Barking dogs

[sweeper]

I have to say that barking is an understatement as these dogs snarl and snap quite viciously if they are out, in their garden, when I emerge from my back door. It is no joke and has been very frightening on occasions. The owner refuses to speak to me so I shout at the dogs to be quiet. I have now been told that a complaint, about me, has been laid at the Mairie and that the next time it will be the Gendarmes. I don't see that as being a solution. I am sure I am not breaking any laws and I don't see that I should put up with this intrusion in my life. Can anyone advise please?

[nectarine]

Ex-Lax, and plenty of it, thrown surreptitiously over a fence when the owner isn't looking, will give you sweet revenge!

Hopefully someone will come up with a legal solution but, meanwhile, this will make you feel better and give the owner a big problem.

[sweeper]

Thank you for that Nectarine. Quite made my day and I will give it serious thought. Like your sign-off very profound and oh so true.

[maude]

Welcome to the countryside which is not as calm as lots try and insist it is!!!We have the same prob,letters to the maire,2 ignored.did have a recent visit from the maire who told me to get other neighbours to also complain and then go to the gendarmes-he cant be arsed to get involved in any local dispute.I did tell him an amicable settlement is required.I may as well as wiped an elephants behind with a piece of confetti!.No doubt the armed response unit and the gendarmerie nationale would be in attendance if they were my dogs.The other locals dont hear,cant hear,dont want to hear.Cant offer any other help-other than exlax or strong asprin.My problems are locked in a barn for 8 months of the year and cant be reached.!!!!!!The first excercise of the year is at the start of the chasse! Maude

[nectarine]

Sweeper, just a thought. WHO told you that a complaint had been lodged at the mairie and the next time it would be the gendarmes? Didn't happen to be your neighbour, did it? Of course he wouldn't tell you the truth, which might be that he complained to the mayor who ignored him and that he will complain to the gendarmes, who will also ignore him.So if nobody official has made a complaint about you then I wouldn't worry about this.

I would invent some mild health problem - mild asthma, an intermittent heart problem, and go to the mayor and say that, although you respect that the dogs are within their property, the fact that they are lunging against your boundary is adding to your health worries. Try to look a bit white and delicate. There is an intermediary service available in most towns, free of charge I believe. But you have to appear to be the reasonable one in this, respecting his right to own his dogs but only to ask that your delicate health is taken into consideration.

Worth a try. But if there's nothing on headed paper then ignore the anonymous sounding "gendarmes will follow" gossip. I doubt they will take any notice.

Proceed with the Ex-Law solution. Luckily, if the neighbour realises that each time his dogs are out of doors that they get the runs, he might keep them in more often. Either way, makes you feel better and more in control!

[Megan le Fey]

Sweeper, may I ask what you feel would be a solution to your problem with the dogs, I mean, what do you feel your neighbour should do?  I do understand how upsetting it must be for you, it must make life very difficult but it must also be difficult for your neighbour to resolve without actually disposing of his dogs.  Perhaps when you yell at them, the dogs regard that as aggression and therefore see you as an enemy.  Are the dogs really so vicious as to be dangerous or could you not make friends with them,  it is unfortunate that you seem to be estranged from your neighbour or you could have asked to be able to visit and befriend the dogs.

Please don't go the Ex-Lax route.  There are many common human foods and medications which are dangerous or even lethal to dogs, including chocolate, and depending on the size and health of the animal the result could be more extreme that you had intended.

[Bugsy]

There is another way, get a product like this.

Silent to humans and doesn't harm the animals.

.

[JMB]

[quote user="nectarine"]Ex-Lax, and plenty of it, thrown surreptitiously over a fence when the owner isn't looking, will give you sweet revenge! Hopefully someone will come up with a legal solution but, meanwhile, this will make you feel better and give the owner a big problem.[/quote]

Necarine, what a stupid disgusting thing to suggest. It is not the dogs fault but the owners. Someone, no doubt with a similar mindset to you,  put some meat laced with slug pellets into my garden which poisoned my beautiful standard poodle, by the time we reached the vets he was almost gone and I held him while he took his last breath. Now if I ever see anyone giving any sort of drugs to any animal I can assure you that they will visit the nearest emergency room and stay there for quite a long time.[:(][:@]

 

[P-D de Rouffignac]

I would like to offer a more constructive and responsible reply than some of the advice so far received, pariculalry as the original poster is clearly suffering from a distressing situation.

