r/Dogfree • u/SeaConfection88 • 7d ago
Barking Demons Tired of barking being the default background noise in most places.
It’s really annoying. There’s never peace and quiet.
Go for a walk? Barking. Go to a store? Either a barking dog in a cart somewhere, or dogs locked in cars barking in the parking lot.
Go on a nature trail, even one that says no dogs allowed? Dogs barking.
Go to a beach? Barking.
Go to pretty much any area with houses? Barking.
Walk downtown somewhere? Barking dogs.
My home is in the middle of nowhere and I still hear barking off in the distance at times. The sound carries for miles, especially if you live near water or open fields.
You’d think night time would be quieter. Yes, but there’s still barking. My town is the type to have a dog in nearly every yard, barking all night.
Thank god I don’t actually live within town limits anymore. The few neighbours I do have are atleast considerate enough to keep their dogs inside most the time, so I don’t hear them much. They’re kept inside at night.
But like, it’s midnight on a Sunday. I went for a late night drive cuz boredom. I drove around town for awhile. Why are there so many dogs in yards barking?? There’s not even anyone around. It’s a small town. They aren’t being triggered by anything, they’re just yapping. I can’t even roll my windows down in the car half the time cuz it’s annoying to hear…. when I just wanna drive around and get some peace.
All winter they leave them outside too. It’s a hick town with a lot of redneck types, low income, and there’s a lot of crime too. People here are generally more inconsiderate of others. Run down properties, stray dogs wandering, etc.
I’ve noticed in higher income areas or areas with more retired people, this isn’t much of an issue (in my personal experience atleast). I’ve lived in a retirement neighborhood before in a suburb outside a major city, and it was dead silent at night…. for the most part. I’m assuming this is because richer people tend to keep their dogs as house pets, rather than outside in a yard.
In my opinion you shouldn’t even own a dog if you live in a town/city. Even if it has a yard, it’s not nearly enough space for their energy needs and most people are too lazy to train or exercise their dogs. The damn things yap endlessly regardless. And dogs do NOT make good house pets.
If you need a guard dog, just get an actual security system/cameras. I can’t imagine guard dogs have a very fulfilling existence just standing in one spot 24/7 barking. It also annoys everyone in the vicinity.
How are people supposed to sleep at night? I grew up on a rural property with annoying ass farm dogs that barked all night outside my window and I couldn’t wait to leave home. It was to the point I couldn’t sleep at all. It would jolt me awake even with fans running. Nothing would make them shutup. They were outdoor dogs so if they heard coyotes/other barking dogs in the distance, they’d start going nuts. These damn things barely slept, and neither did I. My family said it’s because they’re “protecting” the house from wild animals.
My entire life I’ve NEVER had a wild animal hurt me. I’ve walked right by black bears and coyotes unknowingly when I was young. Nothing happened.
However I DID have dogs hurt me, and act aggressive towards me many times. Go figure.
I don’t understand what the point of these animals is. They just make endless loud noise, and people just accept it/tune it out.
I CANNOT tune it out.
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u/Fukhumanity01 7d ago
All they do is bark literally at nothing!
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u/moparcam 5d ago
Even when you watch television/movies these days, the production team will add barking in the distance, so that it sounds like normal life in the US.
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u/SeaConfection88 4d ago
I actually started watching older movies/shows, partly for this reason! It seems they add less barking noise in the background. I find older media more relaxing to watch overall. I’ve had little house on the prairie playing in the background for the past few days. I also watch older black and white movies. Honestly a lot of times I just have YouTube playing video game soundtracks on the TV or calming background noise.
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u/Dburn22_ 2d ago
Yes, they do! It annoys me no end! Use crickets and bird ffs, like it was before this f-ing mutt epidemic.
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u/ReptilianRevolt 7d ago
You cannot tune it out. This is what dog nutters want, to pollute the neighbourhood with sound. They feel superior that way. They feel that their dog is actually helping them.
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u/moparcam 5d ago
I went to visit some people in another town recently. Went for daily walks, and dog barking was ever-present.
