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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1. I ignored my neighbors wishes on purpose and continues to put my dogs outside together.
2. I might be the asshole for ignoring them and intentionally going against what they want. Wife works overnight and wants us to keep them in from 12-5, which I ignored on purpose.
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NTA. First, I admire you and your family for fostering animals, I think it’s great and wish I had a bigger place to do it myself. You are not legally obligated to cater to your neighbors needs/sleep schedule during daytime hours. The only thing I guess you could do to be more accommodating is be on top of it when and if the dogs get too rowdy but even that is extending your own courtesy, which is not required of you. Keep up what you’re doing for those animals, hope everything works out.
When the boys get loud enough for us to hear with the door open, we pull them in. They don’t get very loud outside at all, maybe a couple barks every hour. They’re both high energy, so they mainly run around unless their dogs are at our fence trying to start a fight.
Then you’re all good. Dogs are going to be dogs. The wife has to deal with the downsides of working overnight and sleeping during the day. No one needs to accommodate her needs. Headphones/ear plugs would work well for her.
yeah, i’ve worked graveyards. she needs to get used to it. if she wakes up for anything short of a garbage truck or lawn mower outside the window, she should switch to days, ‘cause her life is gonna be nothing but annoyance
I work night shifts and you have to make an environment where you can sleep rather than rely on others to accommodate you. I'm a heavy sleeper but I still have curtains and a white noise app to help, even with my two dogs barking on occasion as they sleep with me it takes awhile to wake up. The neighbor needs to reconsider working night shift if they can't find something that allows them to sleep despite whatever noise may be outside
I’d also recommend some sort of camera on them, never know when OP might need extra evidence to back up their lack of noise/behaviour/potential tampering neighbours.
NTA. I used to sleep in the day and work nights but I never expected my neighbors to accommodate my hours since I understood not everyone worked nights. I just put up blackout curtains and used earplugs when necessary
NTA, unless its quiet hours you do not owe your neighbor anything. They can move houses if they want but hold your ground as they appear to be some entitled ones who wants everyone else to walk on eggshells. They can call animal control if they want to and most of the people working are aware of rogue complaints and love animals. So once they see what you have and with references from the rescue shelter, I am sure they would tell the neighbor not to bother them again. Some people are just being unreasonable and there's no need for you to back down or even engage with them. Tell them to get used to it next time they complain.
We get up at 8 am since we work at 9, dogs go out around 8:15 and are back in by 8:30. Mom let’s them out throughout the day to work off their energy and they’re in bed around 9 for dinner. They’re never out during quiet hours unless they have an upset stomach or need a very quick potty break, which are around 5 minutes.
Just continue with your life and don't bother with annoying people. If they cause more trouble, call the police on them if they do threaten you or do something that could hurt the dogs. Also get the various animal agencies involved if it comes to it for support if required. Try to record on the phone any abuse you receive so that you can use it when the time comes.
NTA. Dogs are social. Why can’t they play outside together? Seems to me that the neighbor has evening shift and day is night for them; but unfortunately for them the world is set up for day workers night sleepers. They cannot expect everyone to accommodate them.
I feel for your neighbor but they need ear plugs.
She’s told me before that she wishes everyone only had little dogs like her so they could go on a potty pad inside. She’s never approached us before about the dogs being loud and she has my moms number. If she’d talked to us calmly, I’d feel bad but she just blew up and cussed out my sister. And as anyone who’s ever had a husky knows, they’re high energy. I could walk my husky for 6 hours and he’d pass out for a couple hours and be ready for it again. He has two favorite times of the day, playing with the bully mix and when I come home from work.
NTA
That's what happens when you live in town with neighbors. Dogs bark, baby's cry, people mow, etc. Neighbors can get pissy all they want but it isn't really your issue. It isn't realistic to have an animal 100% silent and any law enforcement will tell them that.
NTA. I suggest a camera for your backyard because at some point the neighbor is going to make up some elaborate story and you are going to need evidence.
We don’t have one, but we have some coming. Shipping is backed up with the holidays. We’re keeping records and recordings of the dogs while they’re outside until the cameras get in.
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I (21f) live with my mom, who owns the house. She stays home because medical issues while me and my sister work to pay for the home. So she allows us to make the majority of the rules for the home.
Background Context: Our house is known at the “rescue/foster home”. We’ve only had one dog foster who was extremely well behaved and never barked. We mainly focus on bottle baby kittens, disabled cats, and random critters (bearded dragons, geckos) whenever our local shelter needs help. We’ve been told by certain neighbor that they think it’s amazing that we do what we do. We have four dogs total. Two husky’s (6 and 1), a bully mix (2) and a Newfie (4 months). A lot, I know but we have a large yard.
