Neighbour's dachshund barking aggressively many times a day Post Reply

[MonkeyTeddy]

Does anyone have any thoughts please on how to approach the problem of the aggressive, highly territorial dog of our lovely neighbours?
Whenever their door or gate goes, or a cat saunters past the garden, he bursts into an unpleasant bout of aggressive and very intense barking. He's a small dog - a dachshund - and his bark is very piercing and cuts through the walls every time. It's even worse when he's in the garden.
I was wondering if we should suggest some dog training to teach him not to feel he has to go into a hyper-defensive reaction at the slightest thing. They  have lived there for over 6 months now, during which time he hasn't become any more chilled and it's pretty unpleasant to have him kicking off 12 or 15 times a day.
Has anyone else had a similar situation and successfully dealt with it?
Many thanks.

[daisydaisy]

I am am embarrassed dachshund owner who completely sympathies with your post. Please be assured that your dachshund owning neighbour is more bothered by this than you. The breed are hyper sensitive to doorbells and cats etc. Mine has had endless training sessions but is still very reactive- especially to the neighbours dog if it barks or is in the garden. You refer to your neighbour as lovely so hopefully you have a good enough relationship to chat with them. I try to keep my yappy dog inside if the neighbours are in the garden. The older they get, the less yappy they are but please don’t be angry with your neighbour- sausage dogs are just very sensitive and a total embarrassment to their owners!

[CyclingLondon]

[Lorhnial]

@daisydaisy - seconded! I was reading that post wondering if it was about my two sausage dogs

Definitely chat to your neighbour and see if there’s any training they can do to try and reduce it - we’ve done a lot of training with ours and, although they’re now better, on some days they’re fine and on some days anything sets them off. Dachshunds are really hard to train but it’s better to have spoken to your neighbour than suffer in silence.

[Needcoffeenow]

When our lovely neighbours acquired two jack russells we had the same problem - in stereo! They stood at the front window and literally barked at every passer-by, all day long. Are the owners of your sausage dog out during the day? In which case (like our neighbours) they may be unaware of the problem? In the end the JR owners decided the dogs were lonely and took action by shutting them in the back of the house with the tv on. But only after I had said working from home was impossible because I couldn’t have a conversation that wasn’t drowned out by barking. Didn’t want to fall out with them as they were very good in every other way so all very awkward and protracted …

[percypop]

Thank goodness someone has brought up this maddening problem! The plea by one owner for understanding from neighbours is absurd. The disturbance inflicted on their  neighbours, both back and front through constant piercing barking, is not just a matter of convenience but a positive actionable nuisance.
The proposition that neighbours should simply put up with it, is selfish in the extreme.
Why should they just accept the constant yapping which interferes with their work and peaceful enjoyment of their property merely because the neighbour brings dogs into the home? 
Give and take are essential between neighbours, of course, but that means give as well as take. Give consideration.

P.P

[addled]

As per previous suggestions you should have a friendly chat with the neighbour. Stress to them that if "another neighbour" were to report the problem to the council then they would be in quite a lot of trouble, so perhaps suggest an anti-bark collar.

We rehomed a dog and he's settled in well but it was only when a neighbour started working from home that we found out that he barks if left alone, so we bought a bark collar.  If he barks it beeps as a warning.  If he barks again it will vibrate a couple of times.  It worked immediately, and so well that after only a few days we didnt even bother to turn it on, since he'd quickly worked out that the collar vibrates when he barks, so he doesnt bark when he's wearing it, even when its turned off.

Hopefully the site admin are happy for me to post a link to the collar we bought: https://tinyurl.com/amazondogcollar

To clarify: this collar does NOT administer an electric shock.  It's a light vibration similar to a mobile phone, therefore is totally humane.  There are other collars that spray a jet of air or citrus aroma (apparently dogs hate citrus) but my friend who owns a Dachs tried one and it didnt seem to work.

