Ordinance against acting like a dog - Page 2

Renofan2 is correct. Each township has it's own ordinance against barking. It is probably okay if the dog barks at people going by as long as the barking is not constant for an extended period.

Thanks for all of the input, experiences, and advice.

We have been more than friendly with the neighbor over the years.  He is "less than ambititous," so when snow plows used to burry his truck, my husband didn't hesitate to dig him out... just being neighborly.  I've never complained about the constant traffic on our block due to his guitar students, who often pull into our driveway at night, aiming their headlights right into my living room.  I've never gripped about how they congest our culdesac little street.  I've never griped about his lawncare service that fires up their pumps at 7 a.m.  Live & let live is our basic attitude.

Someone mentioned that other sounds in the neighborhood would probably be considered.  Well, you can hardly have a louder neighborhood than ours.  There's a busy highway in my back yard, literally.  We're on a curve, so this little block gets the obnoxious rattle of dymanic braking numerous times day AND night.  To top it all off, right on the other side of the highway are railroad tracks, with a crosssing pretty much right at the end of this block.  Every train that comes through town has to blow its whistle before the crossing... and before the crossing a block down... and the one after that, ect.  The noise my dogs would make even if they barked 15 minutes out of every hour would be minute in comparrison to what we deal with all day long.

Probably the real kicker is, my dog that he's complaining about is only one dog of eleven immediately around him.  Since we've had her, he acts as if my male, who we've had for 4 1/2 years, has always been a problem too.  Realistically, my male very rarely barks, but to ask the neighbor, it's been 24/7 for years.  For some reason, this guy thinks he just gets to rule the neighborhood, but he never has the guts to get his attitude with my husband.

I've already been to the City office.  I've talked to the City clerks, one of whom has been at my business (which is where my dogs actually reside) who mentioned how neither of my dogs barked at her when she was here a few weeks ago.  I've talked to the City zoning official.  The neighbor is off the hook for his business, due to a timing technicallity, but he told me he couldn't see where the neighbor really had any ground to stand on.  He did advise me to go talk to the Chief of Police to get my side on record before the neighbor gets a chance to call to complain.  I have also started drafting a letter that I will address to this particular neighbor, but copy to the other neighbors since he insinuates that he's the only one who has the guts to "do something about it."  I won't be vindictive, but very open & honest.  I'm sure he is dramatizing the situation and doesn't think I've got the backbone to let the other neighbors in on what's going on.

Thanks again, everyone!!!

Yes, write a letter to your neighbor--similar to the one that I wrote mine.

The last time a cop came to my place, he seemed almost apologetic and said, "I can hear many other dog in the neighborhood barking--right now. However, the complaint was against your dogs." Not a peep out of my dogs when he came! Anyhow, I thanked (!) the officer and assured him that I would keep everyone quiet.

Now, I have 6 foot, redwood, security fence around my very large, front patio area. The gate may not be opened from the outside--so, no one can can enter from the outside--even to ring the doorbell. I'm sure that my neighbor hates this. In my letter to her, I also wrote: Because of your crusade of unending harassment and violations of my privacy, you have caused me the expense of erecting a secure, privacy fence around my front patio area so that my visitors, my animals, and myself are no longer visible to your prying eyes. My guests have often complained to me that they feel very uncomfortable when they see you rudely peering through the blinds of your living room window during their visits.

I don't know if it's wise to copy the letter to your other neighbors (unless they all love GSD's). Better to send one to your attorney, animal control, the city, and the police to advise them that you are being harassed by your neighbor. Include this information on the letter to your neighbor.

No matter what you do, you are likely to be unable to mend the fence with your bitchy neighbor. If one of your dogs happens to be in the street and under your voice command, he will call AC and complain that your dog is "running at large"!

In the larger cities, the City Prosecutors office usually have a process called "Mediation" whereupon, two parties that have a small legal or neighbor dispute, such as this, can arrange to have a meeting with a mediator from the Prosecutors office, and agreements are worked out in writing and signed by both parties.  Might be the way to go if your city has such an office.

Additionally, if you have other neighbors, you need to consult with them to ascertain IF the complaining neighbor has a good point about your dogs.  But, you need to be open minded and approach them in a non intimidating manner, such as "Hi, Tom, lately I have been concerned that my dogs might be disturbing you and others.  Be honest with me Tom, are they sometimes too noisy?"  Your "other" neighbors can also be your best witnesses, if it comes to a court case.  Your neighbors do deserve peace and quiet.  Sometimes us dog owners don't notice the barking of our dogs, because we filter it out and are used to it.  It's like a guy riding a loud Harley.  He "tunes" it out or even likes it, but the people talking together while walking on the sidewalk, give dirty looks at the biker going down the street or stopped at a light, revving his engine with those loud pipes.  Be fair and expect fairness.  Good luck.

