Neighbor's dog barks at my chickens, blames me. Ideas?

[chateau poulet]

Hey there! Has anyone had a similar situation? The neighbor's dog barks at my chickens, and has trampled her plants running back and forth at the fence. She seems to blame me, rather than taking responsibility for her dog's behavior. The barking is a huge nuisance, as it makes it really unpleasant to be out in the yard. The barking is especially vigorous if we are playing with our chickens. Argh. I am trying ultrasonic bark stoppers next to the fence, but not sure if they're working. I yell at the dog, and sometimes it will go lay down when I tell it to, but they do nothing, just let it bark for hours.

This is an interesting twist in Zoning and Animal Control / Nuisance issues. Who is the nuisance? My chickens or the dog? For government types that want to restrict or ban chickens, they might prefer to ban chickens than deal with noise nuisance from dog owners who think it's the chicken's fault. Ideas? Of course, I think it's the dog owner's responsibility, but has anyone heard argument that this is a reason to ban chickens?

 

[McGobs]

Well...from a legal standpoint. Your chickens aren't leaving your property are they? I don't see that as being your issue. If the neighbor has a barking dog...then they are the nuisance. Get a copy of your local animal control ordinance and see what it says about barking dogs. I bet 10-1 theres something there about it.

I live out in the sticks. My closest neighbor has a garden that is 100 yrds away from my property line. When my chickens are free ranging, my 2 indoor Shih Tzus...yes I said indoor Shih Tzus, start barking. My neighbor mailed a copy of the town ordinance about barking dogs and attached a note to it saying my dogs were bothering him when he was in his garden. So there you have it. MY dogs, barking at MY chickens, got me in trouble...go figure.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

As long as all of your animals are staying on your property and you are following all of your cities rules on how far your coop must be from their home/property then it should be their problem.

 

[Carin]

"Good fences make good neighbours" 6ft privacy fence should fix the problem. Now to get the neighbour to pay half the cost

 

[Fur & Feathers]

if they really want to be that awkward tell them to put up a soundproofing fence,the old infant school of mine had to put up a soundproofing fence because of complaints from new locals a few years ago.

or tell them to get their dog a pair of doggy ear defenders,such as these- http://www.safeandsoundpets.com/index.html
otherwise they coud be trying something like clicker training with him to encourage him to not run over to the where the chickens are, messing the place.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Unless you are deliberately taunting the dog, the problem is the dog and its training. Simply having chickens in your yard is not taunting the dog. Now a question you need to ask yourself is whether your birds are legal. If not, they may complain to the authorities about their presence, and despite the fact that their dog is creating the nuisance, you would likely be told to remove your birds.

 

[CluckyCharms]

Sounds like she needs to plant her flowers elsewhere and enroll her "do as it pleases" dog in some training courses.

 

[sourland]

Sounds like she needs to plant her flowers elsewhere and enroll her "do as it pleases" dog in some training courses.

X 2 As long as your chickens are 'legal', it's her problem.

 

[serama hen]

get a dog whistle so whenever it bark you blow and yell it will learn to stop or just spray it with icecold water through the fence that definitley make him quite the dog downstairs is a bit loud but ok hes a sweety pie his name is jackson if you say no jackson hell listen and just go away what a sweet puppy

 

[Justahannah]

My neighbors also have a barker that runs the fence line. It did it before I got the chickens, I'm sure it'll keep doing it after we sell the place and the chickens are gone. It doesn't matter if it's my cats, the squirrels, or just me out there working on my yard, it's barking. Sometimes the owners will bring her inside to quiet her down, but she's usually back out within the hour. We have plans in the work for a privacy fence, but since we're short on cash in the meantime I'm thinking a little privacy hedge/garden (thinking bushy and tall plants like lavender and mint) planted on my side to break her line of sight and smell might help...we'll see this spring how that works. I also see free plants on craigslist fairly often (usually with the stipulation "you dig"), so I'm going to watch for shrubs there as well to see if I can get something going sooner. Good luck!