Distraught over neighbour’s barking dogs
I have had to listen to the excessive barking of my neighbour’s dogs for years now. I am not exaggerating when I say these dogs bark all day every day and all night every night and I have honestly come to the point where I cannot tolerate this any longer. I do not look forward to coming home from work and I hate being home for any length of time because of having to listen to these dogs barking.
These dogs are also illegal breeds, which people continue to breed, and I can’t help but feel that this fact makes the situation even more ridiculous. I like being the ‘good neighbour’ but I don’t know how much longer I can continue to just wish that by some miracle these people will realise that their dogs are annoying.
So there it is, Auntie. Your advice would be greatly appreciated as I am listening to them bark as I type this. Really, they NEVER shut up, NEVER.
Auntie’s answer: It is clear how distressed you are by this situation, though you do not mention ever having made an official complaint about the incessant barking, which is surprising if true. I don’t know how you have managed to make it through these last few years and yet still sound sane.
But, having said that, there does seem to be a recourse available to you and I will happily pass that on.
It seems the most direct route is going straight to the police. Noting the various laws which cover such things as mad dogs and taking proper care of your pet, and, more generally, complaints of loud noises, an RCIPS spokesperson said you should make a report to the police who, in partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DoA), will investigate the matter. These two departments work together on various dog-related complaints such as out-of-control and ferocious dogs.
In the case of non-stop barking like you are experiencing, the spokesperson explained, “The issue will be figuring out why the dog is barking so excessively. Is it because the way that the dog is tethered causes it discomfort (animal cruelty)? Or is the dog raised in such a way that it barks at every moving object (dangerously out of control or mad dog)?”
Since each instance may have a different cause, each one has to be dealt with “on a case-by-case basis”.
Therefore, the spokesperson advises you to make a police report about the noise, including whether you have any concerns about the welfare of the dogs. I’m thinking you could mention the breed of the dogs as well. The police will then contact the DoA and arrange to go with a DoA representative to the home in question and assess the situation.
In addition, you as the complainant, will be kept up to date on the investigation and “if the owner of the dog is to be prosecuted, the complainant will be required to provide a statement and attend court proceedings for this incident”.
To file a report, you can call the nearest police station to your home: George Town, 949-4222; West Bay, 949-3999; Bodden Town (and the Eastern Districts), 947-2220.
I hope you manage to get this sorted and will be able to enjoy a peaceful and quiet home life.
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I complained to my neighbor about his barking dogs and the next thing I knew my own dog was POISONED. I complained to the police by way of a written statement confirming my neighbors literal acknowledgement of the horrendous act, which cost me, apart from untold grief to my entire family, in excess of $500.00 to have the dog diagnosed, put down, and buried. The police’s response was that they, quote “talked to the guy”. End of story. Welcome to the Cayman Islands. By the way, I am a local, the criminal is an expat.
Cayman seems like a scary place to live. Judging by the comments.
Best thing you can do is buy a cage that will house 10 dogs and place it on the perimeter of the neighbor. The neighbor will get some of his own medicine and will eventually give up. That is the trash mentality you are dealing with, good luck.
Why involve more innocent animals? Just get a big ass sound system and blast it into the neighbors direction until they get the message.
And yet we wonder why some people resort to poison? Yeah it’s not legal or right….but it is understandable!…and unless the authorities get off their assess these problems will only get worse! But here in Cayman (including CIG) we do love to bury our heads in the sand and hope someone else takes care of issues….unless it’s against our LGBT people….then the masses (especially most MLA’s) will bark louder than any pack of dogs!
It is not the dogs fault, XXXXX, the dogs are stuck there. I am sure they would happily be in an other environment.
Sometimes you have to take matters in your own hands
If you are an expat or a “paper Caymanian” and make any complaint about roaming and/or barking dogs or any other anti social matter (like garbage or lighting stinking fires for example) caused by a “real Caymanian”, you will be thoroughly abused. And the police will do nothing.
You people complains too much, your neighbours have their dogs for a reason, probably as a deterrent for burglars and home invaders, just like a car alarm, sometimes that tends to sound off too when the wind blows a little bit harder, who knows they probably keeps your yard safe also when you’re at work, why don’t you just do something to drown them out like use headphones or turn the TV up louder, or just stfu and find some where else to live, and just be grateful that you’re not being disturbed by gunshots or bombs exploding.