Problems with neighbours ('troubles de voisinage') are recognised in both French civil and penal codes, with a range of penalties from fines to imprisonment. They include 'intense and repeated nuisance' such as noise (particularly night time), including noise fom animals, especially continued and loud barking, which is just one element of this case which includes both threatening (real or apparent) by the dogs and the indifference of the owner.

Far from having a claim against the original poster/complainant (probably a bluff by the owner) you have a right to file a complaint ('porter plainte') at the Gendarmerie and they are obliged to act. Any threats or aggression by the dog owner could lead to penal santions, and in all cases a remedy must be sought. There is also the possibility of the dogs being classified as dangerous.

I have been involved in two cases recently - a concierge who called a lady occupier 'an old bag' or worse (complaint to the Gendarmerie and the concierge is now facing dismissal for 'faute grave' for this and other actions); and a continually barking dog, left on the outside loggia of an apartment by its owner, day and night, involving a compaint to the building managers (it is a co-ownership block) and I believe action by the police activated by neighbours opposite (possible question of cruelty/abandonment of the dog for long periods). Problem solved within 24 hours.

I hope this helps the oirignal poster and any others affected by serious neighbour problems. They are taken seriously by the French.

P-D de R.

[Patf]

Another suggestion - if you feel that you're not being taken seriously have a word with the postman and see if he is suffering as a result of the dogs too. Complaints from postmen are always taken seriously by the Maire and gendarmes.

I had a problem with a méchant german shepherd dog chasing me and our dog, and wrote to the Maire. I put in the bit about cardiac problems too. He did take action eventually but I think it was speeded up by the postman complaining too. The owners now hve a fence and gate with warning sign. Took months though.

[Bob T]

[quote user="JMB"]

[quote user="nectarine"]Ex-Lax, and plenty of it, thrown surreptitiously over a fence when the owner isn't looking, will give you sweet revenge! Hopefully someone will come up with a legal solution but, meanwhile, this will make you feel better and give the owner a big problem.[/quote]

Necarine, what a stupid disgusting thing to suggest. It is not the dogs fault but the owners. Someone, no doubt with a similar mindset to you,  put some meat laced with slug pellets into my garden which poisoned my beautiful standard poodle, by the time we reached the vets he was almost gone and I held him while he took his last breath. Now if I ever see anyone giving any sort of drugs to any animal I can assure you that they will visit the nearest emergency room and stay there for quite a long time.[:(][:@]

[/quote]

So let me get this right. You would not condone anyone doing anything to a dog, but you would be willing to assault a human being and put them in hospital?

[JohnRoss]

I am interested in this one as I have a similar problem. When we moved here in 2001 the chap next door, our only neighbour for a kilometre, had one hunting dog kept at the bottom of his garden well away from us and just as well as it bayed all night sometimes. No doubt it was lonely and we were happy for it when he got a second hunting dog. Then the problem of disturbing noise started as he moved the dogs into a kennel much closer to us.

The two dogs were not too bad but then he got another and another and now has 5 dogs in two kennels close enough to our house to be a noise problem. They all decide to start howling around midnight for quite some time and again at first light so no sleeping much after 7.30 am. He is a keen hunter and looks after his dogs well enough for hunting dogs by French rural standards, not very high, but I don't think there is much point in a conversation with him about this as I don't think he would understand the needs of older folk and he was here first after all. He is a nice enough chap and has helped us out on a few occasions so we would like to keep on good terms with him. Hunting and his dogs are however his main passions. He gets up and is out of the house to work by 7.30 am as country folk do. Probably feeds the dogs and hence the noise. We are getting used to it but anyone wanting to buy our place one day would be maybe right put off by the din if they let rip while they were viewing.They tend to sound off when his kids get back from school in the afternoon as well. Teenagers who shout, shoot and sing in broken English badly a lot, American top 20 stuff, but are not quite as noisy as the doggies. On second thoughts I prefer the dogs! 