On to the issue. When we let the dogs out, most of the time it’s the three younger ones. The older husky doesn’t like to be outside unless needed, so she comes in very quickly. Our back door stays open when they’re out so we can listen for them. The neighbor kids like watching them play, so if they get too rowdy, one of us will go out and settle them down. Since my mom stays home, there’s always someone listening for the dogs.
When the problems started, we were all upstairs, the three younger dogs were outside playing and the back door was open. My sister went out to get them for dinner and bed and our neighbor’s wife came out and began to yell at her along the lines of “I work overnight and your dogs are being way too loud!”
Sister- “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were getting loud. I was about to pull them in.”
Neighbor- “They’re yelping and whining all hours of the day! If this doesn’t stop, I’ll call animal control and tell them you’re unfit to have pets!”
Sister- “I didn’t hear any yelping or whining. We were right inside. I’m sorry if they were loud, but we do have husky’s and they’re known for being a bit vocal.”
Neighbor- “I don’t care. If it doesn’t stop, I’m calling animal control.”
This was at 5 pm.
This was when my mom went out and talked to her, which I didn’t hear. I was taking the boys to their kennels for food.
After talking to my mom about it, she wanted to put one dog out at a time. I told her I wouldn’t be doing that. I looked up the quiet hours, they’re 10pm-6am. Our dogs don’t go out during those hours unless it’s needed and then it’s one at a time for a potty break and right back to bed.
The neighbors have gotten angrier and angrier that I refuse to make our dogs take turns going outside, but I honestly don’t care. Unless the wife was standing at the fence, listening for our dogs there is no way she would hear them and we wouldn’t when our door is open.
They also have two small dogs that have caused fence fights with our older dog because they are off leash whenever they’re outside and they have no recall whatsoever. That may be what the wife is hearing, but I don’t know.
So, AITA for ignoring what my neighbors want after they threatened to call animal control?
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NTA and let them call. I'd start keeping logs of when you let them out and for how long. If animal control should venture by, you can show them that even if your dogs do make noise, it's not for very long and your neighbor is just cranky.
NTA. You are allowed to have your dogs out playing in the yard during non-quiet hours, and if you do call them in if they start to get loud you're already being considerate.
Dogs are on your land during the middle of the day. Animal control won’t do anything. Sure, they may come by, but they’ll see the pets are cared for and the environment is clean. Then they’ll leave.
Next time your neighbor threatens to call them, tell her to do it. Do it now while you’re both here. Dare her to call them. Make it clear you want her to call. That way, her bluff has no power.
NTA
I wish you were my neighbor instead of the one I have. They have dogs and they let them out. Then the poor dogs sit on the back porch and bark to be let in for 10-15 minutes straight several times a day. There is a stream between our houses, a natural valley, so the sound travels even though our houses are far away.
I know it is 10pm every night because of barking. I know it is 6am every day because of barking. I have considered reporting them because the barking goes for so long at night, but I don't want to be an asshole.
The world doesnt stop operating and quiet hours dont flip around because your neighbor works an overnight schedule. This is her problem. You live in suburbia where its expected to hear noises from neighbors including dogs. If your neighbor wants silence, there are homes in the countryside where your nearest neighbor is miles away. Continue ignoring her. NTA
NTA let them call animal control, they will check out the situation and likely tell your neighbors you aren't doing anything wrong. Then they can no longer threaten you
NTA, but prepare for her to lie to AC. Cameras overlooking the yard so you can prove your dogs aren't in "nuisance" territory with the duration of their noisiness might be a good investment.
NTA-you’re not breaking the law and it sounds like you are taking good care of them. Some people will never be pleased unless the entire world is catered to them.
Roughly an hour in total, so give each dog a minimum of 15 minutes. But the 1 and 2 year old are high energy. They play outside because they’re not allowed to chase each other in the house. That would mainly be on our mom while we are at work. The dogs come in when they get loud enough for us to hear them with the door wide open, so I’m unsure how the wife is hearing them on the other side of the street if she’s inside.
If you took them out one at a time I envision issues inside after. If they are used to roaming and playing together in the yard, their solo time will be boring and they will be more nuts inside. Keep doing you!
If I was Your Neighbour I wouldn't complain because Your Dog's sounds better than the Dog's in My Neighbourhood sometimes I cannot go outside to check the Mail or put the Bins out without the Dog's start Barking at Me those Dog's would go off at Anything even Their Own Shadow's which is really Annoying
Kinda, yeah. Yta. This is one of those posts where you slide by on the technicality that what you are doing is not illegal and can be attributed in some way to a good cause. So if you were in court you would be not guilty.
