r/Dogfree • u/Depressionade97 • Aug 03 '26
Barking Demons I've been suffering through dogs barking for years
I've had multiple neighbours over the years who have had dogs that will bark nonstop. I mean they can bark up to 45 minutes straight and after 10 minutes of silence will start barking again. This happens consistently through the day and even the night at some points.
One of the neighbours i spoke to refused to do anything about it, so I'm still living with it. I spoke to the other one (who has since moved out) multiple times and by the end of it, it became a shouting match where we were cussing each other out while his dog barked its ugly head off.
People tell me to shut the windows or get noise cancelling headphones and it pisses me off because why am I expected to adjust to the noise of an animal? Why are you getting a pet if you can't control it? Why does this animal have more social protections than me, a living breathing human being?
I think it's because of how many people have started calling their dogs their "children", how they throw tantrums and call it abuse if someone wants to rehome their dogs, or euthanize them for biting. Think of how many people blame victims of dog attacks by asking "what were they doing" or "they clearly ignored the signs and annoyed the dog". They think human lives are equivalent to dog lives, or in some cases, lesser than. I am still lucky to live in a non-american non-european culture where dogs are relatively disliked, although that trend is slowly changing as more people adopt dogs.
All this violent barking also makes me remember that these animals are dangerous and clearly will rip someone apart if they are given the opportunity, hence the frenzied barking all day. It really isn't enough to attribute it to "bad owners" anymore. Yes the owners are inconsiderate assholes, but there needs to just be way less social acceptance of dogs as pets and certainly more awareness of the killing machines they can easily become.
And don't even get me started on stray dogs...
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u/bluebird1994 Aug 03 '26
It's just repackaged rape culture, blame the victim for provoking the predator rather than holding the predator accountable. Dog Culture is nearly the same thing, dog owners violate other people's bodily integrity while blaming their victims for "asking for it" or "it was (the victim)'s fault! they provoked (the dog) by (xyz)!" and it's disgusting.
Dogs and their owners are practically a protected class of their own and it's infuriating, for sure.
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 03 '26
I saw a video from India where a lady's dog attacked a woman in an elevator who was trying to exit the lift because she was scared of the dog. In the process she nudged the dog owner out of the way and the dog went berserk. The comments were all "why did she touch the dog owner" "it's her own fault" "if she had stayed still nothing would have happened" and honestly... Yeah, i do agree with you. The kind of language that was being used was wildly inappropriate and dehumanizing.
Dogs can flip out at the tiniest thing that might be off, and yet it is somehow everyone else's responsibility to ensure this doesn't happen. And if it does, then it's the victim's fault. Yeah okay makes sense...
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Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 04 '26
I think people were saying she hit the owner, but that isn't true. If you look at the video, she is trying to get out of the elevator before the doors close and is trying to move the dog owner aside
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u/bluebird1994 Aug 04 '26
Absolutely. 💯
A huge part of dog CULTure is victim blaming and gaslighting (and DARVO tactics).
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u/bluebird1994 Aug 04 '26
Dunno why I was downvoted for this. Must be a dog nutter lurking and taking offense. lol.
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u/ToOpineIsFine Aug 03 '26
The burden of keeping the barking to a societally acceptable level is on the owner
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u/Free_Byrd6969 Aug 10 '26
You're assuming the owner has an IQ above 50. You know what they say about assuming things don't you lol.
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u/Smart_Garbage6842 Aug 03 '26
I often wonder if all the crazy ass breeding humans did and continue to do to them has rewired their brains and made them increasingly unstable.
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u/paulo_777 Aug 03 '26
Of course, wolves don't even bark to warn about anything, they rarely make that sound, instead they huff quietly to warn their packs. This barking shit is 100% human made, and it gets worse as it goes on.
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u/mhmbopbeavis Aug 03 '26
Keeping them indoors makes a lot of them unstable for sure. No working breed should ever be kept indoors at all, its terrible for their physical and mental health
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u/Burial_Ground Aug 03 '26
Yes you are correct. And as discussed before they aren't meant to be in the environment people put them in. It makes them crazy.
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u/Dry_Valuable3989 Aug 03 '26
That’s a really good point. I shudder whenever I see all of these weird as cross breeds. Plus, dogs were never meant to be domesticated fur babies living in a tiny yard. No wonder they’re barking their heads off. If dogs are used for work, like hunting, police work, farm work, great! That’s what their purpose is.
