Barking Dogs Forum

friend coined a new word: barcophony

2008-08-20T02:31:03Z

barcophony: A whole lot of barking dogs.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=barcophony&defid=3217895

bar·coph·o·ny
Audio Help /berˈkɒfəni/
Pronunciation: bar-kof-uh-nee
–noun, plural -nies.

Origin: 7/13/2008;

< NrL barcophonia < Grk barkophōnía. See barco-, -phony

Harsh discordance of excessive nuisance barking; dissonance due to multiple outbursts of barking. A cacophony of barks, howls, growls, and wails.
A discordant and meaningless mixture of barking sounds: the barcophony produced by all of your neighbors' dogs barking back and forth at each other.
Barking; frequent use of barking to purposely annoy or harass neighbors.

Example:
Life's rough when you are foced to live with a barcophony morning, noon and night.

Please visit the page and vote thumbs up for this new word.

My battle with a dog barking nuisance...

2008-07-05T06:13:47Z

Hello All:

I happen to have a neighbor who is free loading at his Mom's house, and to my detriment happens to be a crazy-dog afficiando. Works in a restaurant or something. Comes home between midnight and 2 AM. Brings the two crazy dogs out in the back yard, below adjacent to our bedroom windows. Is loud on his cell phone at 1 AM and is playing with his dogs at that hour creating a racket. Usually about 10 minutes till he finishes his cigarette. Not time enough for me to get the cops over. Dog noise is low priority for them. If I call at 1 AM, a cop may show up at 8 AM in the morning.
5 AM in the morning. It is his mother's turn to smoke her cigarette. She lets the dogs out again while she puffs herself to death. Another racket for 5-7 minutes.
Animal Control? LOL. They 'work' 9-5, Monday to Friday. Left a message on their 'hotline' aka answering machine. Four days later found a business card stuck to my front door, saying 'AC was here. call our hotline again if you are still having trouble'

And I believe this is the situation all over the country. Officials are apathetic. Even judges can be unfair, if they themselves are dog owners creating nuisance for their neighbors.

Back to my story. Tried to talk to this individual two times. I made the good faith effort to deal with it in a good citizen manner by trying to talk to him. Both times, as soon as I mentioned the dogs, I got cussed out and yelled at. The fellow considers himself some kind of expert at the law. Yells at me that the dogs can bark for 20 minutes each session, at upto 120 decibels anytime, 'according to the law'. 'They are animals and animals cannot be controlled' he says. Typical cocky dog owner attitude. So much for my good citizen efforts..

With all other options exhausted, here is what I have done. Is costing me some money but have no choice. We remodelled our house three years ago and love its location, so moving out is not an option. No guarantee we'll have peace and quiet at the next place, if we move. So we have decided to stay and fight.
Tried the bar association contact list and called about ten attorneys. Dog barking issue? No, sorry we're too busy. Attorneys are too busy if no one has died or gotten hurt. Most of them are not interested in small time stuff. Anyways, I posted a message in Craigslist, looking for an attorney who'd be willing to help, got lucky and found this gentleman attorney in Denver. Paid 50 quid for consultation and 200 quid for him to write a cease and desist letter to the property owner -the cocky guy's mother. He and his dogs are free loading at his mom's, but he's about to create a major problem for her. Attorrney is researching the dog laws in my city, a suburb of Denver. Then he'll write the letter next week. Letter will also tell the home owner that she is causing us injury by interrupting our sleep, by way of the conduct of the occupants of her house. For maximum impact I'll have the Sheriff Dept. deliver the letter to the cocky fellow's mother.
If all disturbances don't stop after the letter, I'll sue her for damages and also request a court for injunction. May cost me 4000 to 5000 to get the ball rolling in District Court, if it come to that. Once I lay down that kind of money there will be no going back, unless she agrees to pay all of my legal costs and stop the nuisance. If the attorney agrees to tack on damages for sleep deprivation, she'll be in serious trouble.

When you want to sue someone, attorneys want 200 quid an hour (in Denver). If you're sued, they'll want 400/hour to defend you. These are the realities which cocky dog owners -and their mothers- don't realize.
Even if dog barking laws in places may allow the nuisance to be perpetrated on others, they do not protect the perpetrators from civil action.

Here is what I have setup for collecting evidence. I bought one miniature security camera with audio from Amazon (about 50 quids). Then I bought a time lapse VCR from EBay ( a Philips for 70 quid including shipping). This VCR records for upto 40 hours on a 8-hour VHS tape with date and time stamp. I have installed the camera on my side of the fence looking into my yard, to be non intrusive, but is listening into my cocky neighbor's yard. It's picking up all sounds and noises they are making. Unaware of what's coming to them. One day my cocky neighbor was telling his dogs, out loud so we could hear it, that they had '19 more minutes to bark'. Another night at 10:30 PM he was himself barking like a dog. Provocation. But I didn't get provoked. Because I know that I have much bigger things in the works for him, and his mother. And I'll nail them with both witnesses and with evidence.
I am offering 50 quid to persons in my neighborhood who can come at short notice and witness the dog disturbance and will pay him/her 10 quid an hour for testifying in court, if needed. Two witnesses will cost me about $300.
There are other neighbors who are affected by the nuisance but they are afraid of getting involved. Typical of our society today, unfortunately. Cocky dog owners are like bullys and most folks are afraid of bullys. Not me. He's messing with the wrong person...

So far my costs, altogether, are at 417 bucks.
If the cease and desist letter doesn't give him a jolt and bring him down from his cocky dog heaven, I have the attorney's retainer ready for the next step, which will be huge.
Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do....
Hope details of my situation can give you any helpful clues for your situation.
I'll write an update after a few weeks....

