Barking dogs!

[GiantJ]

Is there anything you can do if a neighbour's dog keeps you up all night barking outside his house? The owner seemed oblivious last night - they moved in recently and seem to just leave the dog outside all the time. During the day it's ok and it's a lovely dog. Last night I was ready to take it for a long drive...!

I wondered if I complained to the police, would they actually do anything? Or is there anyone else I can tell?

Before anyone suggests it, I've got a dog myself which sleeps outside at night in her kennel and is very well behaved, and I love animals so unless pushed over the edge at 3am again, I don't want to do anything to the animal!!

[kedikat2903]

We had same problem a couple of years ago. We went to the belediye ( a group of neighbours). It took several visits from the belediye before the dog was put at the back of the house so we couldnt hear it as much. I think that caused problems with the owners as the dog was then near their bedroom window.The dog is no longer there.

[Ozangirl]

I have exactly the same problem, except my neighbour is out at work from very early hours til late at night and leaves the dog tied up permanently on a tiny chain (it can't even get to it's water bowl, that's when he remembers to actually feed or water it!). It barks all day non stop and kept me awake last night - do they not hear it !!! I actually had a word with the guy on Saturday and he was not amused at all - he said he would do something about it, that was Saturday and it is still going on and on and on. Why he can't just let it run around the garden I will never know, he has it all fenced in ! Sorry, but different mentality I think. By the way, Police will not do anything about it.

[MikeK]

Hi.
Having holidayed in most of the Med I think it is fair to say that the TRNC has to be the dog barking capital of Europe. It is seldom the dogs fault more often the ignorance and selfishness of the poor dogs owners.
I noticed this piece of equipment on the internet, there are quite a few manufacturers about, check out the link and read the reviews. I have not actually used or seen one but I can see the potential for its use in the TRNC. It states that it is totally humane, more than can be said about the treatment of the chained up "pets"
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pestbye-Advance ... 315&sr=8-5

[GiantJ]

You are absolutely right Mike. No doubt there are more out there who have had to put up with what I've felt so smug about up until now that I've been able to avoid.

The gadget looks a good idea but I imagine it'll be the victims who would have to pay out for it for the benefit of the offenders and that's not fair! Is it just me or do the Cyps seem to be able to cope better with

[Marions]

Sounds great. But if I got one of these to shut up the dogs that are in the street outside barking away, will it then hurt my poor dog that is NOT jining in. Does it hurt their ears, do you think. Obviously it is good if one does not have a dog oneself. I would not mind getting one and putting it outside to stop all the dogs (that are in the street illegally). any ideas anyone. I shall certain mention it in my Musings this week, but I am a little afraid it might upset my own lovely dog!

[Sandman]

Another problem introduced by the brits and has been going on for years.

[Marions]

Excuse me, but all the dogs in the street outside my house are owned by TURKS - do you hear me - TURKS, so don'#t go blaming the Brits.

[magalan]

Are you sure you don't mean Cypriots, Marion?

[Marions]

O.K. Immigrant Cypriots! Not all of them are citizens and Cypriots, but some are. But my village is made up of chiefly immigrants post 74 from mainland Turkey. A few Cypriots now live here, (well,maybe two families and they care for their dogs), so when I say 'Turks' - I mean former mainlanders who have different ideas of life compared to most of the indigenous Cypriots and also the immigrant Brits.

I am not so concerned about nationality, merely about bad dog owners, and in this case it is certainly NOT Brits.

[woodspeckie]

I holiday in various parts of Turkey twice a year and can honestly say I have never been kept awake by barking dogs even though there are lots of pet dogs and street dogs there. A couple of years ago I stayed with a friend in Ozankoy and never had a good nights sleep, my friend had a dog outside all night so did every other villa in the street and all night there was a chorus of barking dogs.

[Rambling Rose]

Marion: Of course these devices cause pain (or at least severe discomfort) to the dogs' ears - that is the whole idea. Providing it does not cause permanent harm that is legitimate very short term as a training device. However you raise a very good point : the idea is the dog associates the pain with what it is doing (ie barking). But is the dog is not misbehaving (barking) it may well associate it with what it IS doing (eg eating, sleeping, playing harmlessly) and not only be punished unnecessarily but canbecome seriously disturbed. I think these devices which relay on high frequency travel long distances and penetrate walls. One of the basic principles of animal training is that if it is punished (eg slapping with a newspaper or slipper) or "told off" using tone of voice, it MUST done when the dog associats the punishment with the crime.

[Marions]

what I don't understand is why keep them outside at night if they bark. Or are they meant to be guard dogs? Surely not needed. You don't get it in U.K even in the biggest crime areas. soemthings just don't make sense, and what makes even less sense is that everyone seems to accept it. Mind you when I was living in town there was a mad dog (poor thing) chained up at the parking level, and thew residents complained like mad to the police who said they could do nothing. One of the reasons seemed to be that the owner of the dog was something 'big' in the army! But I do feel that more is being done nowadays - but obviously not enough. One can wear ear plugs in bed, and my husband is deaf anyway, but it is the poor dogs I feel sorry for. One has to ask 'why are they barking' -= cos they are happy> I think not!

