Do You Need Help Stopping Your Neighbor’s Dog Barking

It doesn't matter the neighborhood you live in, or what a great community it is, your home can become a source of frustration if you have to listen to your neighbor's dog barking day in and day out. Sometimes it's only when the dog sees someone, such as a guest coming to your house. But you should not have to limit your guests just to keep the neighbors house quiet.

If you find yourself in this situation, there are a number of steps to take to get the barking to stop.

Contact the neighbor. This can be done anonymously or not, depending on how well you know your neighbors. If you don't know them well, and don't know how they will react to such a letter, it's best to write it anonymously to avoid problems. In the letter, offer your neighbor the benefit of the doubt. They may not know their dog barks all day long, especially if they have just gotten a puppy and don't know their new pet's habits. Your letter may be all that's necessary for it to quit.

If you are friendly with the neighbor you may want to help them out with a guide to stop dog barking or any other how-to manual, or tips that may help alleviate the problem. Just make sure your discussion sounds like you are in support of them and want to help in troubleshooting their dog's barking issue.

Once the letter has been delivered or conversation completed, give it some time. Stopping puppies or dogs from barking is not an overnight thing. It can take a little time for their pets to learn that the noise should stop.

If the barking has not stopped after a few weeks, you may need to take things to the next level. You should contact your landlord or homeowners association and detail the problem. Many homeowners associations have anti-bark policies. Once you tell them that the dog's bark has been a problem for some time, they may take action or at least back up the initial letter. Hopefully this will be enough to see that the barking stops.

If the puppy or dog bark problem continues, it's time to take things to a new level. Keep a log. If you are going to file a bigger complaint about the problem you are going to need to have information to back up your complaint. Your log should have listed each date and time the dog barked and nothing was done to quiet the pet. Your final resort in this case is to file a complaint with the police and use your log to illustrate the problem.

If the dog is outside, you may want to try technology to stop the barking. There are ultrasonic anti barking devices that can be put outside that will emit a high frequency noise that helps to quiet dogs down. While humans can't hear it, all dog breeds can, and they will soon hear that each time they bark the noise hurts their ears. Many breeders use ultrasonic devices to convince dogs to change their behavior. These devices need to be in direct line of sight of the dog because ultrasonic sound will not pass through walls or fences. They have varying ranges so you should read the instructions to find the radius and hang it where it will have the most impact on stopping the barking.