[MonkeyTeddy]

I am am embarrassed dachshund owner who completely sympathies with your post. Please be assured that your dachshund owning neighbour is more bothered by this than you. The breed are hyper sensitive to doorbells and cats etc. Mine has had endless training sessions but is still very reactive- especially to the neighbours dog if it barks or is in the garden. You refer to your neighbour as lovely so hopefully you have a good enough relationship to chat with them. I try to keep my yappy dog inside if the neighbours are in the garden. The older they get, the less yappy they are but please don’t be angry with your neighbour- sausage dogs are just very sensitive and a total embarrassment to their owners!

Thank you for your reply, embarrassed dachshund owner! It is shocking how loud and aggressive our neighbour's one sounds for such a little dog. This morning we were woken at 6.25am with him barking in the garden and then another couple of loud bouts in the following 20 minutes. It is really very annoying. Are they worth the aggro?!
[As I am typing this, he has just kicked off again - grrrr!]
 

[MonkeyTeddy]

@daisydaisy - seconded! I was reading that post wondering if it was about my two sausage dogs

Definitely chat to your neighbour and see if there’s any training they can do to try and reduce it - we’ve done a lot of training with ours and, although they’re now better, on some days they’re fine and on some days anything sets them off. Dachshunds are really hard to train but it’s better to have spoken to your neighbour than suffer in silence.

Thank you Lornial, I don't think we can suffer in silence much more!

[MonkeyTeddy]

When our lovely neighbours acquired two jack russells we had the same problem - in stereo! They stood at the front window and literally barked at every passer-by, all day long. Are the owners of your sausage dog out during the day? In which case (like our neighbours) they may be unaware of the problem? In the end the JR owners decided the dogs were lonely and took action by shutting them in the back of the house with the tv on. But only after I had said working from home was impossible because I couldn’t have a conversation that wasn’t drowned out by barking. Didn’t want to fall out with them as they were very good in every other way so all very awkward and protracted …

Thanks and sorry to hear about your tricky situation. It's similar for us as the neighbours are just the nicest people and we don't want to upset them. But that dog has to calm down. Why is it always the little dogs that are the most aggressive and uptight!
 

[MonkeyTeddy]

Thank goodness someone has brought up this maddening problem! The plea by one owner for understanding from neighbours is absurd. The disturbance inflicted on their  neighbours, both back and front through constant piercing barking, is not just a matter of convenience but a positive actionable nuisance.
The proposition that neighbours should simply put up with it, is selfish in the extreme.
Why should they just accept the constant yapping which interferes with their work and peaceful enjoyment of their property merely because the neighbour brings dogs into the home? 
Give and take are essential between neighbours, of course, but that means give as well as take. Give consideration.

P.P

Indeed! I've never understood how people living in such close proximity as we do in London can be expected to put up with animal noise that borders on harassment.
 

[MonkeyTeddy]

As per previous suggestions you should have a friendly chat with the neighbour. Stress to them that if "another neighbour" were to report the problem to the council then they would be in quite a lot of trouble, so perhaps suggest an anti-bark collar.

We rehomed a dog and he's settled in well but it was only when a neighbour started working from home that we found out that he barks if left alone, so we bought a bark collar.  If he barks it beeps as a warning.  If he barks again it will vibrate a couple of times.  It worked immediately, and so well that after only a few days we didnt even bother to turn it on, since he'd quickly worked out that the collar vibrates when he barks, so he doesnt bark when he's wearing it, even when its turned off.

Hopefully the site admin are happy for me to post a link to the collar we bought: https://tinyurl.com/amazondogcollar

To clarify: this collar does NOT administer an electric shock.  It's a light vibration similar to a mobile phone, therefore is totally humane.  There are other collars that spray a jet of air or citrus aroma (apparently dogs hate citrus) but my friend who owns a Dachs tried one and it didnt seem to work.

Thank you so much addled, this is really helpful. Now, just need to pluck up the courage to broach the subject with our lovely neighbours without them taking offence (although I think we've reached the point where something really has to be said). Thank you again.