Oh for god's sake, and while they were shaking down your yorkies someone was somewhere kidnapping a child or something.

That time of day on a holiday no way would I have called the cops. The dogs were playing with the kids in the pool, kids yell and dogs bark. There is no reason for the kids or the dogs to try and play quietly given the circumstances. What if you had an outdoor holiday gathering and friends brought dogs who also barked?

It sounds like the best solution for everyone's nerves, including yours, is to train your little ones not to bark so much. I haven't tried the ultrasonic device, but I have had a lot of success with pennies in a can. It's low-tech, but it might work for you. ;)

Also, dogs tend to bark when they are very excited. Are they getting enough exercise? It sounds like maybe there is a cycle going on where you don't take them out because they bark, so they get even more antsy and rambunctious when they ARE let outside, which means you keep them inside even more.... Maybe they just need to be habituated to be out and about?

If my neighbors are throwing a Party and are loud with the musica, I will call the cops on them because my husband and I are up for work at 0300AM. But this was Memorial day around 0630 PM so no way. I would have called around 0900pm thou. Sorry....

Water gun won't work... they LOVE the water. They are in the pool all the time or chasing the hose water when its on. 10 mins after we opened the pool friday night they were in the lime green water (it was safe, just off color, the kids were in with them)! LMAO! I cannot believe these are MY boys! Last year the pool scared them to death for a month at least! Guess I'll try pennies in a can.
My boys get out everyday, at bfs house they are never inside. You know at the end of the day I have to carry them to bed they are sooo wiped out they cannot keep their little eyes open. I don't know where the energy comes from that keeps them barking for hours. They bark the most when the kids jump in the pool, run around the pool, or splash at them (they LOVE when they do that and try to eat the water and usually just end up jumping in after them). Just like I don't expect the kids to be calm I don't expect my boys to be calm when there is excitement around them, but I do need the barking to be curbed a bit.... will be a long summer if they don't stop barking and have to spend more time indoors than I want them to.

Barks
 

My little Trevor barks----a lot-----I finally started saying "we don't bark" and taking him inside while everyone else got to stay out.....now when I say "we dont bark" he'll stop.....even if its only for a minute.....he's learning....slowly:p but surely

Sometimes we call Audrey-Belle "Miss Barksalot".

People don't get to upset unless it's after 10:30 or 11pm, midnight the latest on a weekend. It doesn't happen often so we all suck it up, heck one night one of us might want to have a party. It's pretty quiet early on week nights.

I think that the polite thing as a neighbor to do would be to come to you first before calling the cops!! As far as what to do about it wish I new what to tell you SORRY!! Dogs will be dogs just as I'm sure that not all of your neighbors are as quite as mice

Wow, that's a hard one and one I completely relate to. My dogs also like to bark when we get in the pool. For some reason they think it's a huge game. In our case we've found it stops them by giving them a (very) little splash or a bigger splash near them. I do understand that sometimes you don't want to ruin their fun though. When our pool starts up one of the jets gurgles and bubbles for a minute because of the air working it's way through the solar panels. Spike has decided this is the funnest thing ever so twice a day the pool comes on and if we are outside, Spike "attacks" the jet and barks like crazy. Then the waterfall start immediately after and he's after the waterfall. It's a lot of barking but he loves it and it's only for a minute or less. If my husband starts to go in the backyard Spike gets all excited thinking he will turn the pool on and so of course he usually does. It takes so little to make them happy.:p It's really his favorite game.

The flip side is we had neighbors who would leave their barking dog outside and it drove me CRAZY! Not the barking itself (okay, the barking was annoying) but mainly because it would keep my dogs on high alert and I had to work pretty hard to keep them from barking their little heads off.

Having said all that, calling the cops was really overkill!

I borrowed your coins in a can trick ( I had read it in another post somewhere) and it really works. At first Cookie barked and barked at us shaking the coins but now she might bark once then she stops. If she is nipping at toes I use it for that too. It helps when my 2 year old niece is around. It gives her power, she is completely terrified of dogs for some reason and if she can have a can of coins sitting next to her she feels as if she can get down and play in my house. Thanks for the suggestion.

I would approach the person I thought called and ask them if they did it. If they admit it, I would say "look you have a noisy business and I have a dog that barks, but we can't call the cops on each other all the time." maybe they will get the hint !!

Our neighbor's have a pool + a silky = LOTS OF BARKING!!! It is very annoying!! However, we tolerate it. I wouldn't call the cops for barking.

However, on a similar note, the other neighbor used to let their dogs out twice a day (unsupervised)and they'd come poop on our yard. I tolerated that for two years - until the dogs pooped right outside our back door one morning. I called animal control to find out information about the leash laws (I was told no leash laws outside city limits???). The operator couldn't answer my questions, so I had to leave my information and they were to call me back, but instead Animal Control went directly to the neighbor and said if they didn't watch their dogs more closely, they'd get 'em picked up. Ugh!! That's not what I wanted - I wanted to talk to the neighbors first.

Anyhow, I believe with some training, you ought to be able to curb the barking some. Tell them to stop barking, if they don't stop, put them in the house for a few minutes, then release. Repeat as necessary. Plan a couple afternoons (or more) of training. It won't happen quickly, but like potty training, with consistency, you will see results.

Good luck!! :)

Poor you, having to put up with the barking. Im lucky with Bella cos she doesnt bark at all unless my fella growls at her first lol. Have you tried ignoring the barking and treating when they stop? I cant believe they called the cops - how mean!!!!!!

Yeah LOL I can ignore it no problem... but others cannot and I totally understand. I am going to keep telling them to stop barking and put them in after a minute if they do not stop. If I keep that up hopefully they will learn that barking = no more fun. I know it will take awhile though!

Nikki+2 - thats exactly how my boys are, they think the pool is the greatest thing in the world. They LOVE it! splashing gets them more excited and they usually end up in the pool when they get splashed because they try to eat the water and fall in. (They are always supervised and wearing life jackets around the pool area.) The only time they ARE quiet is when they are actually swimming in the pool. LOL

What bugs me is that , you were at your own home in your backyard, with your family, enjoying the day! It was not late, the children were having a ball, the dogs were having fun, and so WHAT if they were barking? Dogs bark, all dogs bark. They bark when excited, and having fun.
To call the cops on something this trivial is ridiculous. The thing is whoever is the one doing so, and keeps on complaining is the one who will be getting in trouble. IMO, it is reporting a false complaint .
A barking dog, is not against the law. If that were the case we all would be thrown in jail, be paying hefty fines, and losing our rightful ownership of our dearly beloved pets> :rolleyes:
I have grown up listening to dogs bark, not once have I ever thought to call the cops on barking dogs. That to me, is the most stupidist thing anyone could do, UNLESS it were 2-5 am ! That would mean there probably ment something bad was going down in the neighborhood.
Using common sense goes a long way . Thye cop caller, is the problem neighbor, IMHO.;)