[Rambling Rose]

Marion: You and I obviously enjoy the company of our dogs and treat them as companions. Others see it differently and feel it is more natural for a dog to live outside. Also we dont share our living space with very young children who may be vulnerable to germs, or with people wiht alleries to animal fur etc.

Obviouly there is a problem in the UK or this device would not have been needed! The Police and the RSPCA have more powers there.

Dogs bark AT things. Remember Sherlock Homes - the dog didnt bark in the night because nothing happened. Dogs in pain, hunger, fear etc. whine, wimper and howl.

Dogs here bark at:

Passing revellers coming back from the pub (usually Brits) and shouting under their windows

Children teasing (usually daytime)

Passing stray dogs (probably why Sandman, with some reason, blamed the Brits) and particularly CATS.

Presence of vermin and other wild animals ( personally I am very glad that they warn me)

One dog barks , set off a chain reaction. The original dog ma be out of earshot of humans.

Last summer my dogs had to be kept indoors day as well as night, no fun for them or me, because of a cat which sat on a wall and deliberately teased them. Eventually solved by spraying both dogs and cat (froma distance so as not to actually hurt) with a hosepipe; Not possible at night in winters. Make sure if you feed stray cats they are not teasing the barking dog next door!

No complete or permanent solution, part of the country we CHOSE to live in. Controlling strays would however go a long way to alleviate.

Meanwhile PLEASE do not further penalise responsible carers of strays - we are under sufficient pressure already.

[Marions]

\lots of valid points RR! However, i would like to point out that I DO appreciate we are all different. I have lived in a house with four children with an array of [pets, some outdoors (such as the chickens and rabbits) but indoors, three dogs and two cats all of which slept where they wanted -mostly on beds , ours or the childrens. and before anyone screams in horror 'Germs', I can assure you that we were all extremely healthy - hardly ever even had a common cold. the one thing I found difficult was my son having a ghekko and a snake in his bedroom. But they were well contained.

so yes, we all have different attitudes to animals, and it owuld appear we all have different attitudes towards neighbours too. ne of the problems here is that although it is the country we have chosen, there is a lack of consistency of standards. As you say in U.K everything is well governed (one reason I would not want t live there at the moment) and people are made to conform. But as I was taught at Uni, the law keeps up with behaviour rather than pre-dictates it.

But anything that anyone can think of to lessen the problem, then share so that osme can be happier for the sharing.

[elizabeth]

I have to admit to some really evil thoughts when I'm lay in bed listening to a nearby dog barking in the middle of the night. One of these times I really will drive to the house, park outside with the car radio full on and when they come out to complain I will ask why, if they can hear the radio then why can,t they hear their ****** dog barking.

[Marions]

Love it. i am just too lazy to get out of bed! perhaps if it works you could come round here and spend the night in the spare room, and try the same trick.

[Rambling Rose]

Different noises affect difficult people. What makes me murderous is motor bikes and cars revving - I much prefer it when it sets the dogs off(forgot to mentioned that among the triggers) and barking drowns them out!

(Blaring car radios also set the dogs round here barking- so I am afraid Elizabeth's idea might be counter productive!

Marion - I would have drawn the line at the snake! My nightmare would be sharing a house with Gerald Durrel!

But I bet your dogs were wormed and vaccinated and groomed and you took trouble to house train them. The problem is some of the people here just are not educated in responsible animal care. The other problem is the expense . I am finding the cost of Vets fees, registration etc. a serious strain on my finances . There is no way some of the immigrant Turks can afford them. There should be a campaign to persuade the Government to give incentives for people to neuter adopted strays and protect them for transmittable diseases. f

Anothe problem is that the immigrant Turks, and to some extent the TCs are used to an agricultural environment where working dogs were happily allowed to run free and generally came to and caused no harm. The do not understand a society where dogs are kept as pets ,]living with humans and under a degree of restraint. One of my neighbours actually accused me of cruelty and keeping dogs in prison, because they are restricted to a fenced garden and taken out on a lead.I consider him irresponsible because his dogs are at risk on a narrow road to and from the heavy traffic which has developed over a very short space of time.

Faced with attacks from other immigrants (the Brits) and the traffic dangers they r

[Marions]

You can out of space RR":" agree with all you say, and it reminded me of my time in Wales where dogs are for working and the land is for growing food. Pets and gardens were out as both animals and land were to earn money.
Most of the Welsh farmers i knew couldn't understand some of the stupid english immigrants and the way they gtreated their spoilt dogs. so yes, we all have different understandings, .

Not sure I could have shared with Durrell either -= probably wouldnot have been the room !

