Service Dog Versus Harassment

The thing is, her dog isn't a service dog. It hasn't been properly trained. If it were, it would ONLY bark in those situations when she is present, and would be quiet otherwise. It would also be able to do a whole host of other things for her.

I would suggest that she consider applying for a REAL service dog, and taking her pet dogs to a professional trainer who will teach them not to bark when people come to the door anymore.

Or perhaps she should move to the country where barking dogs aren't a nuisance and she needn't worry about undesirable people coming to her door.

It doesn't sound to me like these are professionally trained service animals. I get where she's coming from, but she should've trained the dog to do something else when someone is at the door, like nudge her leg or something. This was asking for trouble!

She could start working with a behaviorist to teach the dog not to bark. If that fails, she could take the dog to doggie daycare or take the dog with her when she goes out. It is NOT ok to leave a constantly barking dog home to annoy the neighbors. That is why they have noise ordinances.

There are alternatives to barking dogs for deaf people. The doorbell can be wired to flash the lights in the house so that she knows someone is at the door. ADT can help her with a security system that she can hear and/or see. AND she can wear her hearing aids except to sleep. No reason for her to take out the hearing aids during the day.

Instead of having trained the dogs to bark, she could have trained them to come get her. She didn't take anyone into consideration except herself. Now these dogs cannot be retrained, which is a huge shame. To be honest, I don't really consider them to be service dogs - SHE is the one who taught them to bark, not professionals who help deaf people. I admit that I have NO sympathy for her. (Sorry - not meaning to be mean...)

Real service dogs don't bark to alert. They will find their master and signal them that someone is at the door or the phone is ringing. All your friend did was train 2 dogs to be loud and annoying to anyone who happens to live within ear shot. If I were a neighbor I'd be pissed about having to listen to loud barking all day while trying to work.

Your friend needs to retrain the dogs to come and alert her instead of just barking. Or she should kennel them in a room on the other side of the house so they aren't barking every time someone walks by the house. Although she has lived there longer she is wrong for believing that her dog's behavior trump her neighbor's ability do work in peace.

Oh wow... It sounds like your friend is completely unreasonable here. She does NOT have service dogs and she has trained them to be a horrible nuisance. It sounds like the home business is irrelevant to this....the dogs will bark no matter who comes by. Your friend has made a situation in which her neighbors cannot even live in peace because of her stupid barking dogs. Can you imagine living somewhere where you hear dogs barking ALL THE TIME? They tried to handle it through the proper channels and your friend got mad, but really didn't do anything to change the situation that actually worked. She gave them her number and of course they are calling BECAUSE SHE IS NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT HER DAMN BARKING DOGS. I would be mad at her too.. I would just keep calling the police frankly...

I think her best bet would be to find a kennel that has a doggie day care where the dogs can stay during the day, or hire a professional dog trainer to re-train her dogs to alert her in a different manner. (Or, she can have the dogs stop alerting her, and install a hearing-impaired doorbell that flickers the lights when someone rings it, and carry a phone set to vibrate... These are both issues that are very easily overcome without the need for "service" animals...)

I get that she thinks she needs the dogs... But her neighbor has the right to run a home business WITHOUT incessant barking from next door. Honestly, I am on the neighbor's side here. Your friend gave her the number to call when the dogs bark... I'm sure it is just as annoying to the neighbor to HAVE to call as it is for your friend to be called.

I have an alarm. If I manipulated my sirens so that every time the alarm went off, especially if it was a false alarm, so that my neighbors could hear it, I would have the cops up my butt as well.

My neighbors did this to their alarm. They were forced to remove their alarm because of the false alarms. The only reason why your friends still have her dogs is because they are dogs.

Right are actually quite easy. Your rights end when they impede other's rights. I have the right to spin in circles with my arms outstretched, I am not allowed to do this where I keep hitting people with my hands. See, easy.

Also teaching your dogs to bark like fools does not make them service dogs. Perhaps she should invest in an alarm or a real service dog that wouldn't bark at all but would come get her if the door or phone rang.

I sympathise with the neighbour. I too have had to call the police several times because of a neighbour with a barking dog. I would advise the neighbours to stop calling and texting your friend, and deal with the police only.

As far as rights go, we all have the right to peaceful enjoyment of our property, but no one has the right to have a barking nuisance dog.

I'm going to play the devil's advocate here, but can you imagine moving into a house where the dogs next door has been trained to bark loudly for a multitude of things? As long as the home business is legal, the only one in the wrong would be your friend that is violating noise policy. It could not only be annoying, but could also potentially hurt her business and since the dogs are not officially trained service dogs I think your friend will be on the wrong end of this.

This may sound silly... but if they are really service dogs, then they should be able to learn another way to "alert" your friend, other than barking. Perhaps she should invest in training for them to come find her and give her some other signal (besides barking) when the telephone rings. Or when someone rings the bell.