Sincerely:

4th of July barking

2008-07-05T06:11:33Z

I'm writing this before the fireworks happen. I expect the dogs to bark a lot during the fireworks, but there has been a lot of barking all day long, too. Most of the families have gone out to enjoy 4th of July parties, but they left their dogs at home. I can hear them barking at each other. I'm sure they smell the barbeques that are taking place all over.

Hopefully the owners will come home sometime soon after the fireworks to calm their pets down.

The Threshold of Hell

2008-06-30T19:10:25Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net from:

Linda
Ocala, Florida

I live in Ocala Fl. The threshold of Hell.

For eight years my slumber has been nonexisent because of an ignorant, uneducated, anger unmanaged, demon. This person has no empathy for man nor beast. This person knows the limit of the rules and takes them to the max, and animal control encourages it.

The abominations this person put upon these poor animals, and upon the nieghbors and myself. We are being terrorized by these infidels and their hoodlem cohorts.

No one will open their mouths againt such evil. Where's the cops? They’re buddies with the hoodlums. We have the president of comunity watch and a dispatcher for community watch live across the steet from this creature. Hear no evil, see no evil.

I'm a member of ASPCE Gardens, It is destroying my soul to witness the diseased American dream. I have a least forty plus complaints files not only for animal control but for code enforcement for this person, from all different people. Only in Florida, Only in Ocala.

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

A wish to actively contribute to the movement

2008-06-29T02:00:26Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net:

Hi there,

First of all, I just want to give the people who created this website a big thank you. Like many of the posters that go to your site, I too, am a victim of chronic barking. The problem all started when my neighbor decided that their little puppy had become a little bit too big to be kept indoors. The nightmare had continued for the past 3 weeks. I have not had a good night's sleep, and I really feel like my health (both physically and mentally) are at serious risk. In fact, when I went to work last Wednesday, and I literally forgot my login ID and PW that I've been using for the past 8 months, I think I am suffering from short term memory loss because of the lack of sleep.

I've tried everything: calling the cops at 4am in the morning, talked to the neighbor at 6am, called the cops again, and googled everything that may help me find a solution to this. Yet, the barking continues, and doesn't look like it's going to change. Today, I reluctantly bought some ear plugs and sleeping pills at CVS knowing that I've given in my rights, but there's no other choice, I have to work Monday and I need the sleep. At this moment, I can only take it one day at a time and hope I do not go insane or suffer long term health problems.

What I really want to do right now is to get some advice on how we could make our voice be heard. How I can actively contribute to this movement to create an awareness that 'responsible pet ownership' is every bit as important as driving/parenting/drinking responsibly. I want my voice to be heard, and let the pro-barking crowd know that we are the silent majority, that chronic barking is a serious health threat to the general public.

Once again, thank you very much for the website. I hope I get some sleep tonight.

Sincerely,

Scott
Rowland Heights, California

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Thoughts on nuisance laws requiring witnesses....

2008-06-19T00:20:10Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net:

I live in Urbana, Illinois.

We have ordinances about noise & animal nuisance. But like most, they require a witness-on-record. This is where the process fails.

Yes, the 6th amendment guarantees a right to confront one's accusers. But there's no reason the accuser can't be a law enforcement person -- or a civil advocate/ombudsman.

After all, police can be the lone witness against you for your speeding ticket. Why not for neighbor nuisance?

The fact is that it's MUCH less likely that a neighbor will testify against another neighbor. As we've seen in this very forum, it can be dangerous to do so. You face retaliation, sometimes physical danger. At the very least, you'll be living nearby someone who has a grudge against you.

The law and its process must change. The $$ penalties must be heightened. A working nuisance-ordinance advocate could pay his own salary simply by prosecuting offenders and collecting from their fines.

I find it difficult to believe that people are expected to put up with these kinds of stressful nuisances in the 21st century.

Rob Mccolley
Urbana, Illinois

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Chilled out in Tennessee

2008-06-17T19:27:16Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net from "Chilled out in Tennessee":

This web site is great. Thanks ever so much to everyone involved in putting it together.

I ended up having to go to court over my neighbor’s barking dogs. I was very lucky in that the city I live in pressed charges against the offender.

At the first court appearence the offender pleaded "no contest" and wanted a trial. He had a witness with him......my next door neighbor who in the past has been an offender also. She hates me because I kept calling the cops on her too. Her dogs finally died. Thank goodness.

Anyway we had to come back for the trial. I brought 2 other wittnesses just in case I needed them on my behalf. The judge knew one of my witnesses. They had worked somewhere for 20 years.(ha! ha!) The offender was found guilty. The dog has been silenced since the day the offender was served papers.

The judge said the offender would be on probation for 6 months. He'd dismiss the case if there were no compliants during that time. The dog now wears a barker breaker that shocks her when she barks. All that just so some offender would take responsibility for his pet.

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Moving is a relief!

2008-06-04T23:07:35Z

Hello everyone. I don't know if anyone remembers me. I'm the one that had dreams of living on a house boat someday. I still do...someday, that is. We have moved to a much quieter setting. We have given up the home ownership gig and are sticking to being renters. We took our time and weighed it all out and it's the best choice for my family and I. We have been living the past month and a half in a quiet country setting where the nearest barking hounds are much further from our presence. We can hear barking time to time, but it's never constant, thankfully, and distant. We're still sensitive to barking when we hear it ,whether it is on television, radio, or real time. But this is SO MUCH BETTER than where we were! We have been happily enjoying day to day life without the nuisance! It feels like paradise! As you can imagine, everything that barking affects is no longer being affected, so we're pleased as punch and feel like we're healing. As I sit here, typing away, there is no nuisance to try to drown out. All I can hear are birds singing. Whaddya' know! There is a place on the planet that isn't a barking hell after all!!! We realize that could always change, but oh to have this kind of break from that constant hell we were in... I can't find the words to describe the relief. We're thanking God!