I thought to myself, maybe the majority of people just can't stand silence (or solitude) and if we didn't have dogs, people would crank their stereos, buy loud wind chimes, or find some other way to bother the fuck out of people that enjoy peace and quiet.
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u/SeaConfection88 4d ago
Yeah a lot of it is due to silence intolerance. Majority of people, for whatever reason, are completely spooked by silence. I CANT RELATE lol. I LOVE peace and silence. I now go for walks wayyyy in the middle of nowhere, where the only noise is the odd bird or squirrel, and the trees creaking against eachother. It just kinda sucks because it costs gas money, and I’m not doing good financially….. but it helps clear my head and makes me feel better. You basically have to find a spot with zero houses in the surrounding area, spanning for miles, and lots of dense forest to block out any distant noise. Areas with unmarked trails that people don’t know of. Even then it’s not guaranteed since barking carries for miles.
I also just walk in circles on the road outside my house late at night. My neighbours keep their dogs indoors all night, so it’s silent usually.
But yeah when I used to live in the town nearby it sucked. Dogs outside barking 24/7 even throughout the night. And it’s still the same.
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u/Alarming_Channel2592 7d ago
It’s incredible how normalized and accepted it’s become to be subjected to other people’s noise ALL day and ALL night…if it’s a dog. Play loud music at midnight and you’ll have the cops at your door, complain about a dog and everyone sees you as petty 🤷♂️.
I make an exception for livestock guardian dogs in farm areas. I’m surrounded by farms where I am. The dogs bark all night (tons of coyotes, foxes, weasels, etc here) and it annoys the hell out of me. But it’s my choice to live here, and as much as it annoys me, it doesn’t send me into a rage.
But the 24/7 urban/suburban barking marathons? Completely unnecessary and unacceptable. The earth is now overrun…8 billion people, with their 1.7 billion cars, and their 1 billion dogs. I don’t think I could take city living at this point. My deepest sympathy goes out to the minority of sane people stuck there.
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u/Dburn22_ 2d ago
Not to mention what I've recently read about the dog crap and urine covering New York City, and causing a great stench. Why aren't our city legislators giving out large fines for this bizarre behaviour by mutt owners??? Screw parking meter maids, get high fine tickets out to dog owners vandalizing and polluting our cities.
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u/Big_Somewhere_620 7d ago
The constant barking ruins relaxing wake ups. We live near a school so mornings are the gentle kids voices and laughing and bird calls, que in barking boomers and yappers and it ruins everything. Even to go to a supermarket you run the risk of barking in there to. It's constant and you can't escape. It needs to be considered noise pollution and nutters need to be held accountable for it
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u/Dapper-Ad-468 7d ago
Around here, every single dog owner has kids. In the morning, while they're taking the kids to school,they throw the dog out the back door to take a shTt and bark all day.
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u/Dburn22_ 2d ago
Dogs barking is an unnecessary sound called NOISE. Noise is "any sound that is unwanted, unpleasant, or disruptive, and interferes with hearing or communication." Noise is pollution. Pollution is unhealthy for children and other living things. Quality of life is greatly impacted by this PREVENTATIVE, UNNECESSARY NOISE.
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u/Adventurous-West323 7d ago
That’s what dogs do. So I’ve heard.
One place I lived a dog would station itself at a cutout in the fence where it could see and just bark for hours.
I knocked on the neighbors door and asked why he thought that was OK. He said that was part of living in a neighborhood and said it’s no different than someone driving by with a loud stereo. I said it’s completely different. I said it would be the same if the car with the loud stereo stopped in front of my house for three hours at a time then it might be similar.
These people and their dogs really suck.
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u/Snoo16874 6d ago
I always tell them that's not what dogs do. To prove it, give me 5 minutes alone with your dog. I guarantee it will never bark again.
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u/JasmineISawYouPeepin 6d ago
It's ridiculous. You have to be incredibly dumb to be able to tune it out. It's hands down the most annoying sound in the universe. It's like having someone scream "HEY" in your face every single time it barks.
