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Had my first encounter with an on duty LEO last evening (I have friends that LEO's) due to a barking dog incident.

We had some new neighbors move in right next door to us a few weeks ago. Up front, I'll say I love animals......but not when they are making racket at 10pm or later at night. I also get that dogs bark, etc. but that it shouldnt carry on for more than a minute or two.

Anyway, about 3 weeks ago when they moved in my wife went over and introduced herself and was chatting with the neighbor. I wasnt home then or I would have went over. My wife thought it was prudent to explain to our neighbor (a younger 20 something) that while I love dogs, I HATE them barking. She went on to explain that we took another neighbor to court and they were fined in the $1k range for a nusiance dog (after that the dogs never barked again...go figure). The neighbor said that they didnt own a dog at all and they are quiet people.

Fast forward to the next weekend, my wife is "awoken" (apparently I slept through the whole thing) to the sound of a deep gutteral barking noise. My wife determines that it is our new neighbors (dismayed that she was told that they didnt have a dog and now there is one) and after they dont answer their door (at 2am), she calls the police. In the morning, after I get back from some errands, she tells me about the event.

I walk over (this is about 1pm on SAturday) and the neighbor answers the door in a tshirt (I had obviously woken her up), introduce myself, and as nicely as can be explain what had happened. Her excuse was that she was out all night (assume partying). I decide to let that go and begged her to place not have her dog barking all night (I explained to her that I understand that dogs bark, but I have kids and they need their sleep...blah blah blah).

2 weeks later (last night), the dog starts barking again. It is a repeat of what happened last time. I went over to the house and no one was home. The dog was barking. It is obvious that it has separation anxiety because evertime things were quiet, it would start barking. If there was noise, it would sometimes stop. Ok, had my fill and called the police.

About 20-30 minutes later (this was a non-emergency so I am not saying anything about the response time), the Ft Worth officer shows up. I was rusty on do I present info to him or not. I erred on the side of caution and had my license and CHL ready to go. I introduced myself with info in hand and gave it to him, telling him "it" was at 7-8 o'clock. He smiled and said that he wasnt worried at all about that. Was VERY professional and understanding. He wrote a note to the owners and put it on their door (he waited there while the dog barked for a good 1/2 hour) and then left. All in all a very good experience. Hats off to the FT Worth police!!!

I'm glad to hear your first encounter with an LEO was uneventful... but boy, I'd have to say I'm glad you don't live in our neighborhood.
EVERYONE on our street has either one or more dogs and I'd hate to be worrying about you calling the cops on us if one (or all) of my three dogs started barking at a bad guy... then again... that just might work.

kirock7 wrote:I'm glad to hear your first encounter with an LEO was uneventful... but boy, I'd have to say I'm glad you don't live in our neighborhood.
EVERYONE on our street has either one or more dogs and I'd hate to be worrying about you calling the cops on us if one (or all) of my three dogs started barking at a bad guy... then again... that just might work.

-Cain

i like my neighbors dogs, they always bark at strangers, and i dont have to feed or walk them

I'm the same way about barking dogs.. I love animals, as many as I have it's pretty clear. But I cant stand barking dogs, barking for a reason I'm all for that, barking because the moon is brighter tonight than it was last night, no way.. I've got a neighbor with at last count, 8 dogs ( I'm way out in the country ).. They live about 800 yards away, I can go outside, cough and they will bark for an hr, shut up for a bit, car drives by and they start it again. Drives me up the wall.. My dog when she was young did that crap, until I bought her a bark collar ( this is the whole point to my post ), now she only barks for a reason, if she barks something is going on.. Put a bug in your neighbors ear, ask them to buy some bark collars.. There are bark collars out there that wont go off over 1 bark, or 2 barks, just repeated barks.. So they learn basicly that barking over nothing is bad, barking when something is happening is something they should be doing.. So any concerns about making the dogs scared to bark when you want them to, is nothing they need to be concerned about.. I think I bought mine for 30 bucks, Shelby wore it for 2 weeks or so, a few weeks went by and she started doing it again, I kept it on her for 2 days and I haven't used it again in a year. I offered to pay for 4 collars for my neighbor if he would buy the other 4, he wouldnt go for it.. So I just call him up everytime his dogs start barking ( sounds like a kennel )... With his dogs barking it makes it hard for me to keep an ear out to see if dogs are messing with my livestock, something I have a big problem with out here. But if I cant hear them, I dont know when they are out there, dont know how many times I've walked out in the morning to find dead calves.. I've gotten so used to barking in the middle of the night I dont wake up to it anymore


Does sound like a good experience with the LEO though.. I haven't ran into a LEO since I got my CHL, I've talked with several, but never been asked for ID..