At one time I thought otherwise about moving, but for some people it's the answer for them. We are certain if we had stayed in our situation any longer we would have needed therapy. We experienced two years of the torture and nothing we tried made a dent in it. In fact, the numbers grew and were only feet away from us on every side. As we were moving out, some new neighbors were moving in two houses down. They had a dog. To our surprise, he wasn't much of a barker, but the dogs in the neighborhood loved barking at his presence in his own territory... and, as usual, no one was doing anything about it. I saw one of the new neighbors out in his yard before we moved, looking at all the barking dogs and shaking his head. I felt sorry for him, but they moved in knowingly. And we moved out happily.

New Low for Dog Owner Stupidity

2008-06-02T15:39:02Z

I'm just back from what was supposed to be a quiet retreat at a Benedictine monastery, located in the rural farmlands of Oregon. The place has 800+ acres and the guest house is supposed to be where a person (of any faith or lack thereof) can go to get away from it all and enjoy peace and quiet. (The monks observe silence from sundown to sunrise and for a period of time in the afternoons). I really needed a break and was looking forward to the trip immensely.

But, it appears that the barbarians are at the gate wherever you go. The first night it became apparent that a barking dog had been left it in a car (windows unrolled) in the guest parking lot!

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

The monks solved the problem quickly, though, (or perhaps a Higher Power) . . . the dog was gone by noon the next day . . .

Ear-Shattering Shih Tzu

2008-06-02T04:49:53Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net from San Diego, California:

I am trying to seek info on the decibel rating of my type of dog. We have a Shih Tzu about 9 months old. He does bark but mostly when he's playing with his ball, a common type about 12" round and you would get at a store for under $2.00. He pushes the ball and barks at it while doing so. I sympathize with my neighbors and do not let the dog bark early in the morning or at night after 7:00ish. By law, in San Diego County, you can not have your dog bark for an average of 1 hour at anything greater than 50 decibels. I am seeking info, if you have it, on this breed of dogs barking potential decibel levels.

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

A Flock of Border Collies?

2008-06-02T04:44:52Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net by:

Joanna
Coos Bay, Oregon

This is just a question regarding my neighbor's 5 Border Collies.

My neighbor has 5 Border Collies and 2 sheep. He leaves the Collies indoors when he is gone and when he returns, and lets them out, they chase these 2 sheep for the next hour or so. Is this normal and acceptable to have 2 sheep for 5 Border Collies? I worry that these sheep will someday fall over dead.

While this herding process takes an hour or more a day, my husband & I are subjected to the continual barking of these 5 Border Collies which doesn't stop just with the sheep. When he's home, 85% of the time, they bark at the mailperson's rig coming, going & dropping the mail, the newspaper deliverer rig, the UPS truck, joggers, bikers, you name it they bark while running in circles. I know they are hyper dogs, very cute but after many attempts to ask to quiet his dogs we now believe he is harrassing us by letting them continue to bark. We have contacted our local animal control board who tell us that it's normal for these dogs to want to herd these 2 sheep but 5 dogs herding 2 sheep we find inhumane. Are we wrong to find this behavior upsetting?

Sincerely,

Joanna

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Mad as Hell in Tujunga, California

2008-06-02T04:30:49Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net by:

Warren
Tujunga, California

Hello,

I have been plagued by neighbors' barking dogs for the entire 8 years I have lived in Tujunga. Right now, there is a vicious-to-strangers-behaving police dog that runs right
up to the fence and barks at everyone that walks by either from getting in or out of their car any time of day or night or just passers-by.

I have hours and hours on audio and maybe 10 scenes [since April] shot in High Definition video of the view from my window of the dog harassing everyone. I gave up talking to the owner because he promised a year ago to quiet the abused, rescued dog" and it never happened. I don't know why the other neighbors put up with it unless everyone is having such a totally great time in this life in these days they are just too euphoric to give a second thought to "just a dog".

However my videos show that the expressions and mannerisms of the people walking in front of the dog shows they are under a lot of stress having to be in a place where they are being harassed by a loud, aggressive and challenging adult german shepard. This occurs many times each day and night, at all times of the night when neighbors go out or come home. I witnessed a person who delivers something personally to the owners every day but he stays at least 10 feet away from the fence walking up the middle of the driveway and dialing the phone to contact the people with the dog about his deliveries.

This is the third time I have had to deal with noisy dogs next door or across the street in the last 8 years and the problem STARTED WITH THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES letting people adopt as pets animals that have behaviour problems. The animals get rescued and they go out into the city to become public nuisances for as long as the animals are alive.

A year and 3 months ago I yelled at and then apologized to the neighbor about his dog and he promised that the dog would be "Trained" in 3 weeks so it wouldn't bark any more. The barking continues 24/7/365/6 to this day whenever the dog spies a stranger in the street and I have to listen to it whenever I am home. Sundays, the dog gets going by 7:30AM, after barking at 9:30PM, 10:45PM, 11:45PM, 1:30AM, 3:30AM, etc, whenever someone drives up or leaves their house to go out. When will Los Angeles stop allowing this irresponsible animal management to continue? These people across the street will be liable for $5000 damages in small claims court once I get my evidence prepared and the city doesn't put a stop to the barking coming from the property on Beckett Street. Look for my videos Coming Soon to YouTube, keywords Barking Dog Tujunga.

Mad As Hell And Not Taking It Any More,

Warren

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Thoughts on the thoughtless

2008-05-29T20:58:40Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net by:

Tom
Greensboro, North Carolina

I love your site. I have always "felt" about these issues but could never really get a handle on it the way that you have. I've been up against many thoughtless neighbors with barking dogs. It is amazing to me the mindset of these pet owners. You have tagged them perfectly, but more, you have put the blame where it lies--on our society. It seems hopeless that we can ever defeat the blight of noise and you're correct how it has slowly become more acceptable in our society. We live near an airport noise cone and near a busy highway. Motorcycles without mufflers, barking dogs, planes, etc. It all has become so "normal" when in fact, the noise pollution is all a modern phenomena. I would wager that even incessant dog barking was not "normal" in times before us. Dogs were not corraled or leashed and did not become bored as they do today.