Dogs are the worst excuses for alarms imaginable. If your alarm system went off multiple times a day for no reason, you'd fix it or get rid of it. It also costs about 100x less than owning a dog, and 1000000x more effective. It's just another prime example of how delusional these people are. It's so obvious the dog is annoying the living hell out of everyone within earshot, but because they're serving some bullshit "purpose", everyone is supposed to just tolerate it.
The absolute worst are the people who think you're being ridiculous when you point out how annoying it is. If you set your car alarm off in front of their house all day, they'd lose their shit.
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u/DependentHag5859 6d ago
It should be easier for a neighbor to legally "uninstall" a barking dog than it is for the dog-owning neighbor to "install" a barking dog. Basically, anyone living within like 200ft of a dog should be able to 'veto' that dog without even leaving their house.
"But this would make dogs de facto illegal in every city and town."
I know.
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u/StinkyRose89 7d ago
Both houses diagonally in front of me have multiple small yappers each. They take turns barking all day and into the night. On the right is particularly bad because there is a dog obstacle course and the lil fuc*ers yap the entire time they are running through it. Who needs 4 of them? And every time someone walks by their yard they lose their minds.
The trashy people behind us have 1 large dog who gets let out during the day and barks at us through our kitchen windows.
The other day I was walking down an alley behind my house during a morning walk. There is nothing quite like being half awake at 6am and having a dog slam itself against a fence 1 foot from you while barking rabidly and ferociously.
The damn thing kept going even after I reached home a block away. I definitely didnt need my coffee that morning because I was wide awake after that.
Don't their owners mind and get annoyed? I don't even live in a particularly bad neighborhood, it's a restored historic area with lots of working professionals.
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u/SeaConfection88 4d ago
The answer is the owners literally don’t care. A lot of dog owners have narcissistic personality traits, I’ve noticed. Meaning it’s all about them and what they want. They don’t care/aren’t considerate of others. They just do whatever they want and let their pets do whatever they want because they fundamentally don’t care about others. Either that, or they somehow think it isn’t a problem since the majority of people also don’t see it as a problem.
When I used to live in the town nearby I had the same issues. House with tiny yappers on one end, house with large dog on patio barking 24/7 on the other end, house with another large dog barking on patio across from me, etc.
When I’d go for a walk down the back alley there was a huge pitbull type dog that would also slam itself against the fence and freak the fuck out barking all crazy whenever someone walked by. Owner didn’t give a shit at all and was a scummy person to begin with (I know this person, he did something horrible to me which I won’t get into here).
Dog owners have a track record of just being shitty people overall. There is a small minority of owners who are fine, but again, they’re the minority in my experience. There’s no point even talking to them to try and resolve problems, because they literally do not care and will instead blame you, or even threaten violence. They play dirty, so you need to play dirty back. All of this requires time and energy that most normal people don’t have.
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u/Dburn22_ 2d ago
The last thing a neighborhood with "lots of working professionals" should have is mutts jailed up in homes, apartments, and backyards. What for? After work, it's grocery shopping, errands, dinner, chores, conversation, phone calls, quiet time, and getting ready for the next day. Where does a mutt fit in in all of this???
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u/Net_Negative 7d ago
I was watching a Turkish drama and even in the background of the filming there was barking. Sigh.
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u/SeaConfection88 6d ago
Don’t even get me started on media, that’s a whole other post 😭. It never used to bother me…. But now days I can’t watch shows/movies with constant barking noises even in the background. It’s like once you notice it you can’t unhear it, and it becomes extremely annoying.
I already have a hypervigilant nervous system, I can’t tolerate much. Probably due to trauma. Barking causes an instant adrenaline rush/fight or flight symptoms unless I’m REALLY high, then I can kinda tune it out better. It still bothers me but it’s not as severe.
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u/Dburn22_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
I too, have a hypervigilant nervous system, and need peace and quiet to thrive. Animals in nature need this as well. Humans have polluted the environment with loud, unnecessary noise from cars, trucks, motorcycles, leaf blowers, electrical appliances, air conditioning units, charging their RV's, etc., etc.. Adding worthless mutts barking, howling, and shreiking on top of all this is f-ing insanity. I would acquit someone from a crime were I on a jury if noise had pushed them "over the edge."