Now there is a device sold by these traveling Outiror vans and the like that come round the local villages once every couple of months which is supposed to discourage barking dogs. It is ultra sound which is triggered by the sound of dogs barking and I assume they become conditioned to know that if they bark they will have to put up with a very loud noise so after a time they don't bark. The one shown in this advert http://www.outiror.com/boitier-anti-aboiements-P021163-1-B1.php seems to have very limited range so does anyone know of a more powerful one with a detection range of say 20 to 30 metres which would blast the noisy b*****s into silence? Dogs that is and not teenagers or maybe it could sort them out as well!...........................................JR

[sweeper]

Many thanks for all the positive responses. It has given me food for thought. Whilest tempted I promise I won't go the Ex-lax path, as so rightly said, it isn't the fault of the dogs. The situation though, is very distressing and is the culmination of other anti-social behaviour by this neighbour. I have already examined various electronic devices but, as a narrow road divides the two properties, it would appear to be unworkable. The dogs are frightening though, as they have a run along the chainlink fence line and there is a dense laurel hedge behind the hedge. They lurk behind the hedge and then suddenly lunge through snarling and snapping. No other nearby neighbours are affected unless they walk past the property and that is very rare, as everyone drives. Originally I did suggest that the animals were socialised so that we could be recognised but that was rebuffed and the neighbour has become more isolated behind these hedges, letting them grow as high as possible. The threat concerning the Gendarmes was passed via another neighbour who is allowed to talk and I am beginning to think that it is a possible scheme. I have taken heart from some of the legal comments as this is not the only anti-social behaviour displayed and before the dog problem some very nasty lies had been spread about us so if push comes to shove it would appear that it is the neighbour who could be on the wrong foot.

[JMB]

[quote user="Bob T"][quote user="JMB"]

[quote user="nectarine"]Ex-Lax, and plenty of it, thrown surreptitiously over a fence when the owner isn't looking, will give you sweet revenge! Hopefully someone will come up with a legal solution but, meanwhile, this will make you feel better and give the owner a big problem.[/quote]

Necarine, what a stupid disgusting thing to suggest. It is not the dogs fault but the owners. Someone, no doubt with a similar mindset to you,  put some meat laced with slug pellets into my garden which poisoned my beautiful standard poodle, by the time we reached the vets he was almost gone and I held him while he took his last breath. Now if I ever see anyone giving any sort of drugs to any animal I can assure you that they will visit the nearest emergency room and stay there for quite a long time.[:(][:@]

[/quote]

So let me get this right. You would not condone anyone doing anything to a dog, but you would be willing to assault a human being and put them in hospital?
[/quote]

That would be a certainty if I saw anyone deliberately  harming a animal or for that matter a defenceless human being. Bullies deserve at least that.

[woolybanana]

One did assume the exlax comment was a joke, chaps!

[Chancer]

[quote user="sweeper"]The dogs are frightening though, as they have a run along the chainlink fence line and there is a dense laurel hedge behind the hedge. They lurk behind the hedge and then suddenly lunge through snarling and snapping.  and the neighbour has become more isolated behind these hedges, letting them grow as high as possible. [/quote]

That is 100% the norme in my village, if I walk to the boulangerie, about 300m there will be on average (I am sad enough to count them) 13 snarling dogs that hurl themselves suicidally against the fencing of different properties, so around 23 attacks on an aller retour. One is particularly enterprising as he stalks his prey silently behind the conifers waiting for them to pass close to the fence where the path is narrow and he has made a gap in the conifers and the garden is elevated so he can spring at you at eye level!

Most of these dogs have never been socialised, walked or allowed to hunt so you cannot make friends with them, they just eke out their days knee deep in crotte on broken cement.

The worst are the casse socces who occupy flats in the building at the end of the terrace who allow their dogs out onto the roofs to take a dump, all of the neighbouring rooftops are covered in crottes, sometimes you hear a shotgun discharged at night and will usually find the animals body dumped in the road the next morning.

My property had/has doors, door frames and floorboards clawed completely through by animals left/abandoned in the bedrooms, 5 years on and I still cannot get rid of the noxious smells.