Keep up the fight. Do you have a newsletter?

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Do you want to hear something that's really f---ked up?

2008-05-29T00:21:56Z

I had to live with my next-door neighbor's dog barking just outside of my bedroom window for years. it would stay by their gate & bark at anything it saw on the street or just start barking if it heard other dogs barking which was a lot. finally they had to put the dog to sleep due to old age & it had problems.
I finally had peace, at least from that neighbor's dog. I still have to deal with a german shepard that's behind my other next-door neighbor's house, a beagle from across the street & a little yapper that lives right behind me.
Well, it was peaceful for about a month & then he gets another dog, I think it's a reincarnation of the last one. the reason he got the dog was kind of a watchdog.
Now, the kick in my balls part. I get along with my next-door neighbors & will go out of my way to help them when one of their cars break down, plumbing, let them use my lawnmower while I fix theirs & so on. One day I was talking to my neighbor at his house after I fixed his daughter's car & I was talking about some of our inconsiderate neighbors & their loud music at all hours of the day & how some of them do it because they know that a few of us asked them to turn down the noise. my neighbor replied that that if someone didn't like what he was doing & complained about it, that he would just do it even more because the other person doesn't like it & to piss them off as much as he can.
Well guess what, he knows I can't stand barking dogs & I've asked him to do something about their other dog's barking before, I've even yelled at it at night to shut up a few times, so he knows it really bothers me. Just a few day's ago, I was edging in the front yard, next to their fence. my neighbor & his daughter were in their front yard with the new dog. As I was picking up the debris along the fence, the dog would run up & start baking uncontrollably. all my neighbor & his daughter did was laugh & he would say to the dog was "go get him".
Now tell me what you think, here I am, being a good neighbor & helping him when he needs it, for him to pull chicken-shit like that at me. Boy, what a kick in the balls that is to me.
Now I have that german shepard barking til 3 a.m. & my next-door neighbor's dog start barking at 6 a.m. & neither owner will do anything about it & the police wonder why neighbors are killing neighbors.

A review of the Super Bark Stop

2008-05-16T03:18:38Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net from Pleasanton, California:

Thanks for all the information and resources on your site. I wanted to
share my experience with the Super Bark Stop.

1.) The sensor that is supposed to turn on the unit (which can be set for
1-4 barks) worked poorly. It was not nearly sensitive enough for most
applications, which led me to abandon its use very early on.

2.) The ultrasonic sound on my unit failed a short time after I purchased
it and the user is unable to activate the ultrasonic sound manually, which
was very disappointing.

3.) I customized my unit to be "always on" in the normal sound mode and I
control its use with a remote controlled power cord, like the ones sold
around the holidays to remotely control lights and holiday decorations. I
mounted it above the fence line and directed at my neighbors yard. It
actually worked pretty well with the large neighbor dog, but had no effect
on the smaller breeds.

If a representative of Super Bark Stop reads this and would like to replace
my unit, I'd be thrilled, because I did not bother sending it back during
the warranty period. I would also suggest configuring it so the user can
activate the ultrasonic sound manually (as I would prefer to use that rather
than bother all my neighbors with the high-pitched sound).

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Ratdogs

2008-04-17T00:52:27Z

Atleast you don't have a little ratdog that comes to your yard from down the street & start barking at you. I've told the owner about it, but he thinks he's still in Mexico & won't do anything about it. I think little dos are the worst, that high-pitched barking really gets on my nerves. My dog is very quiet, thank god, I give him alot of attention.

A Little Monday Morning Venting

2008-03-31T16:20:07Z

Have you noticed that owners of problem dogs always feel the need to state, "Dogs bark . . . that's how they communicate" . . . as if they are proclaiming some Great and Holy Truth?

So. Flippin'. Irritating.

Los Angeles Barker Seeks Writ

2008-03-07T19:21:12Z

Our pro-barking neighbor has filed petition for Writ of Administrative Mandamus seeking to overturn Los Angeles Animal Services’ Order to Comply issued to abate her dogs’ excessive barking. [this means she’s suing the city] That case is BS109602 in Los Angeles Superior Court Stanley Mosk. There is a Hearing scheduled before Judge David Yaffe in Dept. 86 on 4/18/8. We complaining neighbors are not being served documents and are paying to download them. Petitioner filed her points and authorities 3/3/8, and City will respond shortly. She seeks total overturn on grounds 1) she wasn’t provided with complete records of proceedings; 2) that administrative hearing examiner did not render “findings” of whether testimony and evidence at hearing were credible or no, and simply recited what was said and presented without “bridging” way evidence and testimony showed a violation had occurred under local anti-bark law; 3) that City abused its authority by unreasonably requiring dogs be kept inside 9pm-7am, or out with supervision only for sanitary reasons, with no cutoff date or review to determine if barking was no longer problematic; and 4) required sterilization of dogs – claims this is unreasonable as she’d invested substantially in dogs hoping to recoup funds and companionship through breeding.

WHY WE ARE, and YOU should be, concerned: I’m not the first Los Angelean to report to this list that their personal experience of the well-intentioned barking control laws was enforcement was either toothless or bit complainants in the @$$! If she’s at all successful it won’t become any easier for anyone else to get enforcement here. We have only the highest praise for and confidence in the judge-like, thorough, responsible, concerned and impartial conduct of the hearing at issue and the highly experienced examiner conducting it in a manner that would stand up to any appeal scrutiny. But the before and since leaves us more than convinced that too many other lynchpin officers and officials of this City would dismiss this law and those asking its enforcement as their personal nuisances.

