Should I say something about their gorgeous new puppy?

Dear Phoenix
I'm always up at 5 or thereabouts .... we morning people know it's the most beautiful part of the day. If more people realised this then less anti depression/ stress pills would be popped. Although I admit letting dogs out to bark it's a no-no. I sometimes look after a friends two dogs and they need to 'go' early but I just point a very stern finger at them the first growl they attempt and it shuts them up.Dogs need to know who's boss that's all.I don't sleep well at all... 4/5 hours and that's always broken up in small snatches. But I'm still out of bed by 5.30 at latest... and swimming at 7.00! Really all you layabeds...try it for a week. It's a glorious time to be about.Alas my husband isn't a morning person , he's sluggish , bored and dozing all day. Drives me up the wall!!

I think it is very inconsiderate of your neighbours and certainly not fair on you.
They should take it for a walk away from the house. I wouldn't put up with it and would have a word sooner than later. Hope you get it sorted out amicably.

I love dogs but I don't think dog owners are always aware of how disruptive their pets can be, taking the puppy out on a lead should stop the barking, say what a lovely dog it but suggest they use the lead to stop the barking, eventuallybthey may be able to let the dog out without the lead

maybe leaflets with a list of Dog training telephone number on through their letter boxes will be a subtle hint..but I doubt it its been like this for years..just a case of putting up with it..(earplugs at the ready) some neighbours are just pure bred ignorant..and think their king of the castle no thought for others..

Could you find out if there are obedience classes for dogs nearby and suggest that? Are they trying to train their dog in other ways? A barking dog is annoying at any time but not to be tolerated at early hours. Maybe they have no idea how to correct him.
Report them to the Noise Abarement Sociery (if it still exists). ?

Our Jack Russell goes out back on a lead after 9 pm and before 8 am. If he barks he gets brought in between those hours.

We had trouble with a neighbour reporting us for shutting the dog out the back with no water all day. Police came. Whilst here they watched the dog pop in the cat flap. Go to the cats water bowl, go back out and sit on the grass.

We then had a letter from the dog warden saying they had received a complaint that the dog barked constantly. Son home one afternoon caught the complainer hammering on our back gate and yelling at the dog, making him bark.

Might be worth putting some measures in place to help keep barking down, and setting a time during which it is acceptable for him to bark. After all its what dogs do to protect their homes.

yes Rigby we do have a dog warden but cut backs cut backs etc etc .. if you ring the council they are just not interested tell you to send off for this "notepad" so that you can keep a record of times dates etc etc then after a month submit it!! and hey ho! red tape red tape...etc.. I have invested in packs of earplugs...but then I may miss my alarm for work lol...wuff wuff onwards n upwards.

Cockerpoos are lovely, my DS has one and he has been to puppy training from day one. I have never heard him bark, although he is quite boisterous. Perhaps that is the answer, or maybe we have just been lucky. 5am could be the exception

biker that's terrible - your council doesn't have one? I just don't what I'd do - people can be so absolutely selfish and thoughtless. Have you a decent local councillor who could help?

Love the cat flap story merlotgran JRs are such characters, ours is certainly in charge of everything.
He is a barker though and always at a crucial point in film or phone call. I can well understand how annoying early morning barking must be.

Rigby wish we had your! dog warden here....we have a mixture of 8 dogs surround us...a Jack russel who is let out before 6-30 am then on n off during the day...2 massive big newfoundland type who fight n growl through next doors fence (a dalmation and a beadle) then 2 doors down a sreaming! and I mean screaming! spaniel that makes it sound like you have just stamped on its paws! then a cairn terrier..who yaps yaps yaps for hours (yes myself and others have been round over the yrs but nothing changes_) then another spaniel that isn't as bad..

I have started recording the cairn on my phone as that is the most persistent one..when I'm watching emmerdale and record the dog barking you can here it. I am in the lounge then through the conservatory and the dog lives in the next avenue.

As a puppy owner, we've tried to make sure we don't let puppy get into bad habits.

How about, buy a small cute toy for the puppy and stick it somewhere near the front door. Next time you see them out with dog 'Oh I have a little present for pup. I couldn't resist it. It's in the house. Can I bring it round later? ' Take it round. Make massive fuss of dog. After a few minutes 'He's so gorgeous, but that 5am barking must be getting on your nerves. You'd better grow out of it, pooch or there'll be no more little presents for you' or 'I sleep so badly, old age being awake at stupid o'clock ...'.

Good luck

Yes you should say something, very nicely and politely. Otherwise they won't realise the extent of the problem.
Good luck!

A neighbour once came and told (very politely and nicely) that my dog was causing a nuisance to the neighbours because of her barking (she was barking at the dog next door who was barking back)

I felt so awful that all the neighbours were talking about it (whether they were or not) that I stood guard over my dog every time she went in the garden telling her to be quiet or dragging her back inside.

