HELP!! New Neighbor Problems

Where do you live, Dave, so I can be sure not to ever move near you?

__________________
Recognize the beauty in things, in creation, even when thats difficult to do.
Be loving, show compassion. Create while we're here.
Enjoy this life, be in this life but not be of it.

Tsdave, try one of these: http://pestcontrol.netfirms.com/dog_bark_stopper.htm There are a few on the market. I can't remember which company I had got the one I used, but a friend in IL just got one last year and it works flawlessly. If you want I can ask him which company he got it from. Most are about the same and have the 'silent' option as well.

tsdave, that was a wonderfull offer to help!
Why don't you mail pyrnad a check to solve all of those problems 'she is causing'?
GREAT IDEAS!

__________________
Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.
Ronald Reagan
We are never defeated unless we give up on God.
Ronald Reagan

Pyrnad
You have my sympathies.

I do hope you can try to at least be the bigger person and keep being as friendly as you have been in the past. There's noting worse than a neighbour battle and you know what they say, living well is the best revenge. If you are still nice and friendly two things may happen - one - it will be harder for them to continue being rude etc. and two - it may actually turn things around. If you start playing their game now they'll just take it as proof that they were right about you (even if they weren't).

Jenn - I would also ask about seasonal stuff too. Around here we have logging trucks from before first light to well into dark some nights for a good part of the year. And it can be *LOUD*.

Wow, nothing gets people riled up at each other quite like dogs - even just talking about dogs! What is it about dogs just being dogs that gets people so upset? If it's not the barking, some uppity neighbor will say you're not taking good care of the dogs, or the dogs smell, or the dog got loose and dug up their flower bed when it really was a raccoon or something instead....

We moved out to the country (not as rural as many here, but nice) for the space and freedom, but were under no illusions about the quietness and peace. If the field behind us gets plowed, our yard will stink of manure. We can hear roosters all day, horses snorting and whinnying, and the occasional peacock yelling HEEEELP! We LIKE this.

On the flip side, you'd think we could also make a little noise, considering we have 1.25 acres and aren't stuffed in 50 feet away from the next door neighbors. Our noise is mostly kid noise, yelling and laughing as they run around the yard. That's good noise, right?

Nope...not if you're 70, retired, and grumpy. That's who lives next door.

Our dog, a lab mix and a total sweetheart, barks occasionally as a warning and when he's having fun. We acknowledge his warning bark and he stops. Well, the neighbor was out in the yard one day and asked my husband "What is that, a pit bull?" A PIT BULL? Do Labs resemble pit bulls? The neighbor went on to say that the dog barked too much and he could tell it had a vicious streak and he really hoped the fence was a strong one. Good grief, my dog is a wimp. He runs away from rabbits.

It's always something.

There must be a solution so that you and your neighbors can get along. In a way I sympathise with them because where I live there is an idiot dog who seems to bark constantly. The first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I hear when I go to bed at night is that ---- dog.

Since you have 25 acres, do you think you could contain your sheep, goats (whatever) that your dog is guarding to an area a little farther away from your neighbors? That way, if the dogs bark, at least there is some distance so that the barking isn't quite so loud? Maybe your making a small effort to show them that you are trying to make it better will satisfy them enough to keep them from complaining.

By keeping the dogs farther away from them also will help protect them in the event that your neighbors decide to "take matters into their own hands". It is good that you called the cops because that way if something, God forbid, does happen you have a written record of it.

donsgal

__________________
Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

I guess that a lot of people don't know how much wildlife and how many preditors live in Maine! If I were your neighbors I would be grateful for your protection dogs not to mention those free eggs and bread. A bit of barking in exchange for protection ain't too hard to take! My parents used to vacation there and had to constantly watch out for bears, coyotes, coydogs, raccoons and those wolfdogs that are being bred there. Some people buy those wolfdogs, find they are too much to handle then drop them off in the country where they form packs. A friend lived in Maine and had lots of trouble with them even during the daytime. They are being crossed with Huskies, Shephards and just about any other big, wolf looking dog there is. I've seen a few of them and they are big and agressive. When they come to depend on people and livestock for their food watch out. Yep, I sure would be very grateful for those barking dogs keeping them away.

