Dog owners again.

Dogs need company and stimulation. They should not be left alone for hours on end with nothing to do. They often bark through frustration and boredom. Our dogs always have company and mental stimulation. They are never left outside. They have rarely barked, so when they have done we have known there is a good reason for it. I'm talking here of German shepherds as you can see from my name. The story told by georgesgran is appalling. My current dog was rescued after being kept outside, tied up. That is no way to treat any animal.

When living in the NE 30+ years ago, I came home from hospital with a new baby after a traumatic birth, I’d had a CC and had a younger child.

My neighbours had rescued a dog, they were both out from 8-4.30 and their new dog barked and whined all day.
My GP came to see me ( amazing to think that ever happened) and told me I must address this issue with the neighbour.

My husband went over that evening and explained, the next morning there was a big crash on the doorstep, it was a stone with a note and their house keys attached.
The note was telling me to walk their dog at least once a day to stop the barking and a warning that as the dog had colitis there may be some mess to clear.

Astonishing!

They ended up taking the dog in their car to work, it destroyed the car interior….poor thing.

Eventually it was rehomed again.

"Its tether snapped"
That is why the poor German Shepherd was barking. GSDs are not made for being tethered or left alone and lonely.
The poor dog must have been maddened by loneliness.

Spot on, Caleo. And then what a sad ending to its miserable existence.

Terriers tend to yap from excitement and are selfish compared with GSDs. My JRT is happy to be left alone in the house When my sons visit my normally well behaved terrier constantly whinges and weeps for them to play the throw and catch game in the garden. I fear the neighbours may think he is being tortured.

I understand you train a dog not to bark by first teaching him to bark on command. When he thoroughly understands this command you teach him to bark on command and be silent on command.
Obviuosly no dog trainning happens when a dog is not treated as a sentient creature.

As soon as my dog hears a noise outside she barks, sometimes before I’ve heard it and I jump out of my skin. She will then continue to bark loudly (she’s a lab) until long after the cause eg the postman has gone. I then use distraction to make her stop. I don’t want her not to bark when someone is about.

Same here Avalon. I always go "Good boy"to any dog for barking when someone comes to the door. After the bark I say sharply "Shut" and even the terrier stops barking when I say "Shut!"

Except when my sons are here and the ball game obsession takes over, then it's not barking but tortured whining and whinging. I don't know how to stop that, so if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

Have you seen the film "Sam's Day"? Its about a dog left alone while his owner goes to work. The dog sleeps most of the day, occasionally getting up to stretch himself, and to bark when the post comes. Eventually the owner comes back, pats the excited dog and lets him out into the garden to go to the toilet.

My girl's dog was an excitable terrier, and nervous, too, so she was yappy.

It sometimes sounds like packs of wolves haunt the streets at night where I live. One of our neighbours has started keeping chickens and we think he now has a dog that he keeps in the garden to keep the foxes away. A nearby pub also has a dog that roams at night. At about 9 pm one dog starts barking and then the other joins in and sometimes they literally howl. I can't imagine how children nearby get to sleep. I think one of the dogs has gone recently as the noise has decreased a bit.

All I can say is some of the dog owners must have very understanding neighbours!
I'm not sure I would be.

How desperately sad, Annamar1. It is the lot of so many dogs. Why some people have a dog I really don’t know. Incredibly selfish.

I think it is worse now because of those people that got a dog during Covid when they were home all day, now they are at work the dog barks.

Some owners are unaware they have a barker, they do not know what is happening after they have left the house unless someone tells them.

I can put up with/ignore most noises, music, children playing, and building work but cannot stand the sound of a dog barking.

I have a border collie 10mths old so everything is fair game at the moment a cat walking along the fence people she can see from the decking (garden slopes downward)
And butterfly's or any insect come to that! But I will not tolerate continuous barking it annoys me, when she starts I bring her in for 10min then let her out again she will learn eventually lol.

I've nothing against dogs barking in short bursts; it's the constant, unrelenting barking that drives me nuts.

I think some neighbours are tolerant as they are afraid not to be. There's no way us two in our 70s are going to ask yappy's huge, tattooed owner to keep the dog quiet. He may be perfectly nice about it. However, it's not like he doesn't know. It yaps when they are in. Sometimes at night a distant werewolf or Hound of the Baskervilles joins in the chorus.

I wish people would complain to the local authority, who can do something, rather than here where nobody can. It might produce an improvement in the dogs’ welfare.

I don’t like barking dogs. My dogs have never really barked. I now have a miniature dachshund puppy and he barks loudly and often.

I agree with GSM. Oue EH department will take dog barking complaints seriously, l know, because l worked there before l retired and we had many calls concerning problem owners.
Our boy didn't really bark much until this past year, l now have to sleep downstairs with him otherwise he would bark all through the night and disturb the neighbours. It's the owners who are to blame not the dogs.

I think some dogs are just more barky than others, regardless of training, or having a wonderful life.

Yes Mayal, it is. I think you’re doing a wonderful job with your old boy. Real love and care.

Germanshepherdsmum

I wish people would complain to the local authority, who can do something, rather than here where nobody can. It might produce an improvement in the dogs’ welfare.

I think some local authorities are more proactive in this regard than others. As I said, I did complain to ours and although the dog's owners were warned, it had no effect whatsoever in the long run.
I agree that many people clearly got a dog on a whim during lockdown with no thought as to what was going to happen when they eventually went back to work. Of course, it's the poor dog which suffers most at the end of the day from being left along for very long periods.

When our local councillors were knocking on doors campaigning recently, I mentioned it to one and she said 'I can't do anything about that'.

This is an issue dealt with by district councils. Maybe you were speaking to someone from the wrong council. District councils most certainly can do something about it. Phone the environmental health department.