[Rambling Rose]

No Marion! I was typing in the lounge in front of the fire, and the low battery warning came up.. Then the ***** site logged me out without being told to.

I was going to say that faced with a society that does not accept their traditional attitude to animals some people adopt the compromise of chaining or caging them. Illogical I know, but all humans are.

Oneway forward is education, education, education, but it is a slow process

Conversely many Brit expats come from an urban environment and have very fixed attitudes andmake no allowances for those of us who chose the country for its relaxed attitudes and comparately rural ways.

When I first lived here dog ownership, which had been denied me by circumstances in the UK for many years, was one of the great joys of my new life, and as animal lovers know, a help to relaxation.

Now between the conflicting and unyielding attitudes of two difficullt cultures, the number of interests (some apparently verging on the criminal (apparent theft of dogs the) taking advantage of animal carers to fill their coffers, and consequent expense .the increasing heavy (in both senses of the word) traffic and th building over of safe places for excercise, on top ofthe ever present poison threat, it is becoming a source of health threatening strain.

[cyprusishome]

Dogs have always barked. Years ago in rural areas of UK dogs were more usual outside and would bark the same as they do here.

I believe the point the sandman is making above is that the problem of dogs barking is not that they are barking but so many foreigners are moaning about them doing so. The dogs are chained up in many cases but they were chained up before the influx of foreigners and no body complained. As foreigners we may not like it but TOUGH! This is North Cyprus not UK where everyone cares for their animals.......

Now wait on that, animal cruelty is rising in leaps and bounds in UK and the animal charities are struggling. Dog fighting and badger baiting can be found all over the UK as well as cock fighting. Take a look at the way that chicken on you plate may have been made or the nice eggs on your "English Breakfast", or that nice slab of bacon or gammon.

The nearest dogs to us that regularly bark are not chained up nor owned by Turks or TC but by British people.
******** ***** ** ********

[Marions]

as my dear old Mum used to say 'there is good and bad in every race'; and that probably applies to dogs as much as humans.

One thing that suddenly occurred to me. Most of us in oiur former lives were working and were out and about a lot because of committments, and also for that reason man y people did not have dogs. Life changes and with it we become aware of things not previously noticed.
Naturally I notice the dogs most if they are out on the street at night. They are not local to me but the other ends of the village, but they seem to like to meet under the lamplight and talk to each other!

and yes, I have heard that animal cruelty is on the increase in U.K. Unfortunately wherever man is on this planet there is cruelty and that is why people started to talk about animal rights. children get abused too, and we have to accept this side of life exists, but not accept that it should continue.

what is perhaps most important is trying to solve these problems for the good of all. Moaning to each other makes us feel better (well, it does me!) but it solves nothing.

I think Rambling Rose has one of the important answers, and that is 'education' and it is through that the world develops.

wow. that is almost a sermon. Excuse me i have to go the cat wants to jumkp on the computer and that is cruelty to my keyboard

[Rambling Rose]

Good post and good points Cyprus is Home. At least most of the animal suffering here is caused by ignorance and neglect, rather than deliberate cruelty.

Has anyone thought of moving their bedroom? OK you will say why should you because of others lack of consideration, but I had to move mine because the restaurant at the end of the road was taken over by Brits and the disturbanc caused by their customers on car and foot stopped me sleeping. Now I have to sleep at the back, where I hear the barking dogs more - but to me it is definitely the lesser of two evils!

[belle]

I just love the way the Brits get blamed for all the dogs barking, it has nothing to do with the Brits, it is the CRUEL way most Cyps and Mainlanders treat their dogs, they beat them, starve them and tie them up all day, tell me a Brit over there that does the same thing to his dog(s).

It is the Cypriot way to ill treat dogs, North and South. It is about time the authorities did something about this problem and arrested the culprits, I am sure that would stop the problem, the Cyps are terrified of the police!!!

Before you all jump to the defence of the culprits and report me to Soner as has happened in the past judging by the warnings I have had for upsetting the 'locals' ........think on!!!

[cyprusishome]

What on earth are you talking about, you obviously have not read what is posted.
And who reports you, certainly not me, you obviously have a very guilty consience.

[belle]

What on earth are you talking about, you obviously have not read what is posted.
And who reports you, certainly not me, you obviously have a very guilty consience.

Clearly it is you who cannot read, I do not have a guilty conscience, I have had messages from Soner warning me. Please get you stuff right before you respond to me, thank you.

[iancrumpy]

I have had messages from Soner warning me

Belle, maybe then you ought to heed those warnings - Most of us love this place, faults an' all.

[Marions]

this topic is now getting off thread. I think the original question has been answered - namely what can I do? to which the answer is 'very little'

as the thread has now run its course, I am locking it. If anyone wants to start up another interesting discussion, then please start a new thread, but I think this has now been addressed and is rapidly going off topic.