I'm at my wits end so I need some input that is unbiased. I live next door to a couple with a 14 month old baby a cat and a dog. The dog was his before he even knew her and he claims he loves the dog but she is constantly being left on her own, outside, all day while he is at work and she is off galavanting around the place. Sometimes they go away for 2 or 3 days and leave the dog outside. Sometimes someone comes and feeds her, sometimes not.
My real issue is her barking and howling. She sometimes starts at 8am and continues on and off until someone gets home at 6pmish. As someone with bipolar disorder and other mental issues i have trouble dealing with the constant random noise on a daily basis. I have spoken repeatedly to the neighbours (nicely) and at one point they had an anti bark collar on the dog but that's obviously gone. I believe he said it was "broken" but i also believe he is an idiot. i know those collars are expensive too so i don't believe he'd spend $150+ and then just not bother using it.
This dog is gorgeous and i love animals but it's driving me over the edge. I've had breakdowns with tears and yelling, and other days where i've left the house just to avoid having to listen to the dog barking. It's really having an effect on my well being and i'm at the point where enough is enough.
Where do i go from here? Council says i need at least one other complainant but i don't really know any of the neighbours well enough to approach them. Should i put in the paperwork anyway? I'm struggling because i've seen him hit the dog and i don't want to make it worse. I'd actually like her to go to a nice home where she wasn't treated like crap but i obviously can't make that happen.
What options do i have? Has anyone ever been in this predicament before?
We had a noisy dog (and d!ckhead neighbours) at our last place. First it was a small do that would 'yap' on and off all day at the slightest disturbance, such as us hanging out the washing on the side of our house. Then a bigger dog was introduced that would howl and bark at random times during the day and during the night. They were both kept on our neighbour's patio area, which was against the side of our house with bedrooms. This didn't align with getting a restful nights sleep, especially for the kids. It was terrible.
We approached them multiple times, including a few midnight door knocks when the barking / howling was occurring without being addressed - and it got quite confrontational at a few points, such that threats were made and we considered getting a restraining order. We logged a noise complaint diary for 2 weeks, and sent to council but nothing changed.
This all lasted several years with ok times and really bad times. It had a serious impact on my wife's health, with the development of anxiety / stress and the tears / breakdowns you describe in your original post. She is now on anti-depression medication. We put up with it for many years but finally (and looking back, far too late) conceded defeat and sold our beautiful house to move to new place - where we carefully checked the pet arrangements of our neighbours before making an offer. This proved to be the fix we needed, and we have left so much stress behind. It is such a weight of our shoulders.
Sadly, however, our rear neighbour has just recently got a new dog that barks during the day while they are at work…. sigh :(
Anyway, my advice is consider moving - may seem extreme, but from experience I can tell you it is a move I wish we had made earlier, even though you cannot guarantee your won't have similar issues with your new neighbours. In the meantime, get some good noise cancelling headphones and a nice long playlist. ;) Good luck.
P.s. There are a few interesting articles around that discuss the impact of dog barking on well being. You certainly aren't alone in being affected, and it most certainly has nothing to do with being bipolar - although I am sure that wouldn't help.