are in a single-family house. Back when I lived in apartments I had a Doberman that did not have this problem. Do not know what I would have done if I did.

With Oji, if I'm going to be gone and my wife is gong to need to go to bed before I return, I have sometimes crated him inside our car which is inside the detached garage. I've got to think about if the temperature is going to allow this, and I make sure I have at least one window of the car down an inch or so. I know my neighbor(s) can still hear his barking though. At least it's muffled enough – I think.

So clearly, I don't have much in the way of helpful suggestions for you here. Just empathizing with you.

 

[Viemarangelrock]

I think (not 100% sure) it's the staff complaining in the retail premises below. Is this correct, @Hades? If so, has the manager not approached you to discuss it? Or did they go straight to the council (Environmental Health Service!) to make a complaint?
If it's the latter then that's terribly sad. You'd have thought they would try and resolve the issue with a direct meeting.
Do you know the manager? Could you not have a friendly word and see if you can resolve it between yourselves? Maybe, it's gone to far, I'm not sure.

How long is he on his own? Is it barking or is it more? Bouncing/jumping? If it's customers complaints to staff I guess the Co-op need to inform Head Office and they take it from there. I'm not sure!

 

[Viemarangelrock]

FYI - Your VERY last resort would be to contact Dobermann Rescue UK and Europe - Dobermann Rehoming Charity Registered in the UK 1169697 they would look into a temporary foster or adoption for Hades.
You were thinking about a move in the near future? Maybe, they would foster Hades with a family till you got yourself settled and back on your feet? Idk, you would need to send them an e-mail.

 

[Regalis]

I had a debarked rescue. She still made PLENTY of noise when she wanted to. So that's not even a realistic solution and I agree that it is quite cruel.

I really don't know how you're going to stop the issue with no one there. Can you hire a dig walker to come exercise him while you're at work? That might help.

 

[Gelcoater]

Any realistic doggy daycare facilities in the area?

 

[Rits]

I would try to put him in the crate. But not on Monday morning. You need to do this in intervals. Put him in, leave the room and pretend you left. Wait for him to quiet down and when he is quiet for say, 5 minutes, 'come home'. Do this in graduating time and it teaches him that you will always return. But it takes time. You can't just put him in there for 8 hours and hope for the best. Its a learning curve.

100% this as I've mentioned before. The longer you avoid it, the more hassle it will be, as you see. You can do it! You just have to make some time for it and be patient and persistent. Baby steps, go back to square 1 in introducing him to the crate. He MUST learn to be in there on his own. You know he's capable of doing it. Being loose in the house with no one home just gives them room to pace and build up their anxiety more if they are anxious about being alone.

 

[Doberman Gang]

100% this as I've mentioned before. The longer you avoid it, the more hassle it will be, as you see. You can do it! You just have to make some time for it and be patient and persistent. Baby steps, go back to square 1 in introducing him to the crate. He MUST learn to be in there on his own. You know he's capable of doing it. Being loose in the house with no one home just gives them room to pace and build up their anxiety more if they are anxious about being alone.

This is why crate training is such a great tool but best if taught at a very young age. It teaches them crate tine is quiet time. Young dogs left loose unattended is risky, to many things can happen and if your puppy has a bad experience it can drastically change there temperament and you could end up with a dig with fear issues or seperation anxiety.

 

[NikiL02]

We had our dog debarked when I was a kid. He coughed and no longer got in trouble for barking all day long. He cost my mom thousands of dollars in fines before this happened because some jerk would stand at the bottom of our driveway and the dogs would bark at him, as they should in the country, but he was on public property so we couldn't counter it. (Other than my mom, who can be quite scary, telling him in no uncertain terms he should never do that again...) BTW this was in Canada and we didn't even have a rifle.
My dog went everywhere with me once I was home from school including the bush while I rode my horse. He was perfectly obedient on and off lead except for the barking when someone came onto our property until we greeted the person. The only time he ever barked was in protection of the house while in his outdoor kennel. It was loud, high pitched and my mom said it could probably break glass. It was only one neighbour who complained too... The one who made him bark because the guy didn't like t the fact we had animals. It was the country! We had 3 acres. Animals were permitted! I would only ever do it as a last resort personally and I know more about animal care than I did back then, but I don't think it's cruel either.

As it's illegal in the UK it's not an option. So I agree with the suggestions with a dog walker or doggy day care would be ideal for Hades. I wish I could put Nero into doggy daycare but he'd have to be neutered and that isn't happening for another year or so...

 

[Hades]

Thank you for all the replying people, yha it's the business below is, they sent us a letter, I'd rather they came up and had a chat, all the letter said was we were making 'noise' that was it they did not say what noise, or what times, or how long it was going on, my partner is having a chimwag (chat) with them, but he was good as gold with no barking till these new nabhors moved in, so I cannot help but suspect the nabhors and Hades noise is related...we have looked at doggy day care and dog walkers but none have the space to take on another client or open way to late for us for it to be any use We have looked at DRUE as a last resort so if we need to we can contact them and hope for the best, but in the mean time I guess it's back to basics for us and Hades, it's just so upsetting since we were doing so well and now this just explodes in hour faces like. "Here have a problem!!"

 

[MyBuddy]

all the letter said was we were making 'noise' that was it they did not say what noise, or what times, or how long it was going on,

Honestly, if they can take your dog or make you give it up for such a vague thing as that! Then I'd be raising hell!

Have you ever left and heard him barking?

And these people are smoking weed? Things just may be a bit 'louder' in their clouded minds!

I'd be getting cameras to see if your dog is really 'making noise' and also to check out that the neighbors aren't just up to no good provoking him. It makes my blood boil just thinking that that might be happening! No frickin way would I give up my dog and if I found out others were doing something to him, O.M.G. Momma Bear has teeth!!!!

 

[Viemarangelrock]

Looks like your neighbours are irritating Hades, whether that be the noise they are making or the strong smell of weed, mix of both really, I guess. I'd also be interested in maybe filming the flat whilst you are away. See what's upsetting him. They could be banging your door and upsetting him, you don't know!

As for the cannabis, I know I wouldn't like the stench of the pungent stuff wafting into my property. Are they renting the property? Could you contact the landlord? Or do you not want to get involved?

I'd definitely go back to basics. Be consistent with the crate training.

I'm glad you know about DRUE. It's an absolute last resort for you guys, I totally understand.