We initiated our barking complaints 11/2005. First mediation hearing 2/2006 (presiding animal control officer, apparently recovering from injury, was physically unable to speak intelligibly, a hardship for her and us); administrative hearing 6/2006 (finding excessive barking was substantiated by evidence and issuing order to abate); board of animal services commissioners appeal hearing 3-4/2007(affirming previous order after hearing, the subject of this writ).

Through these years we’ve continued to suffer from the barking which owner took no steps to abate. Instead, she aimed ghettoblasters at our homes, then covered them with flags to prevent videotaping (and still does); trained fixed color nightvision videocameras on our toilet and neighbor’s kitchen window to “catch them teasing my dogs” (which she consistently alleges is the cause of the barking but never produces evidence despite eight fixed cameras); files civil harassment restraining orders against us (denied); calls police on us for recording the dogs barking outside while standing beneath her external-microphone CCTV system filming us to point out our tape recorder; focuses halogen worklights on our bathroom window at night; runs gas-powered generator outside our bedroom eight hours filling house and neighborhood with carbon monoxide and NOISE though no problem with her electric, etc. We continued to complain to the authorities about the barking, collect current evidence for and request a license revocation hearing, while the City earnestly ignored our pleas for relief.

Following are selected excerpts of requests for action made to our local shelter Supervisor, City Councilman, City Council President, Board of Animal Services Commissioners, LAAS General Manager, Mayor, Deputy City Attorney/Neighborhood Prosecutor (we’d been involving Neighborhood Watch program and Senior Lead Police Officer as well), and City Controller (her website publishes audit of LAAS programs critical of barking complaint backlog and recommending improvement years ago; she forwarded our complaint back to our City Councilman), all of which produced no reaction:

“We Are Tortured In Barking Dog Hell While LAAS Doesn’t Enforce . . . . New Year’s Eve/Morning, I slept ninety minutes. This wasn’t my choice, recovering from major surgery nineteen days earlier; it was determined by my neighbors’ barking dogs . . . Being allergic asthmatic, I cannot check into a hotel to avoid the noise. Earplugs/covers don’t work and would forfeit control of my Temporomandibular Joint Disorder . . . is LAAS’s task to solve these problems, as I’m sure any Small Claims Court would point out were I to seek financial punishment of the neighbors to effect change” ***

“We believe that the Board’s Hearing of Administrative Appeal 3/27/2007 concerning Administrative Hearing 6/12/06 and General Manager’s Order to Comply 7/5/2006 was improper under LAMC § 53.18.5. . . provides a maximum 100 days between timely-filed appeals and a decision by the Board. It further provides that in the event the Board has not made a decision within this time period, the decision of the General Manager is deemed affirmed (§ 53.18.5(q)7). The Board began Administrative Appeal Hearing of the General Manager’s 7/5/2006 Order to Comply on 3/27/2007, more than 200 days after time an appeal would have been properly filed . . . Notice of Administrative Appeal Hearing . . . did not disclose Hearing was an Appeal of the 6/12/2006 Administrative Hearing and the General Manager’s 7/5 Order resultant. We reasonably believed this Administrative Hearing resulted from General Manager . . . decision to revoke . . . license” ***

“continue barking excessively and unsupervised all hours and all over the neighborhood complying neither with the Order nor it’s purpose, noise reduction. The noise is as bad as it ever was, and we have the audio/video/testimonial evidence, eyebags and grouchiness to prove it. Please schedule the opportunity for us to present this evidence as soon as possible because the noise and sleeplessness are insufferable” ***

A revocation hearing was scheduled, then cancelled after the Board decided to belatedly hear the appeal. According to the Board’s Agendas, which are published online at lacity.org, the General Manager did present a rule modification at meeting following the Appeal Hearing. If approved this rule modification assigned responsibility for deciding to hear or simply affirm on a particular board officer. If obeyed this rule would save the next rational person from the menacing looks and implied eviction I received for appropriately exploding in disbelief that we could be there almost a year of miserable suffering later to be blithely informed the matter was still open. Also following the untimely April 2007 affirmation, a revocation hearing was rescheduled for October, then November, then January 2008. This was before the earliest anticipated date for the writ hearing.

At the January hearing we three complainants (the only two households adjacent to offensive hill crest property are populated full-time by retirees and housewife) were afforded scant time to present or discuss our video, no time for audio, shocked stares at my 47 page, 10pt. Type additional barking log, and no opportunity to cross-examine respondent. This was done so that each angry witness for respondent having a big agenda and little scruples, no evidence and no time near the property, would have a generous opportunity to malign we complainants and our dogs, while deifying the barking dogs and respondent. A couple bordering the other side of our property appeared. They’d tethered their screaming German Shepard full-time for years until a productive mediation hearing, after which they surrendered the dog – the hearing handled by a skillful and concerned officer familiar with the matter followed five-six investigations for tethering (illegal here) and caging the barking dog in an aviary with their macaws. HE stated he believed he had seen me standing across the street from respondent’s residence using a squeek toy to tease respondent’s dogs into barking and that the only dogs he heard barking were ours, and SHE asserted she is a Petco certified dog trainer. The hearing examiner found that sufficiently important or credible to include in the report without asking for evidence of teasing or further information about the other case (in response to her assertion she didn’t appear at previous hearing fearing retaliation - I stated our previous tethering/caging/animal cruelty and barking were resolved by mediation hearing). The neighbor flanking the couple’s far side also attended to “support” respondent, and did so by attacking the couple for caging the dog, and attacked me for stating he had his dates of caging and dogs caged wrong, none of which is relevant to this. Etc. No testifying misbehavior, irrelevancy, or unsubstantiated attack by her mob was discouraged nor was evidence of their allegations invited by the hearing examiner. Examiner’s report reveals he allowed the misbehavior not, as the seasoned restraining order judge had done, in order to get it’s incredibility into the transcript as basis for his or any reasonable reviewer’s disbelief. The Examiner’s report simply ignores the behaviors and their meaning, and their lack of supporting evidence. That means he ignored their incredibility. Ignore the evidence against them, and recommend for the convenience of the city a finding that respondent hasn’t violated the terms of her order to comply and dismiss the current complaint. IOW, since we were so incorrigibly stupid as to keep asking the City to protect us all these months nay years they’d been resisting, we were being told again our protection was a “bluff” being “sold out” by the City by a violator willing to pay for attorneys.

