Noise from barking dogs

If you are a dog owner, you are responsible for controlling the dog's behaviour so that it doesn't bother others. If you fail to do so, you can be taken to court.

Train your dog

The leaflet 'Constant barking can be avoided' gives lots of advice about training.

You can get more advice from your vet or from local dog training groups.

Why is the dog barking?

Try to work out why your dog is barking. Is it upset, lonely, angry, defending its territory or just bored? Try following simple steps to stop the cause:

• if it barks when it can see people in the street, move the dog to the back of the house or close the curtains
• if the sound of people outside gets your dog howling, put it in a room away from the noise. Put a radio on to drown out any external noise
• if it barks because it is bored, give your dog toys or arrange for it to be visited or walked during the day.

Animal behaviourists

Experts on animal training and behaviour can help to find out why your dog keeps barking or behaving badly. They can then help with the solution, including training for you and your dog and changes to the dog's (or your) routines. They can also advise about training aids such as citronella collars or the Super Barker Breaker.