He is teaching guitar out of his home and, I assume getting paid for it?  Is your neighborhood zoned for business?  I would expect not.  You might want to tactfully remind him of that.  I am a true believer in live and let live.  Every neighbor has their quirks and you need to be able to just let some things pass, but that should go both ways.

Oh LOL!

My sister got an ANONYMOUS note some 5 mos ago from some neighbor complaining that her 1 pet German Shepherd was "barking all night", that other neighbors were annoyed too, and that s/he would call the authorities if it wasn't stopped!

Needless to say, this person didn't have the decency or the guts to openly ask her about it.

She was totally puzzled too, because she never has the dog outside the house after 10 pm, normally.  She has had some problems where sometimes he needs desperately to go out to potty in the middle of the night (much to her aggravation), but she just let him out a few minutes and waited for him to do his duty.

And this note came some 4 mos. AFTER his potty troubles.

My sister also is a terrific social person, whose neighbors (immediate 1s on the street) are all her friends.  So she knows it's not someone on her street.  She suspects it's the newest people BEHIND their house, but not sure.

The funny thing is, too, she hasn't heard ANY more about this.  It's been months.

Thank God for country living!

I hope I never have the need to move close enough to someone that I would have to worry about this.  I feel for all of you that have to deal with people like this.

My hubby is bad enough if the dogs start carrying on about the bears in our woods!!! 

Invite the nasty neighbor to go ahead and file a complaint with the authorities. If there is no proof of the legitimacy of his complaint and if he lodges multiple unsubstantiated complaints, these complaints are considered "frivolous"--they waste the taxpayers' money and the time of the authorities.

Furthermore, you have certain rights, too. Repeated theats, intimidation, and harassment may have legal consequences. If you neighbor does not desist at your written request, you may consider obtaining a restraining order against him.

Yes, the option of mediation is worth considering, too. However, I'm sure that my neighbor would not go for it.

Invite the nasty neighbor to go ahead and file a complaint with the authorities. If there is no proof of the legitimacy of his complaint and if he lodges multiple unsubstantiated complaints, these complaints are considered "frivolous"--they waste the taxpayers' money and the time of the authorities.

Furthermore, you have certain rights, too. Repeated theats, intimidation, and harassment may have legal consequences. If you neighbor does not desist at your written request, you may consider obtaining a restraining order against him.

Yes, the option of mediation is worth considering, too. However, I'm sure that my neighbor would not go for it.

This conversation is totally ditto'ed!  We are in the middle of moving due to this same scenario.  Neighbor in house behind us FREAKING out everytime our dogs were in the yard and he would come out into his back yard.  One bark and he would start screaming at my dogs.  Of course they completely saw him as the freak threat he was and would get worked up at him, causing a perpetual issue as everytime they heard him in the back yard they would react to his presence (doing their job in my opinion).

The short of it is, after 2 confrontations of screaming matches with him and my husband over the back fence (by the way we tried 2 times to talk to him about it calmly) we finally decided to call the police because he threatened to kill our dogs if they ever got into his yard.  Took the offensive and glad we did.  Put him on report incase any poisoned treats came over the fence.  Did our part too and got control collars which worked wonders!  Can even get my girl to behave just showing her the TV remote now LOL!!

Another instance happened, this time he was extra pissed because we called the police the first time so he returned the favor.  Fortunately we had been making friends with the police in our new town and they had seen and interacted with our dogs on several occasions. Not to mention the Police Chief was currently having a severe animal abuse case prosecuted to the max.  Then the guy lied to the second policeman and put himself into a position of idiocy in their eyes and we haven't heard a word from him since.  He saw what a joke he was.  We are moving though, have a house that's been on the market and not moving with an Elementary school as a neighbor in the back and twice the yard.  Dogs are happier and can bark all they want - all these neighbors love the sense of security that comes from their barking so we have a happy ending.

One final thing is after our first confrontation the guy put his house up for sale (funny way for God to answer my prayer, but ok, will do) but with the market so soft it's still for sale and now as a parting goodbye we will tell him we are going to sell our house for 20% below what he is asking for his  ( I'm just fantisizing about that part  as I wouldn't lose a dollar over the jerk) 

Good luck, and don't be afraid to let your local authorities know what's going on and how much you are doing to accomodate him.  It does pay off.