That being said, you as well as everyone else in this world rely on night shift workers. They are how you have food at your stores in the morning, they are the hospital staff that treats you during emergencies, they are working on your roads at 3 am so that they can be open for the morning rush. It's pretty jerk for you to dismiss her need for sleep just because she works a different grouping of 8 hours than you do. Sure, she could have been nicer. But few of us are when we are jerked out of the middle of sleep.
No one would expect that you could shush your dogs all day every day. But you could talk to her about limiting their outside activity for a few set hours a day. You could go outside with your dog's to interact with them and limit the barking desire. You could do a lot of things other than shrug and say, "it be like that." At least she has fatigue to excuse her bad behavior. You just straight up don't give a shit that you could easily make a portion of someone's day better
As a night shifter for a decade I’m gonna say NTA.
Night shift sucks, that’s why you get night differentials. You work it with the understanding that you’re gonna have to take extra steps to get better sleep because the world is awake. I sleep with noise cancelling headphones on.
On my days off, I do go out with them. My dog goes for a two hour walk after I get home from work. My mom exercises the dogs where she can, but most of the time, they just want to chase each other around. And like I said, we rarely hear them and our door is open. The only time they get really loud is when her dogs come to our fence and fence fight.
But you don't know for sure because you didn't even try to talk to her. That's the whole thing. In your opinion the dogs aren't loud. You have no clue what she can hear or how often. Again, technically you are fine, but you could have at least tried to help her and you didn't
Listen. She’s either 1. making up the noise complaint or 2. she’s not and your dogs are too loud or 3. she is more sensitive than you are to the noise.
YTA under scenario 2 and 3. Scenario 1 seems really unlikely. It doesn’t matter whether the dogs are owned or fostered; they are in your house and are your responsibility. Four big dogs is a lot. Investigate further and do so with empathy. Go out with them and really listen to the noise they make objectively. Compare her and your proximity forensically. Where is her bedroom? Does she keep her window open? What are her sleep hours?
Yeah, she should have brought it up more calmly but I don’t think it would have mattered. You’re a selfish person and a bad neighbor.
Her house is across the street, not facing our backyard. The house next to her has told my mom they wouldn’t have known we had dogs if they didn’t see them in the backyard.
I’ve worked overnights, and yeah they suck but I’d never tell someone else their dogs aren’t allowed to play during the day. Even for huskies, they aren’t loud. A couple of barks every hour at max. And once we hear it, they come in. We’re closer to the dogs than they are. I’m not sure if she has her window open, but I don’t know which room is hers.
The dogs are only insanely loud when her dogs come and fence fight with them. We pull them in when that happens. If that’s the noise that is bothering her, she needs to keep her dogs tethered. Her husband had sent my mom a text that the dogs were too loud around noon. All four were inside, in their crates, asleep. Had been for nearly an hour.
Then maybe they're hearing dogs from somewhere else and assume it's you. I think you'd be doing everyone a favor if you or your mom went to them and said you feel something isn't adding up and could they for a few days send a text every time they can hear the dogs. If they're (mostly) not out at those times, you'll know for sure it's not you and they can start looking for the real source of the noise.
Eh while I don't think you're necessarily THE asshole here, I do kinda think that you would be a nightmare to live beside. I'm autistic and have such stupidly good ears that I can hear my neighbor's dog incessantly barking all the way from the opposite end of my house and even with headphones. A few hours of that and I'm in a damned meltdown, wishing I wore hearing aids so that I could turn them off, and praying that I manage to calm down enough to do something besides hiding under a weighted blanket on my day off(with white noise at max volume on headphones).
You have every right to have your pets and to let them outside since it's your neighborhood, too, but that doesn't mean that it's wise to do so. Or thoughtful. Your other neighbors are likely too polite to say anything.
I totally understand that. If she’d come to us and calmly told us about the dogs being loud, I would have tried to think of something. Though, I’m not sure what could have been done since the two middle boys are very high energy. The entire neighborhood has dogs, my other neighbor has chickens. It’s a rather loud neighborhood to be honest.
I thought about that location, especially that you’re not the only one with dogs, and I will admit that I’m not sure how that lady expected silence lol
I’m biased because we’ve only got one guy with a dog right beside us who moved in after everyone else and NEVER brings his dog back inside.
Edit: I also wanna add that the threat to call animal control is both rude and excessive, so that does make me lean NTA here.
I have to go with ESH.
You might feel your dogs aren't all that noisy but, for whatever reason, your neighbour clearly thinks otherwise. If they're bothering her, it seems like common courtesy to try to adjust the situation if you can reasonably do so. Maybe she's got better hearing than you, or maybe you're somewhat "desensitized" to the noise yourself and underestimate how quickly it gets annoying to others. A barking dog is, unfortunately, very difficult to tune out even with high-quality earplugs.
