My Beagle puppy is 17 months old. He is very close to me and always has been. He suffers quite badly from seperation anxiety and my neighbours always complain about the barking...

I recently was in hospital for three weeks and of all the problems I had- my neighbours seemed to be the worst!
My mother moved in to my house to care for my dog and whenever she visited me she had to get a dog sitter round to watch him because if he barked for more than ten minutes they compained- with  notes through my door- my mum explained the situation but still they complained!!

I NEVER EVER  leave my pup for long. I once got a phone call from my landlord (i live in part rent/part buy property) saying that there had been a complaint about continuous barking for over three hours constantly... at that point I hadnt even been gone for two!!

Tonight though, I went out and called my mum to ask her to look after my dog, she was here within ten minutes of me leaving and caught the neighbour who was just about to stick another note through my door... he is threatening to call the RSPCA????? He said my dog had been barking all day which is ABSOLUTE rubbish as I was in with him all day..

I just dont know what to do- does anyone have any advice? its clear theyre unhappy but they are seriously starting to exaggerate and I am worried about what they can do?

HAs anyone had this problem, is it too late for my pup to stop barking? What are my rights etc?

Dont panic, its nothing to do with the RSPCA its the environmental health dept of your local council who would deal with it.  I think they come out and check for themselves level of noise so if its only now and then for 10 mins then you have nothing to worry about.

Ive never experienced separation anxiety but maybe someone else will be along soon to give advice on that.  Or you could try a behaviourist.

Claire

Have you spoken to the neighbour? Maybe its not your dog they are hearing if you say he isn't barking when they say he is. I wouldn't panic as it wouldn't be anything to do with RSPCA, but try to get some kind of conversation going with the neighbours if you can. I remember meeting a Beagle at the vets once and being very surprised at how loudly they bark! A constantly barking dog is extremely annoying, but if your dog isn't barking then you haven't anything to worry about really.

ETA: If you google 'barking dog law' and your area you may find more info on the laws in your area, but environmental health is normally involved for noise nuisance.

Several problems here:

To sort out the seperation anxiety would need the compliance of the neighbours because you will need to go back to scratch and build up his confidence that you will come back. Unfortunately a dog with a needy temperament and an owner who seldom leaves him, there will be great trauma when a problem like your hospitalisation arises. Your statement "I NEVER EVER  leave my pup for long" tells a story...great when you can be home all day but we will occasionally have these unplanned problems.
Neighbour problems of the 'drip drip' type can become one drip too far. Beagles are not the quietest of dogs and a couple of hours of him letting rip with anxiety could have been too much to bear
I feel that you need to talk to them, try to get them on your side and tell them that you intend to get help with his Sep anx and that it will get better.
If they realise that it may be quicker to sort the dog than get legal action, they may stop complaining.
I dont know your rights because you could be a home owner or tenant private/local authority?

I know it seems the last thing you want to do but please try to negotiate with your neighbours......they may be rightly fed up......I probably would be and I love dogs...just not barking dogs.

A good behaviourist will work with you to lessen his sep anx symptoms. Vet might also suggest things to calm him whilst his behaviour is being reshaped.

If it's any help I have the worst sep anx candidate here in my house and I can now leave him for long periods and he totally relaxes..snores in fact...it can be done.

It is the environmental health part of the council that deals with noise complaints. The way it works is when they receive a complaint, they send a letter out to the dog owner, and another to the person complaining. The complainer has to keep a diary for 2 weeks detailing all times they have heard barking and for how long. They then send it back to the council. Quite possibly full of lies -my ex neighbours stated my dogs barked non stop for 3 hours every evening between 7 pm and 10 pm! (Would have been hard for me to watch EastEnders if they did!!) Then the council look at the diary, and if it looks like there is too much barking ( bearing in mind that dogs ARE by law allowed to bark, just not for too prolonged periods a time or at anti-social hours) they ask the complainer if they want listening equipment to be installed. They can only refuse so many times, if they don't agree they will not be allowed to make further complaints. If they install listening equipment you will not be told, and it will be on your neighbour's property. The council will then have a meeting with several people all listening to the recordings, and then they decide if there is a problem or not. If there isn't, they don't tell the dog owner a thing (very annoying) but they tell the complainer. If there is, they will tell the dog owner and give them a chance to do something to stop it.

I had EIGHT letters of complaints and twice they listened to the dogs. It was found each time to NOT be excessive barking. That's when the neighbours decided to ENSURE the barking was excessive and hence they started kicking our door etc to make the dogs bark but that's another story. This is how it works anyway. The RSPCA have nothing to do with it, all they can do is say you leave your dog alone for too long -but by the sound of it you do not. However if you have a private landlord I'm not so sure that he can't do what he likes about his tenants i.e let them go if neighbours complain, whether there is a reason or not -I simply don't know as I have never rented a house. But in a nutshell I'd tell the neighbours to stop harassing you and if they have a problem make a formal complaint to the council and let THEM decide if there is a problem or not.

But yes, of course you also need to get your dog to be comfortable being left alone and not barking.
Good luck -I do know so well what its like and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I would do my own research as well on my dog barking if it were me. I'd go out and leave the dog but only go just up the road then return on foot and listen for a while to see when the dog started to bark and how loud it was, you can also keep an eye for you neighbours to see how long they give it before putting notes through your door which i'm sure would also cause the dog to bark.
Try to go out without your neighbours knowing as by now they maybe watching you so they can take every opportunity to complain. If they think you're home and there is no complaint when in fact you have been out then i would say they are just becoming a bit vindictive(sp). The other option is to take the dog with you, again without your neighbour knowing and see what happens. Also keep a diary yourself and be honest with your timings.

Constant barking dogs does get on your nerves, i have 5 dogs who just bark for there dinner and when they get ready for thier walk but if i hear dogs in the distance constantly going for it i am glad i am not the neighbour! a dogs bark does carry so sometimes people can asume its your dogs barking because they know you have them when in fact it could be some distance away.

Ditto we had the same with a neighbour and we did end up with RSPCA around. They said we left our dog shut in the garden in the rain, when the RSPCA officer visited he did a bunk (the dog) in through the dog flap, which she could see had been there for years. Its not my fault the dog did not mind getting wet.

When he died we did not replace him until 12 years later when we got our two. So whilst it is an Environmental issue dont think they cant invove the RSPCA.

I hate neighbours that are that way inclined, I did not socialise with any in our area until we left 8 years later. I could not know who complained and I could therefore not believe any of the neighbours were genuine, I was glad to see the back of that house!

Also do you leave a radio on so the dog does not feel alone? we always put radio 2 on and it "talks" as well as "sings" and Im told ours dont make a sound.

So whilst it is an Environmental issue dont think they cant invove the RSPCA.

Of course they can, the point is there is nothing the RSPCA can DO.

I can second what has already been stated - that it is Environmental Health who act on these issues. In our dept. an Officer will go out to listen at the location several times to make sure that the complaint is not malicious. It is quite a drawn out process to serve a Notice on someone and needs a lot of proof. We get dozens of malicious calls regarding dogs and noise and every one of them is investigated thoroughly.
Going back to basics with your dog, giving LOTS of exercise and stimulation is the best answer to seperation anxiety.

They could have removed my dog.

Only if they saw evidence themselves that the accusation was true.

Your dog had access to shelter and water, and was clearly properly fed, so they wouldn't have done anything.

I know that now but I was really upset at the time.
It was the neighbour being a pain and saying things that was not true but we started getting notes through the door that upset my children (8 & 10 at that time). It makes you feel spied on and unsafe, then we got burgled and if I had a dog I bet that would not have happened.