Proof of dog barking?

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SecondMonkey

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I have a whiny, uptight, b****y, dumb*** neighbor who moved in a few months ago. (he rents, I own) I also have a dog that barks very rarely towards his house at night, and every time this happens he either knocks on my door or calls the police. And by bark, I mean two or three yaps before I go bring him in. None of the other neighbors in 4 directions complain.

Now, technically there is a city code that prevents any dog from making a noise that "annoys" someone, with a fine up to $250.

On the other hand, this is the suburbs, there are dogs in every direction barking day and night. I am 100% certain this idiot is blaming my dog for another dog's barking most of the time. Dog barking is just part of life in the suburbs, just like lawnmowers.

The police have come to my door, and I told them what a moron he is, and how many other dogs there are around, and they mostly agreed, but said I should keep it to a minimum, and I do.

So my question is, IF they try to fine me $250, do they first have to provide proof without reasonable doubt that it's MY dog, and not one of 12 others in the neighborhood? My point being, I don't think anyone can provide this proof.

I should make it clear my dog is NOT A nuisance, the only nuisance is the neighbor. However, if he wants to play nasty, he picked the wrong guy to mess with....
 
You do say your dog "barks very rarely towards his house at night." Why does your dog bark "towards" this particular house? Is your neighbor burying bodies in his yard? How often is "very rarely?" And for how long does your dog bark? Is your dog outside on these occasions? If so, can you keep him inside?

If there's only one neighbor complaining, I don't see how that one neighbor can make a compelling argument for your dog being a disturbance of the peace. I mean, I wouldn't want to live next to a guy who has dog that never shuts up or that Now if your dog howls like Lon Chaney under a full moon, but most dogs will on occasion yap and bark, and it's just something that people will have to accept.
 
Most ordinances call for something like 15 minutes of barking. A standard of resonable vs unreasonable should still apply. if you brought the dog right in after he barked, that's reasonable.
 
Here's the exact statute, which technically I am in violation of on rare occassion.
Quote:
A. Noise Disturbance Prohibited. A noise disturbance is any sound produced by animals, which annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of others within the limits of the city.
B. Penalty. Offenses of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall be classified as a Class C violation punishable by up to a two hundred fifty dollar ($250.00) fine.


Originally Posted By: moribundman
You do say your dog "barks very rarely towards his house at night." Why does your dog bark "towards" this particular house? Is your neighbor burying bodies in his yard? How often is "very rarely?" And for how long does your dog bark? Is your dog outside on these occasions? If so, can you keep him inside?

Frankly, my dog is an idiot, he barks at anything that moves at night. Could be a squirrel, racoon, opossum, or his own reflection. It's towards this guy's house completely at random. Rarely is maybe once or twice a month, for no more than 1 minute. He lives in the house, but he has to poop somewhere.
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Originally Posted By: moribundman
but most dogs will on occasion yap and bark, and it's just something that people will have to accept.

My point exactly. This guy is just being a jerk. He's one of 'those' kind of people.

Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
if you brought the dog right in after he barked, that's reasonable.

That's what I do, but as you can see above the law makes no mention of a time limit.
 
Our next door neighbours had an illegal kennel with NINE mini schnausers (bred for barking) that would bark AT us every time we were outside, even when we looked out the window. First thing in the morning when we went to our cars, and right when we got home, they barked. Days off, they would bark at us like 10 times a day. Asked the neighbours if they could obstruct their view so it would not happen. They said nope, they would only bark more. Umm, ok. The neighbours literally threatened to run their fence right up to the property line. The dogs were already closer to our home then theirs. The aquired more dogs and moved them closer over time. Funny thing is they were actually LITERALLY ignorant, thinking we should just be subjected to whatever they imposed on us.

Well, they did not think it thru. Their wood house is like 20 feet from the road and several nights of my mufflerless Saab blasting past straightened them out. You know the parable about throwing stones.

A zoning complaint did some good except the zoning officer white-washed it. Suddenly they only had 3 dogs registered. The people also had a for sale ad online..."our dogs are sold with akc papers or whatever". That meets the criteria for a kennel. Having a legal kennel means no dog runs withing 200 feet of property line, which they could not meet, space-wise.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
Well, they did not think it thru. Their wood house is like 20 feet from the road and several nights of my mufflerless Saab blasting past straightened them out. You know the parable about throwing stones.


LOL. Yeah, if he wants to throw stones, I'll build a stone cannon. Now that it's spring I'll be firing up my 6 cylinder 2 stroke boat frequently in the same place the dog barks. No muffler when it's out of water and massive clouds of smoke.
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I'm scouring the laws about when and how often I can do it...