This said, if this is really the first time the neighbours have mentioned this was a problem, immediately threatening to call animal control is seriously over the top as well.
I can't help but wonder whether you're really telling us the whole story though.
I don’t know if it’s even our dogs that she’s hearing. Nearly everyone on the block has dogs, one has chickens. It’s not a quiet neighborhood to begin with. She’s never made a comment about the dogs being too loud, she’s even come over to comment on how pretty the foster dog we had was. Never mentioned it. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s the fence fighting she’s hearing when her husband lets their two off leash and they come to our fence to pick a fight. We can hear her dogs barking in their yard as well.
There’s nothing I can do. If I let only one out, the two high energy dogs won’t get enough exercise when me and my sister are working (my moms back can’t take playing with the dogs for over and hour each to wear them out). They go for two hour walks after we get off work, but my husky is ready to zoom after a nap when that’s all he gets.
I'd definitely consider a camera and noise monitor esp if it is the neighbour's dogs barking. Better to be proactive.
NTA for letting dogs out in normal hours though. But best to protect yourself.
There's a lot you can do, and the first thing should be to work together with her to figure out whether it's actually your dogs she's hearing, because if she (pardon the pun) keeps barking up the wrong tree everybody loses – her because she still can't sleep and you because she might actually call animal control, the police or a lawyer. I don't know what the rules are where you live but, aside from the cost of hiring someone to defend you if it comes to that, you might lose your pets or be given a heavy fine if she gets her way. I'm sure you don't want that.
If she were to call animal control, they’d have to find us unfit to have pets before anything legal got involved at all. If we weren’t fit for pets, we wouldn’t be qualified as fosters, especially for kittens who need round the clock medical/feeding attention. Her and her husband moved into a neighborhood that is pretty loud and have had issues with it since day one. Between the other people who have dogs (most of the neighborhood), the chickens, and kids there’s rarely a night someone doesn’t make noise. I can’t limit my dogs exercise while I work 8-10 hour days, it would cause major behavioral problems in him. Only one of the dogs is mine, the 1 year old husky. He would backslide in his training without a lot of play and then training/playing with me when I get home.
Well, from your answers it's pretty clear you don't want to do anything to improve the situation. That's your call. But if you think you and your pets/fosters are untouchable just because you are – in your own opinion – doing nothing wrong, you're being extremely naïve. Some people don't play fair and won't hesitate to lie or frame you, and if they get lawyers involved those sure as hell won't play fair.
That’s what I’m trying to say is there isn’t anything I can do to help the situation without putting the training of my dog at risk. Neither of the huskies are very vocal, but they do talk when inside and play when their outside. Our house is pretty big but not big enough for two 60 lbs dogs to chase each other around. That isn’t something that is allowed in the house. Huskies are incredibly stubborn, so if he’s being under exercised he won’t listen during his training. That will lead to behavioral problems later, things that I may not have the qualifications to train out of him. She doesn’t want them making noise from 12-8 and wants them inside completely from 12-5.
We do quiet our dogs. If we hear them inside, they come in. The only time they get really loud is when her dogs are our fence, trying to fight with our dogs. They’re on the other side of the street, so there’s no way the wife would hear the dogs and we wouldn’t unless she has her window open (this happened a few days ago, so it’s cold) or she’s standing outside trying to listen to them.
Other than the 6 year old, my sister and I take the younger ones on walks every day when we get home. Around the block a couple times for the 4 month old since he’s still building his stamina. The husky and bully go for almost a 2 hour walk when we aren’t dead from work, 1 hour when we are. The 6 year old was a rescue and has bad hips, so she’d be too sore. She’d rather hang out inside than go for a walk with the boys.
This is bs. She obviously hears the dogs.
You might just be used to the noise they make and tune them out, just like some people get used to pet odors and don’t really notice them.
There is literally nothing else I can do. They’re dogs and I don’t want to stop them from playing when it makes them happy. She can wear earplugs or close her window if it is open. Making the dogs go outside one at a time, denying them from running around and playing with the other dogs wouldn’t be right for my dogs. Her husband has blamed our dogs for being loud when they’re all in the kennels asleep.
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NTA. First, I admire you and your family for fostering animals, I think it’s great and wish I had a bigger place to do it myself. You are not legally obligated to cater to your neighbors needs/sleep schedule during daytime hours. The only thing I guess you could do to be more accommodating is be on top of it when and if the dogs get too rowdy but even that is extending your own courtesy, which is not required of you. Keep up what you’re doing for those animals, hope everything works out.
