QLD Neighbours harrassing me claiming my dog barks "all the time" when he barely barks at all

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Leslie_QLD

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12 November 2019
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I was hoping for some advice regarding what I believe to constitute harassment from my neighbours. Should I start a record with the police? What should I do if neighbour comes to my door again?

I moved into my QLD rental home around May this year and ever since I moved in my neighbour has been hostile and unreasonable, claiming my dog "barks all day" when he doesn't. They even called the people who I rent from to say "the dog barks excessively and that the barking is distressing them."

I should have video evidence if needed showing my dog barking at an average rate (it's a matter of downloading a week or twos worth of recordings if they ever make a council complaint which I feel they will do).

Basically as my dog can see out the front of the yard into our cul de sac (very quiet street) he barks at delivery people, sometimes at neighbours coming and going, definitely at this nightmare neighbour coming and going as the neighbour parks 3 meters from my fenceline instead of in his garage which would solve that issue, and usually when that nightmare neighbour makes a racket in his yard.

Meanwhile there is a yapper on my other side that yaps all the time yet they seem to have no problem with that. I feel it's targeted harassment at this point. I'm the only single young female living on in this cul de sac, most others are homeowners with families. I don't know if they've got it in for me because they're jealous I can afford to rent here solo or what (or they're just entitled). Either way I feel intimidated having the man come over to complain about my dog as I live alone.

He's a great dane cross bull arab with a big sweet heart.

FULL STORY HERE (I relayed this to the owners of my rental after they emailed me saying this neighbour has called them 3 times now to complain about my dog):

From the moment I moved in he has been hostile and unreasonable. I tried to introduce myself the weekend after I moved in when we pulled up in our driveways at the same time and one of the first things he said interrupting me mid-greeting was that dog was barking too much. He also come to my door about this about a week or two after that initial "hello" saying that my dog was barking "all day" when I asked him to clarify he admitted dog was barking when he (the neighbour) was out in his yard making noise that day and when he came and went parking on his driveway about 3 meters from the fence/from dog instead of in his garage (which would also cut down on any barking). Dog would bark at him then when he got in and out of the car as it was so close to the fence. Meanwhile the little yapper next door barks all the time, I hear large dogs around the neighbourhood barking more than dog and a house on the other side of the forest area blasts music most days.

I pointed out to him that I have heard his dogs bark as well (I've attached 2 videos of his huskies barking while Dad was at home, they are both from different times during the day, Dad said it went on for at least 5 minutes straight at one point). The neighbour immediately dismissed me saying his dogs barely bark at all and when they do he takes them inside - this is not true, both Dad and I can attest to this. He deflects everything I say about his dogs behaviour and yet expects me to take everything he says as the gospel truth. I also do not appreciate that it is never his wife coming to talk to me about this if she has a problem, instead I feel intimidated as a woman living alone to have a hostile man at my door who doesn't acknowledge anything I say. I had hoped to get away from bad neighbour's who yelled and screamed and played loud music all day and night and now I have a new entitled neighbour who expects perfect silence 24/7. My anxiety has gone up considerably from his hostility and I've been considering seeing a doctor about this, he has made living here peacefully very difficult.

The neighbour on the other side, the lower neighbour, came over to ask to check the yard about 2 weeks ago as one of her chickens had gotten out (the one with the yapper). She was lovely and said nothing about dog's barking.

I bought a $250 camera to monitor dog, I have evidence that he doesn't bark incessantly and at a normal rate for a dog. He also doesn't bark at night AT ALL. I have tried 2 different collars to satisfy this hostile neighbour (I have also caught him yelling at my dog). The first was costing me $60 a month. Currently he is wearing a Citronella collar and it has cut down dog's barking even more to the point where he barely barks at all. I ran out of citronella to put in it about a week and a half ago and the delivery took longer than normal from Australia Post. I had an NBN tech here twice this last 2 weeks as the NBN had issues so dog was put outside and was barking during that as there was no Citronella as it had run out because I didn't introduce him to the tech as he can get too excited and jump up.

I am currently going through the videos of today from the security cam which has sound capability. This morning I put the new citronella cartridge in as it finally arrived and since I left at 630am to now 12pm - dog has not barked at all. Not once.

My father stayed at my house for a month (just left 2 weeks ago), he was mostly at home so he monitored dog and the neighbour's dogs as I discussed this issue with him. Dad said this neighbour's 2 huskies were barking far more than my dog and that mine was barking for up to about 30 secs a couple of times a day when we would get deliveries, sometimes at neighbours coming and going nearby, sometimes the huskies would set him off and when people would walk through the back forest.

I understand they're new parents, each time this neighbour has complained to me (about 3 in total, the last was many months ago now) he has brought up the baby as to why it's such an issue, having a baby does not entitle him to demand complete silence from all his neighbours. He even said the baby naps in the afternoon and that there will be hell to pay if I wake the baby up! He has been unpleasant towards me since the moment I moved in with dog, completely exaggerating dog's barking while denying his dogs bark.

I have also had 2 different trainers come see dog, one was from Doggy Playland who was considering taking him on group dog walks but that didn't work out as he was not always coming back to her when called, he comes for me, but not all the time for others. And a dog behaviorist specialist who advised on some training methods to lessen his jumping up in excitement (he has gotten much better in that regard).