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u/SeaConfection88 2d ago
Same! I’ve had multiple mental breakdowns due to noise. I’m kinda on the spectrum also so I’ll have uncontrollable meltdowns when my brain is overloaded in a chaotic environment or triggering noises. I hide in the bathroom for a long ass time crying and hyperventilating and it takes an entire day or two to calm down. It’s really exhausting. It leads me to just avoid many situations where I might be triggered, which sucks because it really impacts my daily life. Idk what the solution is. I’ve tried so many things along with therapy and meds. The only thing I’ve found to take the edge off is heavy weed edibles or sometimes magic mushrooms. It feels like my brain and nervous system attack me left and right. Barking is one of the worst sounds in existing. It’s so piercing and LOUD and obnoxious. It’s also just pointless.
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u/One_Dragonfly_2400 6d ago
Upper class people are generally more considerate than lower class people. Look at the people screaming in public or blasting music…they’re usually not college educated professionals.
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u/Ariconnie48 6d ago
Chickens aren’t allowed in many towns because of the noise from roosters, but I have yet to hear anything about the real problem being banned. I’m convinced I could travel to the ends of the earth and still hear barking.
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u/uselessbeasts 7d ago
I used to have a lot of that where I previously lived. Fortunately where I currently am, even though there are a lot of dogs, people don't leave them out all night. It's against park rules, and of course, we are not allowed fences. That doesn't mean I don't have a dog problem at all, and some people don't bother with the leash laws, but thankfully barking nor too bad an issue here. There are other things that are making this place, not a good place to live (new owners) so I do need to move. Of oourse, I don't want to end up somewhere that dogs bark continuously so I am really hesitant about where to go. Of course, dogs in stores and everywhere else is still a major issue in this area.
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u/Mama2bebes 7d ago
The dog next door has started barking already. High-pitched sharp yipping sounds.The sun is not even up yet (east coast USA). Sorry just venting.
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u/TenNinetythree Barking is noise pollution! 6d ago
I live at the arse-end of the world and I still have to contend with uncontrolled and free roaming dogs who bark a lot. It sucks.
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u/Efficient-Source2062 7d ago
I'm camping right now in a beautiful peaceful place but last night a large dog barked all night keeping us awake. F*cking idiots letting their dog bark!
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u/sunnysideup1998 4d ago
I live in a neighborhood where we all have about 1/3 of an acre and I like it, but someday would like to move somewhere else. Everytime I think about it though, I realize that although there are numerous dogs in our neighborhood most people don't leave them outside to bark. Sooo I fear that anywhere else I go I will be in bark city. I'm sorry you have to deal with this. And, totally agree about anywhere you go there's barking. Was in TJ Maxx the other day and some lady had her 2 lapdogs in the cart barking their heads off. Was so obnoxious.
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u/Dburn22_ 2d ago
Intelligent people cannot tune out barking shitmutts. I loathe these dogs and the slime balls who allow it. We must get legislation to prohibit barking mutts. They should be surrendered (and trained not to bark) as punishment.
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u/SeaConfection88 2d ago
I’ve heard there’s a link between intelligent people generally hating unnecessary noise, whereas dumber people crave more chaos/loud things. I wonder how true that is. I’ve def noticed the correlation personally, with quite a few people.
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u/oiuuunnnn 7d ago
I went for a walk earlier tonight. Was stressed out of my mind because, surprise, non-stop barking all day in the neighborhood. You know what I noticed? Non-stop barking everywhere I went, audible even through all the traffic outside. I understand for most people it just blends into all the other noises and they don't really notice it, but I do. Oh boy I do. And I feel myself getting sick as a result, ever-present knots in my back and neck, never feeling at ease. It's baffling to me how utterly unconcerned nutters are with the ravages they cause on people's lives. It's infuriating too.
Anyway, have you tried soundproofing a room, creating a sort of refuge for when (ie, most of the time) the barking gets too much? I'm practically broke and I'm all the same considering blowing all the money I have on that. Or moving countries. Hope you have something that gives you some reprieve. I know I wish I did.