What will the City do to defend the still extant Order to Comply? Will the City ever schedule a revocation hearing again? And why would we or anyone in any semblance of a right mind want to jeopardize it relying on this City “enforcement”? Are there legal means for complainants’ to crowbar City into enforcement?

Sincerely, Sandy Soden in L.A., CA, USA

Barking Backyard Beagles

2008-03-03T23:17:22Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net:

Hi, I'm really ticked off by the neighbors who called the cops several times and they came to my house giving us warning about our dogs.

I have two beagles and I keep them in the backyard from 9AM to 5PM cuz we all have to go to work and we can't keep them inside the garage all day cuz they will need to pee and poop. So anyways, my backyard fence is next to the sidewalk and by 3:15PM everyday, the kids go home from school and they start playing basketball, skateboarding... next to my fence and my two beagles bark at them cuz they're strangers. That's the basic instinct of the dogs : bark at strangers. If anyone of us were home that time, we would let the dogs in the garage. So the dogs bark until the kids stop playing. Sometimes, my dogs will stop barking if they sense the kids are harmless. So the cops later showed up at my house and told me that the neighbors complained that my dogs continuously barked and intimidated them. They said my dogs barked from 9AM-5PM which is not true.

We, humans, communicate by talking. Dogs communicate by barking. Without barking, dogs wouldn't dogs, would they? So once the neighbors hear my dogs bark, they immediately call the cops. So please let me know what rights do I have regarding my dogs? We're Asians, and the neighbors are mostly white. So there's a hate thing involved here cuz the next door has a dog which barks all the time, but I never see a cop coming to their house. Why come to our house?

I wanna know if I can press charges against the cops or any neighbors who make false statement/report? The cops only listen to the neighbors without any proof and will give us a citation if my dogs bark again. Please help!

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Long Odds, But Not Impossible

2008-02-29T00:17:16Z

Q. What are the chances that, in the same lifetime, one person could have not one, but TWO, crabby-old-lady-on-a-walker-neighbors with aggressive, insanely-barking German Shepherds??????????????????

A. Obviously greater than I assumed, as it has happened to me. Another old witch has moved in down the street with a dog that barks at the drop of a hat, or the wind blowing, or a feather falling in a house 200 yards away! And it's another German shepherd! And another "outdoor" pet.

I give up.

One Barking Dog Story

2008-02-17T02:43:00Z

I want to start off by saying that I like dogs. When I had a dog, of course it barked. Dogs bark. Period. But if it was outside, I'd call it in when it started barking. That's what people did. We never left dogs outside when we were at work or at school. It was just the way it was. Maybe people on farms left their dogs out, but in typical neighborhoods with close-packed houses and small lots, it was common courtesy to bring your dog in when it barked.

In the 10 years I've lived in rural northern California, I've learned that many people do not follow these guidelines. The Golden Rule is no longer "Do unto others" but "What doesn't bother me; shouldn't bother you." Consequently, I've lived through three different dog-barking related situations, all extremely problematic and stressful, with dog owners who can't seem to understand that it's torture to listen to someone else's dog barking at all hours of the day and night.

Here's my first story . . . perhaps another day I will write about #2 and #3.

We had some pleasant LDS neighbors across the street. Their adult daughter moved abroad, and had left her dog with her parents. They were both retired, but very busy and active, so they left the dog out in the backyard while they persued their various activities. The dog was lonely and bored and started barking a lot during the day. We knew it was a temporary situation, so we just tried to deal with it. They brought it in at night, too, which helped.

That Christmas, they left town and instead of taking the dog with them or putting it in a kennel, they left it outside (a friend came by to feed it). Now the dog was even lonelier than before and barked off and on all day and night. It disturbed our sleep constantly and made for a very stressful holiday season. I made a mental note to talk to the owners when they got back. Even though I knew it was a temporary situation, depriving my whole family of sleep for two weeks just wasn't fair.

One night it was particularly bad, (maybe a raccoon or a bear outside), and the dog barked non-stop from 2-4 a.m.(loud, sharp, aggressive barking).

The next evening at about dinnertime, I was getting dinner ready and I heard popping noises, and then terrible howling. It sounded like a dog had been hit by a car, but when I opened the door, I realized the sound was coming from the neighbor's yard. The dog had been shot in the mouth. Apparently someone had had enough of the dog the night before. We called our vet and did everything we could to help it, but could only watch as the dog died an agonizing death (it took it about 30 minutes to die). Just horrible.

At the time, I was furious, and wrote a letter to the paper. I was in total shock. How could someone have done something like this? Couldn't they have at least talked to the owners before pulling out a gun?

That summer, those neighbors moved away (they were very shaken up about what happened), and new ones moved in. One of the first things the new neighbors did was to buy a dog. And, much to my horror, they started leaving their dog in the backyard when they went on vacations, just like the other family. This new dog was a sled dog, and when abandoned would howl constantly all night, trying to locate the owners. It was an eerie sound . . . designed to travel miles over the ice, no doubt, but when combined with barks, was so loud and penetrating it made it impossible to sleep at night.