I think a high wattage 'security' light pointed at his bedroom window migh be in order as well...you know, to keep my boat safe.
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Just relax for now, but they seem like jerks.

We have a shooting range that has been here for 30 years, a former sportsman's club. I grossed-up on ammo last summer and practiced from the roof. They eventually decided to let their house go into forclosure, much simpler and easier than shutting the dogs up.

The neighbour on the other side (a re developer jerk-off) who used neighbour #1 to stir the pot, took up the cause when he ran out of people to do his bidding for him and started running a giant tractor/thresher next to our house to harass us on a frequent basis. My surprise for him is my new GSX 750 parked at an undisclosed location. He has 2 $1800/week premium executive rental "cabins" built w/o permits over the legal setback on the dirt road going down to the river. He's tried to have the road "closed" because locals are not good enough to access the StPark on the road they built and maintained for 100 years.

One hint of any bull this summer and he'll be sorry.
 
MT, you have to apply the standard of ~reasonability~. You can't expect total silence or a dog that never barks at all. It was so bad for us that we could not even speak to each other outside. My only regret was that we did not hammer them worse, a civil suit was totally due them.
 
Originally Posted By: SecondMonkey

Frankly, my dog is an idiot, he barks at anything that moves at night. Could be a squirrel, racoon, opossum, or his own reflection. It's towards this guy's house completely at random. Rarely is maybe once or twice a month, for no more than 1 minute. He lives in the house, but he has to poop somewhere.
56.gif



Seems obvious then, to me anyway, that where your dog is allowed to go is the problem.

Maybe you could figure out some way, to limit where your dog can go to do his business, like somewhere that does not face your hyper sensitive neighbor's house?

Here is my standard of reasonableness.

If you see several gnarly cut and polished BADAZZ Harley's, parked side by side all in a row, don't be tempted by that tight spot between bikes belonging to color's and prospect's, that you would have to parallel park into, unless you know you can do it without causing 'yourself' immeasurable grief.

An honorable person, will apply the same standard to all, regardless of perceived potential consequences for violating it, and those are the only sort of people I respect.
 
In NY, can't say for sure where you are, the police officer would have to witness the dog barking to issue a ticket. That said, no self respecting cop would cite you for a barking dog. The heck he'd have to endure in locker room would never end!
 
Originally Posted By: Oilgal


Seems obvious then, to me anyway, that where your dog is allowed to go is the problem.



Yea, 2ndmonkey. What are you thinking, letting your dog poop outside in the grass?

I'd probably continue on and let the cops get angry for having to waste their time (they get it) until they tell your neighbor to quit wasting their time. Next time they come, let them stand there and listen to all the other dogs barking throughout the neighborhood. In the meantime, let your dog poop in his yard when he's gone.
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Originally Posted By: mechtech2
You dog barks and is annoying the neighbor.
Shut him up or pay the fine.

If the neighbor had been nice and/or reasonable about the whole thing I would be a little more accomidating for him.

He never came over and asked "could you please keep your dog quiet, I'm having trouble sleeping", he simply called the cops, multiple times.

Furthermore, he's being completely stupid and unreasonable. Dog barking is part of life in the suburbs. My dog rarely barks. And there are other dogs in every direction that bark as much or more, much of which he most likely blames on my dog. If any of you met him you could just tell from the beginning he's a cranky, rude, annoying sort of person. I'm sure you've all met someone like that.
 
Originally Posted By: frank2009
In NY, can't say for sure where you are, the police officer would have to witness the dog barking to issue a ticket. That said, no self respecting cop would cite you for a barking dog. The heck he'd have to endure in locker room would never end!


Same for the small town I worked for. We constantly answered calls about nuisance dog barking. We only wrote a few tickets as the dogs were usually quite by the time we got there.

For the OP,

Barking dogs are NOT a part of suburban life. Sure, non-barking dogs can be part of it, without problems. We have two large dogs which will bark at anything that moves, especially people walking in the neighborhood. They annoy the heckout of me when they bark so I do my best to shut them up. We keep them inside at night for this very reason. Our neighbors have dogs. The folks across the street have annoying barkers too. We all tolerate each other. If our one neighbor (no dogs, just a cat) complains, I'll complain about him cutting his grass at 9:30 at night or trap his cat when it comes on our property. I'm not getting on your case here. If what you described is factual, then your neighbor is just being a PITA. FWIW, I like the spotlight idea.
 
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