Neighbor knocking on my door at 3AM!?

Question

I moved into a town home about a month and half ago. My neighbor has two decent sized dogs that go into fits of anxiety barking when the owners leave. They are kept inside in crates, but it doesn't do much to keep the sound from my home (we share a wall).

Tonight, a Saturday, the dogs began barking around 9pm. After nearly 3 hours of barking, I was exhausted and could not sleep. So, I wrote my neighbor a note that said, "It's 11:45, your dogs have been barking non-stop for 3 hours. Please do something." I signed it, and left it on their door.

I awoke at 3am to a loud knock on my door. After dressing I answered, but no one was there.

My neighbor then put his dogs in the back yard and shut the door. They began barking to be let in, and after 20 mins he finally opened the door for them and the barking stopped.

I find it inappropriate and creepy that he came to my door at 3am. Was I in the wrong? What should I do from here?

Answer 1

Well, if the problem continues I recommend you contact the appropriate local authorities, maybe there is a division that handles these kind of things.

However, before you do anything drastic, you should acquire some evidence of the dogs creating the disturbance in question, i.e take a recording of the barking; preferably video, because it will show the time and date, just remember to point the thing outside so they can see it is actually night .

The best solution though would be to reach some kind of mutual agreement with your neighbor, although he does sound like one of those people from The Burbs. I feel your in for an unpleasant week, friend.

Happy trails, Mike

Answer 2

You were not wrong.  It's night time, and with the constant barking I'm certain you are not the only one leaving him complaints about the noise.   He's lucky you just asked him to do something about the barking.  Your neighbor can buy shock collars while he is away, maybe leave them at a doggy day care etc.   There are ppl who find the barking so annoying they call animal services.  After that it turns into a mess (for the owners).  I can imagine he was tired when he got home at three in the morning and just didn't want to hear about it.  He knows it's a problem, a problem he may feel not ready to appropriately deal with.  But he needs to deal.  Dogs are great, but when sharing a wall with your neighbors they need to be house trained.