Does Bark Off work?
 

I have neighbors who leave their dogs out all day. The dogs bark and howl anytime anyone walks or bikes past the property.

The neighbors do nothing about it.

Does anyone have any experience with those "Bark Off" devices? Do they work?

No experience yet but was considering the same thing for the same situation.... I'm growing to not like labs as dogs because they NEVER STOP BARKING EVER! But I figure it will be much quieter once I finish the work on the other house. (I'm gonna like having room for a football field between us and the neighbors!)

How about filing noise/nusiance complaint with your local town? Where I'm at, they send out someone to verify and then leave a letter for the owners to respond or face fine. Gets their attention without giving away your identity.

And then be prepared to be arrested for cruelty to animals.

Suggestion:

Some cities have nuisance laws regarding dog barking. Why first arm yourself with the law. If you find you have the law on your side then before doing anything legally just kindly speak with your neighbors. Let them know what happening and see if they take any action to stop the problem. Take careful notes regarding the conversation. If they don't follow thru then the next move is to take the proper legal action based on your legal rights.

The device you mentioned and others like them work. They just don't work immediately or for very long. The dogs grow accustomed to them.

Noise ordinances typically go into effect before 7 AM and after 10 PM. So if the dog barks at people passing by, Fed Ex trucks, etc., between the hours of 8 AM and 7 PM you may be hard pressed to get law enforcement assistance. Though if the dog barks non-stop, you might be able to make the case of a nuisance barker, should your area have one of those laws on their books.

As someone with multiple dogs, I would far prefer it if my neighbor came to me and said something like, "I'm uncertain if you are aware, but your dogs bark a great deal during the day." I'd have my dogs locked down so fast. I don't want to annoy my neighbors and I don't want them to annoy me. But most importantly, I don't want my dogs upset throughout the day.

Alex, since my yard has a 6' fence, I'd know right away who to suspect and I would follow up with every resource available, should someone harm my dogs. It's a lousy way to live, but after you have paid the fines for animal cruelty you'd never be able to quit looking over your shoulder. I would be coming for you.

Barking dogs, loud teenagers, and other weird behavior (right now one of my neighbors keeps their windows open and HE is a moaner!) by those who live next to us is a part of life. How you deal with it is what defines who you are.

But hey, he never complains about my dogs.
:nanana:

Don't you think that if you know your dogs bark at everyone who passes by it would be your responsibility to deal with it BEFORE your neighbors have to complain?

As someone who had my house built and lived in my neighborhood for the past sixteen years, I felt that having the landloard rent to dog owners was going to be a pain. But I decided to sit quiet and deal with it. But from day one these dogs have barked incessently (while someone was near the property).

For two months I lived with it. Even though the dogs "rally point" for barking at passers by is just outside my office window where I worked for those two months.

The barking was not so bad at first because it was winter and not too many people walked by. In addition, since I travel from time to time, I decided to let it go since I was on the road a percentage of the time.

Now, spring has sprung and people are starting to walk by and ride bikes again. I spent the weekend listing to the dogs. So when I asked the neighbors if they would "please control their dogs", I got a bunch of mouth about thow the dogs have rights. Informing the neighbors that there are ordinances against noisy dogs made me "the asshole" but I let that slide too.

But, since I just informed the neighbors yesterday that their dogs are a nuisanse, I want to give them time to take care of the matter before I put in a complaint to the county. I was hoping that a "bark off" would be a good alternative to living with the noise because I am quite sure these neighbors will do nothing to change the dog's behaviour.

I bought an electronic box that emits the high frequency. I turned it on, pointed it at the neighbors and hoped for the best. The dogs came outside, barked once and looked confused, barked again and went back inside! Success! A week later, they seem to enjoy the tone. Barking at 'it' as a way to scare it off!

For the "moaner", just fight weirdness with weirdness. Call their phone while their in the act and say "you guys want some company?" or "Oh, nothing... I just wanted to hear your voice......" If you do this whenever they are I bet they start closing the windows to hide when they are. :rofl:

That sux...any jackass can buy a dog and some petowners have a sense of entitlement.

You mentioned that it is a rented property...if you get no recourse from the dog owners, talk to the landlord and ask that he speak with the tenants. Your best bet may be that he stipulate that future tenants can not keep dogs. How often do leases turnover?...you could be stuck for a while. Even though there are legal ordinances it is very tough and lengthy to resolve legally. I have a friend that was at her wits end about a similar situation - tried legal to no avail and finally neighbours (rented) moved on.

I have a bunch of rental properties and never allow pets - too much hassle with tenants/neighbours.

GL