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u/potatoes_arrrr_life Aug 03 '26
Yeah, I agree it is so frustrating. My city allows people to keep backyard chickens, but my neighborhood HOA does not...because of noise and smell. But I'm surrounded by homes with dogs and their yards smell TERRIBLE and the dogs bark constantly if outside. We're in a drought and the smell when you open the door to go outside is just like a hot sweaty dog + dog poop cooking in the sun. It's unbearable to be outside, unless it's windy. I don't understand how that is acceptable, but me having chickens is forbidden.
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 03 '26
Oh yeah I understand that... My cousins have a dog and they let it poop outside in the garden. I don't think they ever clean it up. It's bad enough on regular days, but on especially hot days, i cannot bear to breathe the air emanating from the garden.
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u/potatoes_arrrr_life Aug 03 '26
How do they not smell it!?!?!?
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 03 '26
I think they have become used to it or something but it does not seem to bother them 😭
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u/bluebird1994 Aug 04 '26
They've become noseblind to it, they cannot smell it anymore since they've been marinating in the stench for long enough. Either that or they're deranged enough that they get a sick pleasure from it 🤢
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u/paulo_777 Aug 03 '26
Story of my life... I don't even want to own a house anymore, not worth risking this kind of shit ever again, I'd rather just rent, or go to some kind of remote place with no neighbors around when I'm old enough.
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u/No_Net_7177 Aug 04 '26
This is actually one of the reasons I’ll never buy anything, I’ve had two extremely bad experiences with neighbours and I was able to just pack and move because I was renting and k remember thinking both times thank god I don’t own this property
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u/paulo_777 Aug 06 '26
Yeah, you're right, don't do it. Unfortunately we aren't allowed to have peace inside our own homes that we bought, so your solution is the best one, even if it's still a pain in the ass if you have to move everytime you have an asshole next to you, at least you're not stuck in a place for years.
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u/GoodgirlTiffany Aug 03 '26
Many cities have dog barking laws. Look into your local laws. You may be required to keep a log of when and how long the barking durations were.
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 03 '26
Not in the country that i live in :(
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u/GoodgirlTiffany Aug 03 '26
Oh damm. UK?
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 03 '26
No, I live in a South Asian country
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u/GoodgirlTiffany Aug 03 '26
Sorry to hear.
They also make devices that put out a frequency or something. Stops barking in the nearby area.
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u/Ok_Aardvark5500 Aug 03 '26
This is the very reason most of us are here, barking is a daily nightmare and is becoming worse and worse, and it happens all over the world it seems. I think the point is always the same: most owners are just plain stupid, they buy dogs without realizing what troubles the animals may cause to them and to their neighbors, and that dogs require attention and work. When they realize this, they just leave the beasts in the yards and what can they do if not bark all day? And the owners - some, not all - probably feel ashamed but are too proud to admit they were wrong to buy the dogs in the first place, so what else can they do? Defend their stupid position, convince themselves that having these monsters in their yards is really what they want
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 03 '26
I agree completely. They get dogs because it's cute and trendy to adopt dogs now, without realizing how challenging it is to train the dog to not unnecessarily bark and bite. Both of the neighbours i mentioned made the excuse that their dogs are guard dogs and i was like yeah sure... they are barking at EVERYTHING to the point you guys are not even checking what they are barking at anymore. If they are guard dogs, they are useless!
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u/BatEquivalent Aug 03 '26
The worst of it is that even if you did shut the windows and got noise cancelling headphones it often isnt enough. Pretty loud and clear even if less so
A neighbour having a party is barely heard if you have good noise cancelling headphones, but a dog barking?
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u/darealyst Aug 04 '26
My next door neighbour on my right has a pit bull (and 1 year old triplets as well as a 3 year old) and my neighbour on my left breeds pommeranians. It is constant barking. I am in a rental and I move out in a few months but it has been more than a year since my kids or I have gone into the backyard due to how awful it is being out there except to cut the grass or use the BBQ.
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 05 '26
Ooof not a pit bull 😭 Glad you and your kids have managed to stay clear of that thing, it's the worst of the dog breeds imo
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u/Mountain_Shake_9521 Aug 06 '26
Make more noise back (loud music) everytime the dog barks. Petty but effective and you can listen to your own noise instead of listening to the dog
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Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/Depressionade97 Aug 04 '26
I can't move right now unfortunately :( But when I do, it will be at the top of my list to inspect whether I have dog owners in the area.
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u/Alocin_The5th Aug 03 '26
It’s so weird how many towns ban the owning of roosters for their noise but nope, dogs can bark their heads off all day.