As soon as they returned from that first trip, I went over and explained what the dog was doing and filled them in as to what happened to the previous dog. I explained to them how horrible it had been for me to have listened to the dog die, and how every time their dog barked, it took me back to that horrible night when the dog suffered so badly. The owners' reaction was "awww, how cute that our dog misses us" . . .Completely glossed over the fact that I couldn't sleep . . . unbelievably, they thanked me for coming over, but explained that the dog got carsick, so they couldn't take him on trips, and was an "outdoor dog" so couldn't be let in the house, so we were just out of luck and would have to deal with it. The woman said this to me, smiling the whole time. I'm like, "I'm concerned that you are putting your dog at risk, as well as making it very hard for your neighbors." And she said, "Oh, well, I'll consider that." Then they went on leaving the dog howling outside every other weekend as if I hadn't said anything.

At one point another of my neighbors told me that she'd left a message on their answering machine during one noisy weekend saying, "You just can't do this. You just can't leave a dog outside barking all night." She got the same fake smiles and no action from them.

For a while I just tried to suck it up; I felt I just had to get used to the fact that every other weekend I'd have two nights of worry and lost sleep. However, when the neighbors went away to Ecuador on vacation and left the dog howling day and night for three weeks, it was just too much. Thankfully three other neighbors got involved and we all made separate complaints to Animal Control. AC left a citation on the neighbors' door with instructions to call the office when they returned. I also got a brochure about a local kennel and a copy of the local dog ordinances for them.

After three miserable weeks of this lonely dog's howling, the husband finally arrived from Ecuador. He read the notes on the door and showed up at our house. He had a sheepish look on his face and apologized for the problem quite convincingly. We talked for a while and my husband told him that we were sorry it had gotten to the point where we'd called in the authorities, but something had to be done. His dog had a barking problem, and couldn't be left outside. We thought our conversation with him had settled the matter; however, the next morning, the guy left for work and left the dog (again) in the yard barking and howling.

I couldn't believe that I had to call Animal Control again! I asked to speak to a supervisor. Apparently she had spoken to our neighbor that morning and he had lied through his teeth --- told her he'd gone around to all the neighbors and that there was really no problem at all!

I explained to the agent that if she looked into it she would find that there had been four complaints. (Which she verified; initially she had taken his word for it, believe it or not). I told her my concerns for the dog after the previous one had been shot, and that something had to be done. Since the dog was barking the whole time I'd been on the phone, I took the portable phone outside and asked her if she could hear it.

"Yes, I can." she said

"That's what we have to put up with," I said, "Night and day."

"That's horrible. You know,when I drove by last week, I didn't hear anything," she said, "But I only drove by once. We just don't have the resources to pay for more than one drive-by. So, it the dog isn't barking, what can we do? Your neighbor was clearly b.s.-ing me, then. I'm going out there tonight."

We told her exactly when he got home from work and she did show up. Apparently she told him she knew he'd lied to her, that she'd heard the dog barking over the phone and after that, they would have to either pay someone to stay in the house when they were away (the dog only howled and barked when he was alone) or send the dog to a kennel when they are gone for more than a weekend.

From that point on, the neighbors finally started looking after the dog.

Sadly (but not surprisingly), that was the end of any sort of pleasant relationship with the neighbor. Instead of being remorseful or mad at the dog that was causing all the problems, he sulked and pouted . . . like it was somehow our fault that we couldn't "let a dog be a dog" . . . his family really seems to believe that their neighbors are "mean" because they couldn't stand the sound of a dog howling 18 hours a day.

Not a great loss, but still, you like to have relationships with your neighbors that are at least polite, if you can.

What pops into my mind over and over on this Barking Dogs Forum is that in modern times, the Golden Rule "Do Unto Others" has become warped into "If it doesn't bother me, it shouldn't bother you." It's causing a helluva lot of problems with neighbors. Repeatedly I hear dog owners claiming that their dogs' barking is no problem, and they seem quite hurt, baffled and sometimes even hostile that anyone could feel otherwise. "It doesn't bother me, therefore it shouldn't bother you, either."

It would be so nice to be able to tell people that "Yes, the sound of your dogs bothers me," and have them say, "Wow. Sorry. It doesn't bother me, but if it drives you up the wall, I should do everything I can do to fix the sitation . . ."

The Other Side of the Fence

2008-02-16T18:54:33Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net:

I am a dog owner who has been taken to court by my neighbor. She claims that our two dogs bark for prolonged periods of time every day and that she is disturbed by it. However, she is gone for most of each day at her place of business which is several blocks away.

We ended up in court where she lied and the judge chose to believe her even though we had witnesses stating that our dogs were observed at different times of the day and they were not barking. One of the witnesses is the animal control officer! We also had statements from all other neighbors stating that they didn’t have a problem with our dogs at all.

We live in Montana and the law has been changed here that now makes it quite easy for anyone to file a complaint against their neighbor for barking dogs. It used to be that there had to be at least 3 people filing but now it just takes one troublemaker. It seems to me that anyone who owns a dog is now fair game for anyone else who has it out for them. I guess dog owners are at the mercy of the courts and at the mercy of vindictive neighbors.

Just thought you should know that most dog owners just want to live in peace and enjoy our four legged friends. What happened to good neighbors? Went the way of good manners and everything else good in this country.

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

An untried strategy ..

2008-02-14T02:49:08Z

The best strategy I can think of for a neighbour to combat local
barking is to build one's own "dog".

It doesn't matter what your dog looks like as long as it:

1. Picks up the local din and replays it directly to the offender,
ideally from a place where he can't attack it.

2. Inserts a short time delay before doing so. This time delay is to
prevent the acoustic feedback which would otherwise put the whole
system into intolerable screech mode. (Hmmm, that's not such a bad
idea when you think about it!)

