Dogs' barking makes neighbour howling mad

It's a case of neighbours at war - and they're both driving each other barking mad.

A seething Silverstream home owner says he has lost sleep for eight years because of incessant yapping from his neighbour's two pet Labradors.

But dog owner Ian McCulloch says the complainant, Bob Robertson, simply has a bee in his bonnet. His ageing canine companions - one of which has had two strokes and surgery to remove a tumour - were well behaved and barked no more than the average family dog.

Mr Robertson, an IT manager, has made repeated complaints to dog control officers about the Labs and even threatened to shoot his four-legged foes, Cindy, 14, and Lisa, 7, during the protracted standoff.

Dog barking is a nuisance. Yes you can train dogs to bark on command, but the reality is that at night, at 2 am, you just want to sleep. My dog sleeps on my bed. But he did sleep outside, in a dog house for a year when I was living with people who didn't want him in the house. He barked. Our neighbours were far, so he just bothered me and my flatmates.

What did I do? I went outside with a newspaper rolled up. I went to him and hit the newspaper on my leg. I said 'no barks'. I also moved the dog house near my bedroom window so that I didn't have to go outside. I just yelled. But I also yelled while I shined a torch light on him.

My dog is smart. My dog associated the light of the torch with me saying 'no barks'. This meant that I didn't even have to get out of bed. I just shown my torch to his dog house when he barked, and he went quiet.

His barking was to see if I was around as he wasn't used to sleeping outside at night. His barking wasn't to tell me someone was coming. When he does, all I do is acknowledge his bark by saying 'thank you' and he stops barking.

Upper Hutt City Council has issued Mr McCulloch with a dog removal notice. But he appealed against the order and both men squared off at a hearing last week. Mr Robertson has no plans to move house, but he has "thought about double glazing".

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