Bark collars can be a dangerous thing if over used. In this case if it was put on when they were going to go out at night and removed when they returned home that would probably work pretty well. However, it depends on how smart or stubborn the dog is.

A dog a had several years back figured out that if he takes the initial hit he can continue to bark without further shocks. Most, if not all, of these collars have a reset delay of several seconds (5-10) before it will deliver another shock. Mine would bark then yelp at the shock and then bark continuosly for as long as an hour in his heyday. Stubborn little snot!

I've also seen it go the other way. If the collar is used 24/7 except for charging or changing batteries I've seen some dogs become terrified to bark. Whe they ear other dogs barking or see a real reason to bark they will pee all over themselves or vomit out of fear of being shocked. It's a terrible thing to see and some of them never get over it.

"I'm the same way about barking dogs.. I love animals, as many as I have it's pretty clear. But I cant stand barking dogs, barking for a reason I'm all for that, barking because the moon is brighter tonight than it was last night, no way."



I have multiple dogs on 3 sides of me. For the most part I have the dogs and neighbors convinced I don't like the barking, and all parties are generally good about it. When it gets out of hand, I figure it's OK for me to punch some paper in the backyard (legal in my neighborhood). It shuts the dogs up and the neighbors renew their diligence.

My next door neighbor (understand we live on acreage so he isn't literally next door, however...) has two labs he keeps outside in a kennel.

When he leaves around 5:00 A.M., the youngest starts barking and doesn't stop. It's far enough away that it isn't dreadful. (but it's definitely discernable) We have double pane windows, but the noise of the barking most often still gets through enough ... I may as well get up - can't sleep anyway...

Yet, we never complain to each other about noise. Why? Well, we're good neighbors and I make my own noise I don't want to hear him complain about. Plenty of it too.

Yesterday, I cranked up my power washer for quite a bit of time and I'm certain I disturbed his enjoyment of reading in the shade. He went inside. Never said a word or showed me any annoyance. Today, I'll be chipping wood in the back yard.

So it goes...

BTW, the barking isn't entirely limited to the 5:00 A.M. routine as we have a lot of wild animals in the immediate area and barking commences when they (possum, racoon, feral pigs, bobcat, skunk, coyote, etal) parade by.

kirock7 wrote:I'm glad to hear your first encounter with an LEO was uneventful... but boy, I'd have to say I'm glad you don't live in our neighborhood.
EVERYONE on our street has either one or more dogs and I'd hate to be worrying about you calling the cops on us if one (or all) of my three dogs started barking at a bad guy... then again... that just might work.

If I moved into a new house and the neighbor came over and complained about dogs and how they had taken thier last neighbor to court, I'd go buy ther biggest dog I could find too.

My wife determines that it is our new neighbors (dismayed that she was told that they didnt have a dog and now there is one) and after they dont answer their door (at 2am), she calls the police. In the morning, after I get back from some errands, she tells me about the event.

Who in their right mind goes pounding on their neighbors door at 2AM in the morning?

Right2Carry wrote:

My wife determines that it is our new neighbors (dismayed that she was told that they didnt have a dog and now there is one) and after they dont answer their door (at 2am), she calls the police. In the morning, after I get back from some errands, she tells me about the event.

Who in their right mind goes pounding on their neighbors door at 2AM in the morning?

That's a really good personality indicator if ever I've heard of one. (Not trying to be offensive to the OP, so please excuse the burn... but honestly that's how I feel.)

usa1 wrote:i like my neighbors dogs, they always bark at strangers, and i dont have to feed or walk them.

I'm with ya on this one. My neighbors to the east--and I'm in your typical "designed community neighborhood" so am very close to them--have two dogs. And I'm happy they do.

They bark whenever they want to, and it's never bothered me. I can hear them, but it isn't intrusive and never wakes me up. Maybe your home construction has as much to do with it as the dogs themselves? Here are some ideas: http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/sound_reduci ... F5615.html.