There are two 5 oclocks in a day - who knew??

Yes, they are, Christinefrance. Mother and daughter. DD's JR (the one who kept nipping through the catflap) is Peggy's brother, Gloster. The other boy went to a lovely little girl in the next village who adores him.

They're noisy when excited but soon calm down if ignored.

When we had dogs (cavaliers) I couldn't stand them barking so I have low tolerance for anyone else's dog barking! Thus, I was mortified to learn that my dog had been keeping a neighbour awake at night. I was baffled by it until I discovered that my dog was sticking her head out of the cat flap at night and I couldnt hear a thing because my bedroom is in the farthest point diagonally opposite from the utility room.

Which is no help to Phoenix at all in solving her problem! I am on the side of politely telling the neighbours that you are being disturbed.

We had a former neighbour 4 doors down who owned a nightclub. He'd come home at 3-4am and let their dog out. Same thing... barked and barked as the owner went to bed and would fall fast asleep, until someone else in his house who got up about 7am let the poor thing back in.

The neighbours got together and sent him a nice friendly note, but he just carried on leaving the dog out. Eventually through the council, something got done. This was by one of the neighbours. I don't know how they achieved it, but it worked!

I wouldn't advise saying that you had spoken to other neighbours about it, because she may think you are trying to cause troubles for her.......I would say 'I love Stanley but he is such an early riser and I don't surface until 7/8/ whenever......she either takes the point or not after that.

My Ernie is the world's biggest git and I have to bring him in if he starts......dogs, can't live with them, can't live without them.....but Ern never mentions my weight is loyal and to date had not even looked at another woman.

If your dog barks at nothing in the garden the only way to stop it is to take your dog in the garden on the lead and correct it when it barks.

That progresses to being given in the garden off lead and finally to let the dog be in the garden alone.

There's no quick fix .

We have a Cavalier who did a bit of territorial barking and we had to work through this process. Even at 5am , even in the rain :-)

All dogs need training from an early age which means a lot of hard work but its so worth while. Barking incessantly needs nipping in the bud before it turns into a habit which is then almost impossible to correct! You need to start as you mean to go on as what is sweet and pretty in a puppy can be awful in a fully grown dog to the point where you risk having an ill disciplined tyrant on your hands, impossible to take with you if visiting family and friends and hated by the neighbours.

People get very defensive about their dogs, I've noticed. Tread carefully, just as you have to in long grassy areas, as some owners don't like to 'pick up' after their dogs.

Some people would sleep if a train went through their bedroom and they have no understanding (or usually sympathy) for people who are light or even normal sleepers. I think that you have to raise it with them and hope that they take it the right way. If not, it is worth seeing if other neighbours are bothered by it and contacting the Council. If they get 3 complaints they have to act although there are different rules for Council tenants. Of course, if you have raised it with the neighbours first, they will know that you have reported them so you have to consider how bad it is and whether it will be bearable.
I have a noisy neighbour problem at the moment so I have a lot of sympathy. They are not easy to deal with. A bit more extreme as the police are involved but it has still taken time to even get them to accept that it has to be dealt with.

I think it's a really tough one as sometimes people aren't prepared to put themselves out to make life easier for their neighbours. I'm not sure that a puppy does grow out of this kind of behaviour. We have had 2 dogs and neither of them have been very vocal. When our labrador was old she would wake up twice in the night to go out and would give one bark as she went out the door and my OH would stand by the door to let her straight back in. Our current dog only barks if we don't let her in straight away so unless it's raining I just leave the door open so she won't bark.
My son has a young cavalier king charles spaniel and she's a terrible one for barking. As soon as she goes into our garden she is bark, bark, bark and she won't come back in nor will she take any notice of my son or daughter in law. She is the same at home and as the neighbour who backs onto their garden has a cockapoo it ends up with both of them barking away for ages, which must annoy other neighbours. I've seen my son go out and firmly tell her to stop barking and try to get her back in the house but she runs rings around him, barking madly in the process, although none of this happens at 5am I might add.
However talking about noise early in the morning, we keep hens and we've always had one who we nicknamed 'rent a gob' as she would wake us up at dawn every morning. We are down to just one hen now and of course it's the noisy one that we still have. Nothing we do makes any difference and luckily we've not had any neighbours complain about her in the 7yrs we've had her!

A week or so ago my neighbour posted a passive aggressive comment on Facebook because my dog had barked and woken her just before 7. My dog doesn't bark a lot, just at things he hears and can't see or to chase birds out of the garden and sometimes when her dog barks.

Because she couldn't be bothered to come and say anything, but posted sarcastic comments on Facebook I have blocked her. She was suggesting squirting water at my dog, which a dog trainer friend tells me would make things worse. The dog trainer suggested ear plugs for the neighbour.

I don't think the neighbour realises her own kids make a racket or that their regular BBQs could be annoying to others.

Yes, tread carefully, ear plugs are very useful.