Barking dogs in the neighbourhood

In most jurisdictions if a domestic animal (usually a dog) barks excessively, an abatement notice (i.e. a notice requesting that they cease the noise) can be given to the dog's owner if the problem can’t be resolved directly.

Most councils have useful information and fact sheets on dealing with barking dogs and the majority require you to keep a diary of when the barking is occurring.

This means you need to keep detailed notes of the date time and duration of the barking.

Bark Monitor does this automatically for you. The reports produced by Bark Monitor go further by showing you when the barking exceeds the councils threshold and also shows the total percentage of each day when the dog was barking and not necessarily exceeding the limits outlined by the council.

Rather that having to send the council copies of your written notes relating to the noise nuisance Bark Monitor delivers you with detailed reports for each day as well as an overall summary for the period selected. On top of that you can also email this directly to your council. Bark Monitor has the option to export and attach the sound clips as .zip files to the email giving you all the details of the problem at the touch of a button.

Steps required to resolve the issue.

You can complain to your local council if talking to the owner doesn’t work. Send them either a printed copy of the reports from Bark Monitor or if they accept details by email then email the reports directly to them.

The council will investigate and, if necessary, issue an abatement notice to the dog’s owner.

If a dog owner doesn’t comply with the abatement notice, they can be fined.

Reasons for excessive barking include:

• boredom
• separation anxiety
• fear
• territorial behaviour
• communication.

Some simple tips to reduce excessive barking include:

• exercise—an active dog barks less when it gets regular exercise
• company
• stimulation—a bored dog will bark to attract attention
• fence design—restrict your dog’s view to what’s going on outside the fence.