I'm not being facetious; I just can't imagine knocking on my neighbor's door at 2:00 a.m. or calling the police because of their dogs barking. We've lived next to each other for eight years--dogs are barking right now, in fact--and the noise level has never been enough to annoy me.

Oh, BTW, I still do some professional voiceover work from time to time, and know that my hearing hasn't gone too far south. So that ain't it.

No longer valid

Abraham wrote:Yet, we never complain to each other about noise. Why? Well, we're good neighbors and I make my own noise I don't want to hear him complain about. Plenty of it too.

Yesterday, I cranked up my power washer for quite a bit of time and I'm certain I disturbed his enjoyment of reading in the shade. He went inside. Never said a word or showed me any annoyance. Today, I'll be chipping wood in the back yard.

So it goes...

Glad the LEO encounter went well. Have to wonder about how willing your neighbors are going to be to help you out in a pinch.

I'm in college, and live next to a house with a dog that barks constantly (owned by other college kids). Yes it is annoying, but is it worth it to me to call the cops on them?

I view it as a good exercise in patience. Besides, do I really want them looking for a reason to "return the favor"? Perhaps when I'm carrying in a long black rifle bag after a day at the range I can expect a call about a "crazy neighbor with a gun outside?"

Live and let live, in my opinion.

C-dub wrote:Bark collars can be a dangerous thing if over used. In this case if it was put on when they were going to go out at night and removed when they returned home that would probably work pretty well. However, it depends on how smart or stubborn the dog is.

A dog a had several years back figured out that if he takes the initial hit he can continue to bark without further shocks. Most, if not all, of these collars have a reset delay of several seconds (5-10) before it will deliver another shock. Mine would bark then yelp at the shock and then bark continuosly for as long as an hour in his heyday. Stubborn little snot!

I've also seen it go the other way. If the collar is used 24/7 except for charging or changing batteries I've seen some dogs become terrified to bark. Whe they ear other dogs barking or see a real reason to bark they will pee all over themselves or vomit out of fear of being shocked. It's a terrible thing to see and some of them never get over it.

I agree, they can be overused. The bark collar I have is setup nicely.. It will allow 3 barks, then it will zap them with increasing intensity, starting at a very low shock ( I've felt it, even felt the highest one ). It will shock with every bark, after 5 minutes it will reset, if they start barking again within that 5 mins it will zap them with the last intensity setting it used. It's also setup so that if they just bark, then bark a again shortly after it will zap them, not if there is a 3 second pause. They learn that they can still bark, but if they are doing it for no reason they will get zapped. I still agree that with some dogs it wont work, and if you leave it on them they will be scared to bark. Thats why you dont leave it on them, your trying to train them not to bark over just anything, so it takes action on your part, your training them, and no electronic device can do that for you. It's just impossible to train them not to do something when your not there to correct the situation.

My sister used to live in NM, in a HOA. If a dog had more than 2 complaints over barking, you were forced to either move, get rid of the dog, or have their vocal cords removed. Her neighbors had to have their dogs vocal cords removed because someone kept calling in on them, even though they were not barking just to bark. If that was me, well first off I wouldnt live there, but if I had no option a bark collar would be the way I'd go.


I dont often complain about my neighbors dogs, infact it's very rare. Often times I just mention in when we are chewin the fat.. We do rely on eachother, if I need something I know I can call him, and if he needs something he can call me. I'm not going to throw that relationship away over a few dogs.. With both have a understanding that if any of our dogs are caught chasing livestock or whatever that we will shoot them. I've actually shot 1 of his dogs before ( killed a calf ), although I felt bad about it, he told me that he doesnt want a dog that chases livestock because someday they will be chasing his.. I dont have to worry about my Shepard because she's trained, so knows what she can and cant do. But if someday she decides to do something she isn't, well thats her choice. I'll be sad about it, but if it happens then I will blame myself because I failed her somehow. A dog will do what you ask of them, they arent born knowing what is expected of them. Barking is one of those, if your dog is barking and disturbing other people then it is up to you to change your dogs habits, and you use whatever tool you need to do that ( aka a bark collar ).. It's no different than a neighbor playing loud music and it disturbs you, except you cant ask a dog to stop or turn it down in plain English.