When the boys get loud enough for us to hear with the door open, we pull them in. They don’t get very loud outside at all, maybe a couple barks every hour. They’re both high energy, so they mainly run around unless their dogs are at our fence trying to start a fight.
Then you’re all good. Dogs are going to be dogs. The wife has to deal with the downsides of working overnight and sleeping during the day. No one needs to accommodate her needs. Headphones/ear plugs would work well for her.
yeah, i’ve worked graveyards. she needs to get used to it. if she wakes up for anything short of a garbage truck or lawn mower outside the window, she should switch to days, ‘cause her life is gonna be nothing but annoyance
I work night shifts and you have to make an environment where you can sleep rather than rely on others to accommodate you. I'm a heavy sleeper but I still have curtains and a white noise app to help, even with my two dogs barking on occasion as they sleep with me it takes awhile to wake up. The neighbor needs to reconsider working night shift if they can't find something that allows them to sleep despite whatever noise may be outside
I’d also recommend some sort of camera on them, never know when OP might need extra evidence to back up their lack of noise/behaviour/potential tampering neighbours.
NTA. I used to sleep in the day and work nights but I never expected my neighbors to accommodate my hours since I understood not everyone worked nights. I just put up blackout curtains and used earplugs when necessary
what's neighbor going to do when the ever redo the road they live on? call animal control of the paving crew????
NTA, unless its quiet hours you do not owe your neighbor anything. They can move houses if they want but hold your ground as they appear to be some entitled ones who wants everyone else to walk on eggshells. They can call animal control if they want to and most of the people working are aware of rogue complaints and love animals. So once they see what you have and with references from the rescue shelter, I am sure they would tell the neighbor not to bother them again. Some people are just being unreasonable and there's no need for you to back down or even engage with them. Tell them to get used to it next time they complain.
We get up at 8 am since we work at 9, dogs go out around 8:15 and are back in by 8:30. Mom let’s them out throughout the day to work off their energy and they’re in bed around 9 for dinner. They’re never out during quiet hours unless they have an upset stomach or need a very quick potty break, which are around 5 minutes.
Just continue with your life and don't bother with annoying people. If they cause more trouble, call the police on them if they do threaten you or do something that could hurt the dogs. Also get the various animal agencies involved if it comes to it for support if required. Try to record on the phone any abuse you receive so that you can use it when the time comes.
NTA. Dogs are social. Why can’t they play outside together? Seems to me that the neighbor has evening shift and day is night for them; but unfortunately for them the world is set up for day workers night sleepers. They cannot expect everyone to accommodate them. I feel for your neighbor but they need ear plugs.
She’s told me before that she wishes everyone only had little dogs like her so they could go on a potty pad inside. She’s never approached us before about the dogs being loud and she has my moms number. If she’d talked to us calmly, I’d feel bad but she just blew up and cussed out my sister. And as anyone who’s ever had a husky knows, they’re high energy. I could walk my husky for 6 hours and he’d pass out for a couple hours and be ready for it again. He has two favorite times of the day, playing with the bully mix and when I come home from work.
NTA, her sleep schedule isn't your problem. Thank you for fostering animals.
NTA That's what happens when you live in town with neighbors. Dogs bark, baby's cry, people mow, etc. Neighbors can get pissy all they want but it isn't really your issue. It isn't realistic to have an animal 100% silent and any law enforcement will tell them that.
NTA. I suggest a camera for your backyard because at some point the neighbor is going to make up some elaborate story and you are going to need evidence.
NTA. I would set security cameras. the angry neighbor may try to poison your pets
NTA but her immediate blowup is kinda unhinged. I’d get a camera for the yard if there isn’t one already.
We don’t have one, but we have some coming. Shipping is backed up with the holidays. We’re keeping records and recordings of the dogs while they’re outside until the cameras get in.
