Barking Dog Advice from an Expert

I was going through some of the Barking Dog Yahoo Group messages that I saved and came across the following, which makes excellent sense. The bottom line is, if you have recently begun to be tormented by your neighbor's barking dog, don't wait to do something about it - jump into action immediately.

Dr. Craig Mixon, an expert on the subject of barking dogs and their owners, and founder of BarkingDogs.net, says...

"To a large extent, your best course of action is always determined by your own individual skill set. You need to do what you are good at doing, and what you know how to do. Some people are brilliant at confrontation ­ others at maneuver, persuasion, or politics ­ still others do best to steer clear of all categories.

"But as a trained behaviorist I can tell you that the longer you let any given response continue, and the better established it becomes, the harder it is likely to be to get it stopped.

"So if your neighbor gets a dog and the barking starts, then, if you are ever going to talk to him about it, you had better do it immediately. Because every minute it continues, the less likely he is to be willing to bring it to a stop. That is true of dogs and humans alike. The research shows that beyond the slightest doubt."

I now, well over 2 years later, realize the above statement from Dr. Mixon is true and I wish I would have come across his works sooner. In retrospect I could have saved myself from over 2 years of barking torment and the mental, physical & financial side effects of this noise trauma had I acted sooner. As it is, I allowed myself to be victimized for well over 2 years by my neighboring sociopath barking dog owners and their incessantly yapping psycho dog since day one of the dog's arrival as a puppy, hoping they'd recognize the problem and put and end to it.

This attempt to be patient did no good at all.  The barking did not subside, in fact just got worse & worse,  and just caused me immeasurable stress, anxiety & tension and also ended up costing me a lot of money. The dog's owners are as hostile toward me today as they would have been then, if I'd jumped into action when they first got the dog, but at least I could have saved myself from a lot misery (and also saved some money). At this point, I don't care if they hate me. Neighborly relations were ruined the day I realized they were just going to let him bark and bark and bark without any regard for neighbors, which was on day one when they brought the dog home and he was running around the yard yapping & yapping at me and everything else that moved or didn't move.

From the first day, at the end of November in 2009, that we began complaining about the barking...first by "talking" to them about it, which was a one sided conversation and a complete waste of time and breath, then by me calling them at night when the dog was barking, which only put an end to the barking temporarily that night, then later by calling the police and animal control, which at least put an end to the dog being out at night...it has taken less than 6 months to attain relative peace again. Fortunately for us the neighbor's oldest son, unfortunately due to his own misfortune, had to move back home and started working with the dog to make him stop barking.  The son has done a marvelous job with the dog, especially considering he has his own mother working against him by inciting the dog to bark when her son is not around... 

Beginning sometime in late March this year, things began going along very nicely and quietly (it was odd but I wasn't going to question it), and then suddenly there were a couple of weeks late in April when Mrs. Barking Dog Owner, who claims to be a good Christian, was letting the dog out very early in the morning (like between 6-6:30 a.m.) and allowing him to bark which had very rudely & traumatically awakened me 4-5 times. One morning I actually caught her in the process of provoking some barking, at least it seemed so to me when I witnessed her standing on her screened porch making some sort of noise which, everytime the dogs heard it, caused them break into a barking fit. Some people whom I've told about this, who have also heard the unbearable ruckus, asserted that it sounds like spiteful behavior on the part of the mean old bitch...

The second time this happened, I went outside, probably looking like some sort of psyco myself as I'd just been awakened from a very deep sleep and was still trying to get my wits about me...fortunately my sleeping attire was not going to get me arrested for indecent exposure..., and let her know that I was not happy about being awakened. Of course, she lashed out with hostilities and accusations about me being a bad neighbor for calling the police... blah, blah, blah...and accused my cat of instigating the barking (he was in the house, still sleeping...that's how early it was) and then she, the good Christian, threatened to trap my cat and send him to the shelter...etc., etc. It was difficult to get a word in but I was finally able to casually mention that I had video/sound recordings of her dog being left outside to bark for hours, at all hours... Apparently she, oddly enough as I don't credit her with much intelligence, realized that along with telling her I had the barking evidence on tape (so to speak) I was also implying that the evidence points out that she neglected the dog by allowing him to be unattended during these sometimes hours long barking fits because she seemed to be taken aback and lost for words...at least temporarily until she lamely got the last word in and again reiterated how she couldn't believe I would ever be such a bad neighbor. Boo hoo. Realizing I'd have better luck communicating wtih a rock, I walked away.

This early morning barking occurred several more times and so I again called the police and animal control. They never came out again as by the time I called them Mrs. Sociopath had locked the dog up (nice, huh? lock them up rather than enforce the training that her son has implemented), but I gave them all a good ration of how I was fed up with losing sleep and my life being ruined because my neighbors were being allowed to let their dog be a barking nuisance...and on and on. Then, just as suddenly as it began again, this early morning barking suddenly stopped again so maybe the police or animal control sent a notice or called them or something. I don't know and, as long as the dog successfully continues on his path of barking behavior modification, I don't care.

So, since perhaps you missed it because I've rambled on and on about my barking misery, the main point of the story is, don't wait to start the process of putting an end to the barking. You'll just be more and more traumatized the longer it goes on, the neighbors will probably hate you regardless of when you let them know that you won't tolerate it, and you'll probably have better success at stopping the barking if you speak up right away.

By the way, I have nothing against Christians or people with any other religious beliefs. I do not, however, like people who are hypocrites.