What do we do with our neighbours dog who barks incessantly and loudly whenever he is left alone?

Ahh, you sound like my local mountain forum - a world wide problem.

Find out what your local ordinances are regarding barking dogs; around here, it's considered a nuisance if they bark unceasingly for 20 minutes or more.

Go talk to the neighbor with the dogs - they may not be aware their dog is barking all day when they aren't home. If they aren;t willing to take care of the issue, maybe a few fines will get them to care.

Give them a bark collar for christmas. if you like them it can be a present if you dont you can send them a bill in the mail.

There's not much you can do. You can keep reporting them and getting them fined, etc, but in the long run it won't make a difference.

The dog is barking for a reason, most likely because it is bored or not exercised well enough. The only way to solve the problem is to cure the cause.

In a nutshell, this means you have to talk to your neighbours and see if they are aware of it. If they aren't, you stand a chance, but they will probably have to work pretty hard at changing this behaviour since it is now a habit.

Can you do anything?

Might be able to report their dog for "disturbing the peace" the police officers might just laugh at you though.

The only thing I can see fixing this problem is you moving to a new area. Which is a bit extreme.

Try reading this seven-page article:

http://www.barkingdogs.net/persuadeneighhead.shtml

Bottom line is if your neighbor is a jerk, you're SOL. And since chances are he IS a jerk, you have my deepest sympathies.

What I've done personally is buy a fan that runs all day and

night and masks a lot of the barking. I never open my windows

any more, so my air conditioning bill is higher than normal, but the extra fan noise of the air conditioner covers up even more of the barking than the little fan I have in my bedroom.

We had this problem several years ago.

I went to their house, when they were home, to try to talk to them about it.

They refused to answer the door.

I wrote a note, and taped it to their front door.

They sent a NASTY reply in the mail.

So, every time the dog barked like that, I called their home and had my son bark like a dog into their answering machine.

We had to do that about 5 times.

Then suddenly, the dog stopped barking.

You might suggest that the owner buy a bark collar, or maybe you could buy one for it.