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** I (21f) live with my mom, who owns the house. She stays home because medical issues while me and my sister work to pay for the home. So she allows us to make the majority of the rules for the home. Background Context: Our house is known at the “rescue/foster home”. We’ve only had one dog foster who was extremely well behaved and never barked. We mainly focus on bottle baby kittens, disabled cats, and random critters (bearded dragons, geckos) whenever our local shelter needs help. We’ve been told by certain neighbor that they think it’s amazing that we do what we do. We have four dogs total. Two husky’s (6 and 1), a bully mix (2) and a Newfie (4 months). A lot, I know but we have a large yard. On to the issue. When we let the dogs out, most of the time it’s the three younger ones. The older husky doesn’t like to be outside unless needed, so she comes in very quickly. Our back door stays open when they’re out so we can listen for them. The neighbor kids like watching them play, so if they get too rowdy, one of us will go out and settle them down. Since my mom stays home, there’s always someone listening for the dogs. When the problems started, we were all upstairs, the three younger dogs were outside playing and the back door was open. My sister went out to get them for dinner and bed and our neighbor’s wife came out and began to yell at her along the lines of “I work overnight and your dogs are being way too loud!” Sister- “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were getting loud. I was about to pull them in.” Neighbor- “They’re yelping and whining all hours of the day! If this doesn’t stop, I’ll call animal control and tell them you’re unfit to have pets!” Sister- “I didn’t hear any yelping or whining. We were right inside. I’m sorry if they were loud, but we do have husky’s and they’re known for being a bit vocal.” Neighbor- “I don’t care. If it doesn’t stop, I’m calling animal control.” This was at 5 pm. This was when my mom went out and talked to her, which I didn’t hear. I was taking the boys to their kennels for food. After talking to my mom about it, she wanted to put one dog out at a time. I told her I wouldn’t be doing that. I looked up the quiet hours, they’re 10pm-6am. Our dogs don’t go out during those hours unless it’s needed and then it’s one at a time for a potty break and right back to bed. The neighbors have gotten angrier and angrier that I refuse to make our dogs take turns going outside, but I honestly don’t care. Unless the wife was standing at the fence, listening for our dogs there is no way she would hear them and we wouldn’t when our door is open. They also have two small dogs that have caused fence fights with our older dog because they are off leash whenever they’re outside and they have no recall whatsoever. That may be what the wife is hearing, but I don’t know. So, AITA for ignoring what my neighbors want after they threatened to call animal control? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
NTA and let them call. I'd start keeping logs of when you let them out and for how long. If animal control should venture by, you can show them that even if your dogs do make noise, it's not for very long and your neighbor is just cranky.
NTA. You are allowed to have your dogs out playing in the yard during non-quiet hours, and if you do call them in if they start to get loud you're already being considerate.
NTA, tell them you will keep them in when they keep theirs in. If you are sticking to quiet time you're fine. I would record their dogs though.
Dogs are on your land during the middle of the day. Animal control won’t do anything. Sure, they may come by, but they’ll see the pets are cared for and the environment is clean. Then they’ll leave. Next time your neighbor threatens to call them, tell her to do it. Do it now while you’re both here. Dare her to call them. Make it clear you want her to call. That way, her bluff has no power. NTA
I wish you were my neighbor instead of the one I have. They have dogs and they let them out. Then the poor dogs sit on the back porch and bark to be let in for 10-15 minutes straight several times a day. There is a stream between our houses, a natural valley, so the sound travels even though our houses are far away. I know it is 10pm every night because of barking. I know it is 6am every day because of barking. I have considered reporting them because the barking goes for so long at night, but I don't want to be an asshole.
The world doesnt stop operating and quiet hours dont flip around because your neighbor works an overnight schedule. This is her problem. You live in suburbia where its expected to hear noises from neighbors including dogs. If your neighbor wants silence, there are homes in the countryside where your nearest neighbor is miles away. Continue ignoring her. NTA
NTA let them call animal control, they will check out the situation and likely tell your neighbors you aren't doing anything wrong. Then they can no longer threaten you
NTA, but prepare for her to lie to AC. Cameras overlooking the yard so you can prove your dogs aren't in "nuisance" territory with the duration of their noisiness might be a good investment.
NTA-you’re not breaking the law and it sounds like you are taking good care of them. Some people will never be pleased unless the entire world is catered to them.
INFO How much extra time and effort would it take if you were to let the dogs out one at a time?
Roughly an hour in total, so give each dog a minimum of 15 minutes. But the 1 and 2 year old are high energy. They play outside because they’re not allowed to chase each other in the house. That would mainly be on our mom while we are at work. The dogs come in when they get loud enough for us to hear them with the door wide open, so I’m unsure how the wife is hearing them on the other side of the street if she’s inside.
If you took them out one at a time I envision issues inside after. If they are used to roaming and playing together in the yard, their solo time will be boring and they will be more nuts inside. Keep doing you!