DITTO

__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer

[QUOTE=donsgal]There must be a solution so that you and your neighbors can get along. In a way I sympathise with them because where I live there is an idiot dog who seems to bark constantly. The first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I hear when I go to bed at night is that ---- dog.
QUOTE]
I have some distant neighbors that have 26 dogs running around loose at their place. I think it is insane and even though they are far away maybe a mile, I am woken up occasionally in the night by their howling and barking; however it is their right to have them and as long as they are not on my place killing my animals It is not my buissness what they do. I cant believe someone would move to the country and complain about a barking Guard dog. I would take the suggestion about building a pig pen/compost pile and also the night hunting of varmints LOL! I bet they last a month.

__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer

Oh man... you learn somethoing new every day, huh? I didn't know that livestock guardian dogs bark at night like that.
I've lived in the country for 16 yrs now. I garden (not farm) and have chickens and 2 big dogs, house dogs. I have to admit that I really felt sort of sorry for the neighbors when I first read the original post. They maybe didn't say anything about it until the proverbial bark that broke the camel's back, and then they were just good & ticked off.
I just hate it when I can't sleep because of barking dogs. Doesn't happen often, but it's enough to make me call in the middle of the night, too. Definately not at my best or most polite then either! Not a good situation.
Now that I've learned the function of your good dogs from reading here, I would have a very different attitude about the barking. It probably would take some time of gritting my teeth and bearing it, but I think I would eventually come to find some comfort in the barking, a safety factor type of thing. You know, kinda like the "12o'clock and all's well" call of olden times! I feel that way about the sound of my dogs snoring in the night (and DH too). Hopefully your neighbors would feel like that,too. Peace between neighbors is a valuable commodity, and should be treated tenderly.

It's somehow strangely comforting to know that I'm not the only one with neighbors who I can't stand....
When we moved to our house, we had no neighbors within 1/4 mile. My dream living situation. Then these stupid people moved in. They put their double wide right as close to the property line as they were legally allowed to, because it gave them a bigger yard? Anyhow, they've complained about my guineas, my dog(s), my chickens, and they complained that my ducks, in the middle of February in Minnesota were going into their yard and eating their grass seed that they put down. Now. I think the average temp in MN in Feb. is about 20 degrees. Who the he** plants grass seed in that kind of weather?????? And who the he** plants grass seed in the country anyhow???????????? Every time I turn around he is complaining about something and I really really don't want to move. I really don't. I love our land, I love our house and all the work we've done to it....but I don't know how much longer I can stand this....I do like the pig idea, though.....very very tempting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've also thought about "accidentally getting a whole sh**load of additional guineas and penning them up right next to the property line At least they'd drown out the dog and chickens.....and ducks.....part of my dream when we moved here was to do some dog boarding....but if he can't stand our one dog barking when she wants attention, then that dream is killed too....as tempting as it would be to just go ahead with it!!!!!

__________________
And how am I to face the odds
Of man's bedevilment and God's?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.
--A. E. Housman

the fact is an lgd's job is to bark to keep predators away. not be quiet until they attack. the other fact is, it is very possible to tell the difference between a patrolling bark and a danger bark, so you only need go out on the danger barks, so there is no running out all nite long w/the gun to check. if both parties can be patient, if pyrnad would take the initiative to go over and let them know what the dogs are actually for (if she hasn't already), eventually, the new neighbors will get used to the barking....i never hear the patrol barks after i go to sleep, and i only have 5 acres. i hear the yippie dog at the top of the hill, but i ignore it, turn the fan on, and go back to sleep. the stress of fighting a neighbor isn't worth "winning" the battle. the neighbor is ignorant of lgd's and needs education. pyrnad needs to decide if she's willing to give that education, and try for a peaceable existence, or not.

