Accusations of being too noisy!

MzTee, I think you have to accept that the noise from you dog as well as your neighbour’s dog, probably, is actually annoying this neighbour which is not fair at all.

You really should do something more about it than just asking her for ‘evidence’.

Do you really think it’s likely this neighbour ‘has it in for you’ or something? Treating her complaint as simply frivolous is rather inconsiderate of you. Offer her an olive branch and sort this out.

Anyhow keeping dogs (or cats for that matter) in apartments is cruel to the animals themselves as well as the neighbours and self-indulgent of you. Get a free-standing house with a yard.

Good on you MzTee for trying to address this issue rather than just ignoring it.  If it was me and I believed someone was singling out my dog I would do this.  Get the EC to write to this owner and say that in order to take this matter further it would be necessary for him to take down the times and dates of any disturbances.  In the meantime, I would  “enroll” my dog in a doggy day care centre, a place where you would be able to prove the attendance of your dog.  Sure it would cost you some money but depends on how much you really want to (a) keep your dog and (b) prove that this is you and your dog being singled out.  I would also take my dog out every weekend for a few weeks.

Then, if any complaints come in about your dog barking during this time (and you would be home at night to know if your dog barks, but so would just about everyone in your building) then you can say well he wasn’t there so it has to be someone else.  I am not saying that your dog doesn’t bark ever – dogs bark that’s a fact – but this would prove that sometimes it may not actually be your dog. Your dog may be more  “visible” to your neighbour so he may think it is only your dog.

And as to those comments  that keeping animals in apartments is cruel and to “go buy a house” that is just ridiculous.  With the cost of real estate in this country, especially in capital cities, owing the 3 bed with picket fence and large backyard is not possible for the majority.  And the percentage of high and medium density living will only grow in the future.  In New York, the fact that an apartment complex is animal friendly and near dog parks in a huge selling point.

As someone who has grown up in a family  household of animals of every description I can honestly say that our family cats that were kept inside (to protect them and the wildlife) and all lived long and extremely healthly lives – one to 21 years of age and all of them 16 years and over with barely a vet bill.  The life of an outside cat – even one that is only outside during the day – is about 8 – 10 years.  Dogs do need walkiing every day, but also need something to keep them “interested” so they don’t get bored such as toys – and that applies to dogs in apartments or in backyards.  Many breeds are very suitable to apartment living.  Even some larger breeds no not need more than a daily walk.  It is the “working” breeds that need large yards.

It would be a very sad world indeed if in the future we were all living in large complexes surrounded by many people who would not stop to say hello, then entering an empty apartment day after day forever because we aren’t able to have a house.

Hi All,

We recently had a similar problem and found the shock collar solved the problem.

By the way, regardless of approval from your OC to keep an animal you are still required to abide by the bylaws so if the animal is a nuisance you may be required to remove it.

I am an animal lover, own a cat and live in an animal friendly building so the shock collar was an issue but a lesser issue than the owner having to remove their pet from the building to protect the peaceful enjoyment of others. After a short time the dog recognised the collar and did not need it so possibly for some animals this is retraining. You have to realise a lot of these animals bad behaviour is a result of bad training from owners. Sorry, no offence, just fact. People treating the dogs as.. well..children or people rather than pack animals so the result is an animal that suffers from seperation anxiety. So of course there is not a problem if someone is home but the minute the dog is left alone it lets fly. For this reason most owners of these poor anxious animals have no idea that there is a problem. MzTee you need to worry about your own dog and not the neighbours. Ensure your dog is not the problem. One of our residents set up a video feed via their pc so they were able to get an idea of what their pup was up to. Perhaps you could do the same? Take your pup out of the equation, provide proof and let the others worry about the result. You will be much happier.

Best of Luck

CbF

Mztees original post states that this neighbour has not complained about the other dog just Mztees. As we have all established dogs bark. So there is no way this other dog does not bark as well. For mztee to take his dog out of the equation this would show the complainant that it is not just one dog making noise. So I would still recommend taking your dog Mztee out of the home without telling anyone then if the complaints continue you would have proof that the other dog barks as well. Then you can all address the matter of dogs barking in your complex and how handle the matter.

Mztees original post also states that Mztee works from home during the week and has a flat mate that is home most days too. It sounds as if this dog has someone around a lot more than the average pet, even those in free standing homes with a yard. Nevertheless, whether in strata, a home or a farm, whether you are home everyday or work 9-5 dogs do bark. Mztee just wants to establish why he and his dog have been in his opinion been singled out.

Hi Unexpected Leigh, All,

How does everyone turning up to a getgother resolve all problems? Admitting it is a great first step to come up with possible solutions, resolutions. Yeahhh!

Yes,in our building we did the have a chat and a cuppa with the owner of the barking dog, we came up with a number of resolutions,together, used a number of medications, retraining etc which took many months of owners putting up with this constant barking, but what resulted in that was the animal still barked up a storm, we had owners with a log book. To identify the problem a video was so helpful, all behaviour has a cause, you need to identify that, observing behavior in both people and animals is.  But the final resolution was a shock collar. It solved the problem short term and long term the dog recognized the collar and did not need it again.

In reply to animals being kept in small spaces overseas, being legal or accepted does not necessarily mean that it is an environment that is healthy and happy for an amimal.

CBF

Hi MzTee, I think that it is important to be seen to be making an effort to appease the complainant. Rightly or wrongly, her complaint may be vexatious, frivolous or without any evidence but it is important in the event of the matter escalating beyond a warning, that you can show that you have make efforts to address the situation. 

I would offer her your mobile phone number with instructions to call you immediately in the event of your dog barking. (This might call her bluff) Perhaps get a cheap pre-paid phone for this purpose. Put this in writing and CC the EC. Make the point that you don’t believe that your dog is barking to what would be considered to be “excessive” but to assist you in identifying the problem, that you would like to be notified while it is occurring. 

I’d then set up a webcam to run continuously on your PC. I use free software from https://skjm.com/icam/  They offer an iPhone app called iCAM which allows you to see & hear your webcam in real-time from anywhere. It also records motion events and saves them to disk. You can also monitor your webcam from any PC. This would allow you to verify whether the neighbour is 

You might also try a dog behaviour consultant. They may be able to identify a strategy to keep your dog entertained during the times that it is alone.

Personally, I suspect that she might have other reasons for singling you out and not complaining about the other tenant’s dog. Perhaps she is friends with this person. Perhaps the other dogs owner owns the unit and you rent?  

Good luck!