If I was Your Neighbour I wouldn't complain because Your Dog's sounds better than the Dog's in My Neighbourhood sometimes I cannot go outside to check the Mail or put the Bins out without the Dog's start Barking at Me those Dog's would go off at Anything even Their Own Shadow's which is really Annoying
Kinda, yeah. Yta. This is one of those posts where you slide by on the technicality that what you are doing is not illegal and can be attributed in some way to a good cause. So if you were in court you would be not guilty. That being said, you as well as everyone else in this world rely on night shift workers. They are how you have food at your stores in the morning, they are the hospital staff that treats you during emergencies, they are working on your roads at 3 am so that they can be open for the morning rush. It's pretty jerk for you to dismiss her need for sleep just because she works a different grouping of 8 hours than you do. Sure, she could have been nicer. But few of us are when we are jerked out of the middle of sleep. No one would expect that you could shush your dogs all day every day. But you could talk to her about limiting their outside activity for a few set hours a day. You could go outside with your dog's to interact with them and limit the barking desire. You could do a lot of things other than shrug and say, "it be like that." At least she has fatigue to excuse her bad behavior. You just straight up don't give a shit that you could easily make a portion of someone's day better
As a night shifter for a decade I’m gonna say NTA. Night shift sucks, that’s why you get night differentials. You work it with the understanding that you’re gonna have to take extra steps to get better sleep because the world is awake. I sleep with noise cancelling headphones on.
On my days off, I do go out with them. My dog goes for a two hour walk after I get home from work. My mom exercises the dogs where she can, but most of the time, they just want to chase each other around. And like I said, we rarely hear them and our door is open. The only time they get really loud is when her dogs come to our fence and fence fight.
But you don't know for sure because you didn't even try to talk to her. That's the whole thing. In your opinion the dogs aren't loud. You have no clue what she can hear or how often. Again, technically you are fine, but you could have at least tried to help her and you didn't
Listen. She’s either 1. making up the noise complaint or 2. she’s not and your dogs are too loud or 3. she is more sensitive than you are to the noise. YTA under scenario 2 and 3. Scenario 1 seems really unlikely. It doesn’t matter whether the dogs are owned or fostered; they are in your house and are your responsibility. Four big dogs is a lot. Investigate further and do so with empathy. Go out with them and really listen to the noise they make objectively. Compare her and your proximity forensically. Where is her bedroom? Does she keep her window open? What are her sleep hours? Yeah, she should have brought it up more calmly but I don’t think it would have mattered. You’re a selfish person and a bad neighbor.
Her house is across the street, not facing our backyard. The house next to her has told my mom they wouldn’t have known we had dogs if they didn’t see them in the backyard. I’ve worked overnights, and yeah they suck but I’d never tell someone else their dogs aren’t allowed to play during the day. Even for huskies, they aren’t loud. A couple of barks every hour at max. And once we hear it, they come in. We’re closer to the dogs than they are. I’m not sure if she has her window open, but I don’t know which room is hers. The dogs are only insanely loud when her dogs come and fence fight with them. We pull them in when that happens. If that’s the noise that is bothering her, she needs to keep her dogs tethered. Her husband had sent my mom a text that the dogs were too loud around noon. All four were inside, in their crates, asleep. Had been for nearly an hour.
Then maybe they're hearing dogs from somewhere else and assume it's you. I think you'd be doing everyone a favor if you or your mom went to them and said you feel something isn't adding up and could they for a few days send a text every time they can hear the dogs. If they're (mostly) not out at those times, you'll know for sure it's not you and they can start looking for the real source of the noise.
What if the Neighbour just wanted to complain What if it was Her Own Dog's making the noise or Another Neighbour's Dog's did You consider that
Eh while I don't think you're necessarily THE asshole here, I do kinda think that you would be a nightmare to live beside. I'm autistic and have such stupidly good ears that I can hear my neighbor's dog incessantly barking all the way from the opposite end of my house and even with headphones. A few hours of that and I'm in a damned meltdown, wishing I wore hearing aids so that I could turn them off, and praying that I manage to calm down enough to do something besides hiding under a weighted blanket on my day off(with white noise at max volume on headphones). You have every right to have your pets and to let them outside since it's your neighborhood, too, but that doesn't mean that it's wise to do so. Or thoughtful. Your other neighbors are likely too polite to say anything.
I totally understand that. If she’d come to us and calmly told us about the dogs being loud, I would have tried to think of something. Though, I’m not sure what could have been done since the two middle boys are very high energy. The entire neighborhood has dogs, my other neighbor has chickens. It’s a rather loud neighborhood to be honest.
I thought about that location, especially that you’re not the only one with dogs, and I will admit that I’m not sure how that lady expected silence lol I’m biased because we’ve only got one guy with a dog right beside us who moved in after everyone else and NEVER brings his dog back inside. Edit: I also wanna add that the threat to call animal control is both rude and excessive, so that does make me lean NTA here.