__________________
Let a smile be your umbrella against the thunderstorms of life.
have a great day.
when i call on Jesus, all things are possible.

The animal control officer and the police chief explained what my LGD's do, and the severe coyote problem in the area. They also explained the bears are on the prowl in the area.
These folks also mentioned the noises from my barn at night!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They knew when they bought the place where the barn was.(it used to belong to that property, in 1990 person I bought my place from divided of an acre with the old 1972 versoin mobile and sold it.) I have lived here for 11 years, and NEVER had any complaints from neighbors.
I have decided to ignore them. Pretend they are not their. I am here to stay. I will not change using my LGD's, as I can not afford to have goats killed by coyote. They would all be gone in 2 days.
ACO and police chief told me yesterday, their will be no way to burry the hatchet with these folks. They will be complaining about everything here, no matter what I do. Sooo I will take the high road,no battle just ignore.

I'd advise you pyrnad to keep repeating what I often say to myself: we were here before you came, we will be here long after you are gone. Ok, I don't say it just to myself. I've said it loudly and in public to newcommers who annoy me. But it is the truth. We've been here, depending on how you count, for over 2000 years, predating Christ by a wide margin, or over 400.. arriving with the first French fur traders.

We were here long before you arrived... we will be here long after you are gone.

__________________
Icelandic Sheep and German Angora Rabbits

Next time they complain, suggest they go to their local Wally-World with $10 in hand and buy a box fan to drown out the barking because it's not going to stop. Your not going to risk your animals to appease them. LGD are there for a reason. They don't bark for nothing.

On another note, I love both my neighbors. One neighbor and I are great friends, the other and I are friendly with each other, but she has two little schnauzers that hardly ever shut up...it's very hard to like them and it's hard to spend time in our backyard because they'll bark the whole time...she also has another dog in a fence that will go in spurts of barking non-stop....It's really aggravating at night sometimes before we go to bed, but you know...we got a fan and poof, no more noise issues...as a matter of fact, all of us now have one in the bedrooms and can't sleep without them!

good luck!

__________________
Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. ~Mother Teresa

You can also ask police/sheriff for roadkill to bait coyotes for hunting. We got two coyotes(kills) over a surplus buckling and 2 more from a donated moose roadkill near our camp between Rangeley and Stratton.
My parents in Lexington are also having trouble with high coyote #'s...we lost a doeling to one last summer(dog was watching the corn crop)and the bears were crapping on the fence line of the goats all summer even with dog. There are a couple foxes every morning....Maine is still quite wild particularly in Western areas.
Our dog has killed 3 groundhogs so far this Spring Good news for the garden!

If things get heated between you and the neighbor have them served with a protective order. Sounds like the law is on your side....use it as needed!

It sounds like the police chief is right, and no matter what you do it's not going to be enough with these people. If you did do something about the dogs, which I wouldn't do anyway, then they would be complaining about the chickens, or the goats, or who knows what else next. And, even if your in your barn all night what business is it of theirs? Your smart for taking the high road with this one.

__________________
My faith keeps me here until my purpose is fulfilled. Good choices & bad I learn from everything! I am still beautiful and messy and a work in progress!

They were not talking about people noises in the barn. They were talking about animal noises.
You know rooser at daylight, baby goats wanting breakfast.

You have the right to protect your farm. Its too bad you cant show the neighbors what the dogs are protecting and such. and explain things. Some people just wont listen and have their own views.

but I must admit, I had to house sit for my friend for a week and she has 7 dogs. The great pyranese (there were 2 of them) barked and barked and barked and barked and barked and barked and barked constantly. At nothing. I had spotlights and everything. The other dogs only barked when there was something there. The place is open all around and you can see for a mile. there was nothing to bark at, not even a deer.

GP's don't always bark "at" things. They bark continuously all night as a warning to any predator within hearing range.