How to deal with neighbors' barking dogs?

October 18, 2004 1:08 PM

We just moved into a new place, and the neighbors' incessantly-barking Jack Russells are driving us crazy.

The neighbors are friendly, but they’re deaf, so they can’t hear the barking. They’re considerate types, and don’t leave the dogs out all night, but the constant yapping is annoying, especially when we’re out in the yard.

On a plane this weekend, I saw a cool-looking anti-barking device in the Sky Mall catalog. Does anyone have experience with this or other anti-barking techniques?

posted by MrMoonPie to human relations (9 comments total)

The problem with devices like that one is that they can be ineffective if not paired with training. They serve to interrupt the barking, but if the cessation is not followed by a reinforcer (food, play, praise), it doesn't actually train the dog anything. I don't mean to discourage you, it may well work, but you should be prepared for the "barkbarkbark" to just change to "barkBEEEEEEPpause, barkBEEEEEPpause". If you have the time, and your neighbours are amenable to it, what you could do is set up the device, sit in your backyard with a bucket of small tasty dog treats, and toss treats over after every pause in the barking. But barking is intrinsically rewarding for many dogs (especially many terriers), so I suspect that this is a problem you will have to deal with by going to the owners. I would likely just ask the neighbours to please not leave their dogs outside for long stretches of time as it's affecting your enjoyment of your home.
posted by biscotti at 1:52 PM on October 18, 2004

What biscotti said. A) Ask your neighbors politely, and B) learn to deal. You might just want to take a boombox out in the yard and play music--it's not going to bother the hearing-impaired neighbors, after all.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:14 PM on October 18, 2004

I don't agree, and for an unfortunate reason: the device uses negative reinforcement, not positive. The sound the machine makes is outside the frequency human ears can hear, but it is so loud that it hurts the dog's ears. The dogs quickly learn that barking is followed by a painful stimulus. Unfortunately, any loud noise - a door slamming, a truck passing by - is also followed by a painful stimulus.

I don't find this to be 'humane', even if it's not doing the dog any permanent harm.
posted by ikkyu2 at 2:47 PM on October 18, 2004

I don't agree, and for an unfortunate reason: the device uses negative reinforcement, not positive. The sound the machine makes is outside the frequency human ears can hear, but it is so loud that it hurts the dog's ears. The dogs quickly learn that barking is followed by a painful stimulus. Unfortunately, any loud noise - a door slamming, a truck passing by - is also followed by a painful stimulus.

This is also why it's only active for 25 feet - further away, it's not painful to the dog.

I don't find this to be 'humane', even if it's not doing the dog any permanent harm.
posted by ikkyu2 at 2:48 PM on October 18, 2004

I would be very impressed if you managed to train a Jack Russell not to bark, especially without continuous access to the dogs. Other than learning to deal or fighting incessantly with your neighbours, I'm afraid the options are limited.
posted by Krrrlson at 3:19 PM on October 18, 2004

While I definitely don't disagree with your intention, ikkyu2, most of these types of devices are not actually "painful", they're merely loud enough to the dog to cause an interruption in their behaviour. We could certainly argue the fine details of this, since to some extent any negative stimulus is certainly negative reinforcement on some level, but I don't think that most devices like this are loud/painful enough to be truly punitive, and certainly not loud enough for long enough to be inhumane.
posted by biscotti at 3:19 PM on October 18, 2004

I had this problem, and had to confront one set of neighbors multiple times to get them to keep their dog inside until at least 9 am. I was right up to my threshold, ready to start getting all legal on their ass, but suddenly they started acting like decent people.

I'm a dog lover and not one to seek personal confrontation, but I would cheer your use any legal means to get the peace you deserve.
posted by NortonDC at 3:40 PM on October 18, 2004

we moved.
posted by andrew cooke at 9:04 PM on October 18, 2004

My neighbors do this. I don't know if they're deaf, but they sure are assholes.

Two years ago I was home with a head cold on 4/15, farting around with my tax return at the last minute when their trio of four-legged Napoleon complexes struck up the band for the nth time that afternoon. I went back into the kitchen, opened the windows, and launched into a booming basso profundo delivery replete with liberal use of my favorite intensifiers (think Kingsley in Sexy Beast.)

The dogs were let in within a minute. I filed on time.

I put it down to projecting from the diaphragm.

YM&CMV.
posted by trondant at 12:23 AM on October 19, 2004