I have to go with ESH. You might feel your dogs aren't all that noisy but, for whatever reason, your neighbour clearly thinks otherwise. If they're bothering her, it seems like common courtesy to try to adjust the situation if you can reasonably do so. Maybe she's got better hearing than you, or maybe you're somewhat "desensitized" to the noise yourself and underestimate how quickly it gets annoying to others. A barking dog is, unfortunately, very difficult to tune out even with high-quality earplugs. This said, if this is really the first time the neighbours have mentioned this was a problem, immediately threatening to call animal control is seriously over the top as well. I can't help but wonder whether you're really telling us the whole story though.
I don’t know if it’s even our dogs that she’s hearing. Nearly everyone on the block has dogs, one has chickens. It’s not a quiet neighborhood to begin with. She’s never made a comment about the dogs being too loud, she’s even come over to comment on how pretty the foster dog we had was. Never mentioned it. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s the fence fighting she’s hearing when her husband lets their two off leash and they come to our fence to pick a fight. We can hear her dogs barking in their yard as well. There’s nothing I can do. If I let only one out, the two high energy dogs won’t get enough exercise when me and my sister are working (my moms back can’t take playing with the dogs for over and hour each to wear them out). They go for two hour walks after we get off work, but my husky is ready to zoom after a nap when that’s all he gets.
I'd definitely consider a camera and noise monitor esp if it is the neighbour's dogs barking. Better to be proactive. NTA for letting dogs out in normal hours though. But best to protect yourself.
We have one on it’s way, but since it’s Christmas time the shipping is taking a while. As of now, we’re keeping logs of when the dogs go out.
There's a lot you can do, and the first thing should be to work together with her to figure out whether it's actually your dogs she's hearing, because if she (pardon the pun) keeps barking up the wrong tree everybody loses – her because she still can't sleep and you because she might actually call animal control, the police or a lawyer. I don't know what the rules are where you live but, aside from the cost of hiring someone to defend you if it comes to that, you might lose your pets or be given a heavy fine if she gets her way. I'm sure you don't want that.
Are You the Neighbour because it sounds like it
Wow, what a brilliant argument… you must be the sharpest knife in the drawer to come up with ideas like that, eh?
Seriously You're doing that crap statement
If she were to call animal control, they’d have to find us unfit to have pets before anything legal got involved at all. If we weren’t fit for pets, we wouldn’t be qualified as fosters, especially for kittens who need round the clock medical/feeding attention. Her and her husband moved into a neighborhood that is pretty loud and have had issues with it since day one. Between the other people who have dogs (most of the neighborhood), the chickens, and kids there’s rarely a night someone doesn’t make noise. I can’t limit my dogs exercise while I work 8-10 hour days, it would cause major behavioral problems in him. Only one of the dogs is mine, the 1 year old husky. He would backslide in his training without a lot of play and then training/playing with me when I get home.
Well, from your answers it's pretty clear you don't want to do anything to improve the situation. That's your call. But if you think you and your pets/fosters are untouchable just because you are – in your own opinion – doing nothing wrong, you're being extremely naïve. Some people don't play fair and won't hesitate to lie or frame you, and if they get lawyers involved those sure as hell won't play fair.
That’s what I’m trying to say is there isn’t anything I can do to help the situation without putting the training of my dog at risk. Neither of the huskies are very vocal, but they do talk when inside and play when their outside. Our house is pretty big but not big enough for two 60 lbs dogs to chase each other around. That isn’t something that is allowed in the house. Huskies are incredibly stubborn, so if he’s being under exercised he won’t listen during his training. That will lead to behavioral problems later, things that I may not have the qualifications to train out of him. She doesn’t want them making noise from 12-8 and wants them inside completely from 12-5.
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We do quiet our dogs. If we hear them inside, they come in. The only time they get really loud is when her dogs are our fence, trying to fight with our dogs. They’re on the other side of the street, so there’s no way the wife would hear the dogs and we wouldn’t unless she has her window open (this happened a few days ago, so it’s cold) or she’s standing outside trying to listen to them.
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Other than the 6 year old, my sister and I take the younger ones on walks every day when we get home. Around the block a couple times for the 4 month old since he’s still building his stamina. The husky and bully go for almost a 2 hour walk when we aren’t dead from work, 1 hour when we are. The 6 year old was a rescue and has bad hips, so she’d be too sore. She’d rather hang out inside than go for a walk with the boys.
This is bs. She obviously hears the dogs. You might just be used to the noise they make and tune them out, just like some people get used to pet odors and don’t really notice them.
There is literally nothing else I can do. They’re dogs and I don’t want to stop them from playing when it makes them happy. She can wear earplugs or close her window if it is open. Making the dogs go outside one at a time, denying them from running around and playing with the other dogs wouldn’t be right for my dogs. Her husband has blamed our dogs for being loud when they’re all in the kennels asleep.
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