You do not understand the annoying problem of noise harassment.
Report to RCIPS, a waste of time they will do nothing an will not enforce the dangerous dogs law.
Wow. You’re a class A jerk. I’d hate to be your neighbor. Or friend. Or child. Or mother.
Are you mental ? Clearing the neighbour is unhappy. Why dont you suggest that the but a harness over the dog mouth. By the way are you the neighbour with the dog.
Dear disgusred home owner with the continuous dogs barking all these years . I hate to tell you that you have allowed that to happen far too long , you should’ve made the dog owner know that the dog barking was disturbing you from the first few weeks and that you would be taking this matter further if he doesn’t address the barking . But to do anything today , the dog owner isn’t going to like you in any actions that you would take , after putting up with the barking for over a year and didn’t say or do anything .
Issues like that needs to be addressed immediately .
Have you ever tried talking to a bad dog owner? It is safer to walk through a live mine field. Just look at the comment above. Or the result noted of saying anything.
it’s not the dogs that need locking up. It’s the owners. Especially those that breed. I think licenses should be issued to dog breeders (which I detest) at a huge cost and sale of any residential pet should be taxed to the hilt. I don’t know why the MLA’s don’t sort this mess out.
No one would comply and it wouldn’t be enforced just like many other laws.
Do you have kids??? you hate breeders… wow.
We have dogs who don’t bark are never off leash … can’t say that about our neighbors kids… who scream and yell.. throw their trash in my fenced yard and torment our dogs..who are in our fenced yard. So tax the shit…. out of the parents. They qualify as breeders…
Sounds like you have a neighbor problem because my kids don’t act that way.
I agree with the poster, dog breeders here and deplorable.
In the UK someone that is a nuisance to neighbours because of loud noise, whether music or barking dogs can be prosecuted.I don’t consider the issue is why the dog barks, the fact is that it does day and night and the owner does nothing about it.A simple solution would be to muzzle it, but the onus is on the owner to stop the dog barking, if he doen’t knowing it causes problems to his neighbours he should face the consequences, not the dog.
It truly is amazing how many dog owners totally ignore this issue which is very common in Cayman, and certainly on the street where I live.
Dear Sir, you must live in the same area we live in as we have the same problem as you mentioned in your story. But I can tell you that not the police, agriculture, environmental, MLA for the district, planning department have done anything about the barking of the illegal dogs and breeding of the illegal dogs.
All of the authorities have come to check on our complaint but that is as far as it gets. We even had to get a lawyer but as usual everything takes forever to get recognized.
An I am telling you that it’s been six years now and still no luck from who ever is suppose to help and please don’t mentioned the smell is terrible that you can smell throughout the neighborhood.
Can you imagine that the house with the dogs is near to the West Bay Post Office (do you sir live in that area).
I live in BT. It’s the same here. Never any peace.
Have you ever spoke to you’re neighbour and told them how you felt?!
It’s the same in South Sound by the tennis club.
I own dogs and they do bark, they even bark at people trying to break into my neighbours yard when they are not home.
It’s quite ricdiculous that you’ve felt this way for years and haven’t express this one bit! After all when do people start reading minds If you felt this way over all these years why wait until now?
Every time my neighbour gets a phone call I can hear her conversation and what’s it’s about whether it be about sex positions, cheating on her overweight partner or taking Black Friday trips to Miami and having threesomes bare in mind I have young children as well! Whom should I contact to make this report?
Dogs bark that’s what they do, to protect their boundary!
Nothing can be done about it once it’s not in you’re yard.
In other words – there is nothing you can do. We have complained many times to DoA. They set traps. Once in a long while it will catch one if the many loose dogs in the complex. DoA will collect the dog and trap and the very next day the dog is loose again in the complex causing havoc. And the police? Please. There are about 3-4 in the complex as well. They do nothing either.
Haha I contacted my neighbor out of concern for the puppy tethered outside their back door. He had gotten himself twisted in the lead and was hitched up dangerously. But besides that, the lonely guy barked day in and day out.
But yeah, I didn’t call anyone about it either. My kind call to the neighbor caused such an uproar that I had to move. (I was a renter and they were owners)