3. Replays the din at a volume nearly equal to that of the offender's
dog.

4. Is powered up 24 hours.

My reasoning is simple:

(a) The offender can't logically complain about a noise he has
already condoned.

(b) The authorities can't complain to you about a din that doesn't
occur when the offender's din does not occur. If authority wants to
ticket you then it must logically ticket him, too.

(c) If the authorities complain that your din is electrically
generated and therefore controllable, you can merely point out that
noise is Noise howsoever generated and that there are comparable laws
against biologically generated noise as well.

The whole setup is automatic. Noise for Noise and peace for peace.
The offender himself determines what happens. He'd have to be super-
thick not to work out what's going on.

The dog will probably be infuriated at the din generated by your own
"dog". It will probably go berserk with rage. Its owner will also be
infuriated that his dog should be tormented this way.
Due to the dog's head bone structure it might not detect that it's
hearing itself. It might think it's hearing another dog and bark
crazily at this defiant territorial intrusion.

That's at first. I reckon the dog's intelligence, far superior to
that of its bonehead owner, will soon wise up that if it keeps quiet
then it receives quiet.

You can tell any investigating authority that you felt so sorry for
the dog barking distressfully that you devised this scheme to train
it, and that you are actually being kind to the dog in doing so.

Implementation of this strategy may require the services of an
electronics technician. He will need to design or buy a digital time-
delay signal processor.

You will require a whopping great loudspeaker (eg 12") with a
powerful audio amplifier to run it.

The loudspeaker could be bought separately and mounted in the centre
of a piece of thick wood, say 3/4 inch, to form what is called a
baffle board. The idea behind a baffle board is to make the sound
path between the speaker cone's vibrating front face to that at the
back as long as practicable. A piece of wood say 6 x 6 feet would be
fine. If this is considered too large then any really powerful
speaker cabinet from a hi-fi system should also do. What you need is
the power to run it.

I figure the authorities won't know what the hell to do.

Ideally they will do nothing and the owner will get the message that
he's well in the wrong. It's a case of shaming the fool by what the
psychologists call "mirroring" that is, by holding a form of mirror
to the offender's own behaviour so that he can see for himself what a
dickhead prat he really is.

I have found that imitating a child's tantrum soon brings the kiddy
to a similar realisation.

Best wishes,

Peter Bright
Quiet Tasmania
Australia

www.quietas.net

Advice for working with the District Attorney

2008-02-08T17:46:56Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net by:

Merrill Gerber
Southern California

We visited two friends last night who happen to be retired district attorneys. We described at length our two dog cases in which the courts failed us -- and they actually had some specific advice. They said that if the police have enough evidence and go so far as to file the complaints with the DA, the injured parties should make an appointment to see the head DA. Our friends said that for a DA to see a real face behind the legal-eze terms of "incident" and "the subjects" is to humanize the situation and give him some sense of the real urgency and importance of the case.

They also said that judges "roll their eyes" when a DA wants to file a case about barking dogs. Judges absolutely have no interest/time/respect for such cases.

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net

Law Enforcers are Law Breakers in California

2008-01-18T02:05:41Z

This posting was emailed to forum@barkingdogs.net by:

Jing
Lincoln, California

I posted to this forum in 2005. I couldn't find that post anymore.

(Note from moderator - this is being reposted, with updates... the dog has continued to bark all this time.)

Our neighbor on the right side, the guy has a dog, named Storm. He is a big dog. Very violent. Barks at very high volume. The dog used to work as police dog. Retired because it had some protein digestion problem. Has too much energy. It has been barking bad for the past three years. We have done everything. I know we have put up with this for too long. The guy works for police, his wife is a lawyer - we know this because he threatened my husband: "Do you know what my wife does? She is an attorney!"

Anyway, the new situation is, during the crazy wind last week, the guy's fence fell down. So starting this week he kept the dogs in his small fenced side patio, which is right underneath our master bedroom window. I am on maternity leave, so I am at home everyday with one month old baby.

The dogs are bored. Storm barked all morning, about two hours nonstop, the day before yesterday. We left a short note on a post-it, on their door, asking them to do something about it. They returned a printed letter in the noon, saying nothing can be done about it. Fence down, dogs had to kept inside the locked patio. They get bored, they bark. The shock collar we bought for them - we paid $80 for that collar, Storm has got used to the collar. So in the evening, my husband dropped by their house. His wife answered. My husband said this is a serious matter, they cannot just leave it barking like that. The whole conversation was polite and short, less than 2 minutes. His wife said she understood, but not much can be done. Blah blah.My husband came home. A couple minutes later, the guy came and pounded on our door. When my husband answered, he said in an angry tone, that "How are you? ..I would appreciate it if you did not harass my wife!" And blah blah blah. "..I got your note...I returned your note..."

His wife told him to go back home, holding their daughter, standing outside their door. The guy didn't listen. Then his wife came over and dragged him home.
The next day they kept the dogs inside the garage.

Today they let the dogs out again. And Storm has been barking from 10:59 AM nonstop to now, which is 2:17PM. We ran out of one videotape.

I called HOA. She said all they can do is send a letter. If more than one complaint, maybe go further. The other house is empty. The next house, I talked to the owner back in Sept. He is bothered too. He said he talked to the owner last year too.
Animal control sent one officer over when last time I called, which is about 2 years ago. The officer said "dogs will be dogs" to me in the callback later. I think the guy works for police, they somehow bonded. Still I called animal control again today. They will send one officer out again. But since last time was more than 6 months ago. So this will be treated as a new claim.

I am ready to take this to court. But since the guy's wife is attorney, I need one good attorney. Does anyone have any recommendation/suggestions?

This posting is part of the Forum section of barkingdogs.net