The rest (seeing people outside who AREN'T ringing her bell) is just nuisance behavior... not service behavior.
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Oh, and I would add... just because she trained her dog to bark loudly when her doorbell rings, doesn't make the dog a true service dog. There are certifications involved. And for what it's worth, I haven't ever met a dog that DIDN'T bark at the doorbell being rung. It doesn't exactly require "training" them. In fact, we had to train ours NOT to bark at doorbells when they rang on the television!
The phone... she probably did train some for that. But again, it should be fairly easy to train the dog to do some other behavior (putting a paw on her foot, sitting on her left side, bringing her a particular item) for the phone ringing.

Have to also take the neighbor's side unless she's illegally running a business. And even then - think how loud this dog's bark must bc for your friend who is so hard of hearing to hear it... Kind of counterintuitive a service dog for someone hard of hearing is trained to make noise to get their owners' attention. And sounds like your friend is out a lot if the neighbor is texting her at work, out in the evenings etc. How can your friend hear her cell phone? I assume it vibrates.. So logical to have that set up at home too vs a dog barking. So sorry but doesn't seem fair to neighbors. Both we and our next door neighbors are huge dog lovers and have them and whenever either of our dogs start barking, we step in very quickly. And we both let each other know if the dog is barking when we're out. Fortunatley ours never seems to unless it's for just a minute but when theirs has for a long period of time, I'll text them. It's annoying!!! I have a key so can go get the dog and bring her to our house at times like that. Otherwise I'd really be po'd.

Well training a dog to bark when a doorbell rings or the phone rings is ridiculous if she is deaf or hard of hearing. She will miss a good portion of those unless the dog comes and barks at her and she sees that the dog is barking. The correct training would be to train the dogs to give a visual or tactile signal for each thing. Training dogs to bark for protection is also pretty rediculous. Most people especially burgers know a barking dog means nothing, a quiet dog who growls on the other hand is a dog you want to avoid. It sounds like these dogs have been taught all wrong, they have only been taught to make noise which is not good for alerting a deaf person and is not good for protection and is alienating to neighbors. The dogs should be taught to stand guard and how to protect if there is an intruder or if their master is being harassed or harmed. And should be trained to give visual and tactile signals for the phone and doorbell. As for the neighbor harassing it is possible they crossed the line but the reason for that may be your friend crossed the line first with training her dogs to be constantly annoying to neighbors. It sounds like there is a huge lack of real training for her dogs. Her money would be better spent getting them training rather than a sitter.

As a disability advocate in my day job, I would have to ask: Are the dogs certified service dogs? If they ARE then they need some intensive retraining from the service place that she got them from. That place will let her know if they're retrainable or if they have to be retired. She should ALWAYS have her certification papers for the dogs on her so that when she's home and the police arrive she can show that they're service dogs. That said... she does have responsibility for keeping the dogs quiet. As it is, the dogs are not doing their jobs. That HAS to be handled. If they can't be retrained then she's going to need to have the dogs replaced.

If they ARE NOT certified service dogs and SHE is the one who raised and trained them, then they're not really service dogs and won't be considered service dogs. She won't have any legal recourse in how the dogs are treated/handled by the police and other people. They wouldn't be allowed in public places like restaurants or anywhere else pets are typically not allowed because she wouldn't have the certification papers proving they're service animals. They're "just pets" and not service animals.

Ok. So. Your friend gave the neighbor her number to text her when the dogs are acting like a-holes during the day when your friend isn't home. That was an open invitation, and I don't think your friend realized just how bad the barking actually was before she made that invitation. Either that or the barking has gotten worse. That's not harassment. And if the neighbor is calling the police then that means she getting sick of the noise and losing patience because nothing is being done about the dogs whether they're legit service animals or not. Neighbors don't have to tolerate misbehaving dogs, service animals or not. Service dogs are not supposed to be disruptive. When they're working and signaled that they're working, or given any command whatsoever, their training is so ingrained that they obey. When that stops happening it's a serious problem. So no... the legal recourse will be very LIMITED for your friend.

So is her dog... an actual certified....."SERVICE Dog"??????
Or not and it is just her pet, that she trained to bark?
Big difference.

IF her dog, is an actual SERVICE Dog, then I would think that would be proof, and from/of her Doctor, and that she is "handicapped" and needs that dog and the dog is merely doing its "job."
SO then, the Police, should know that too.
AND if the Dog is a "SERVICE" dog, then the dog would be wearing its "vest" indicating that it is a service dog.
And this would then legitimize... the dog and its use. FOR her etc.

AND per her hearing condition... does she not fall into a "handicap" category, etc?
Perhaps, she also has to, have on her or in her residence, a legal letter from her Doctor, that says, she is hearing handicapped etc. and needs the dog... because it is a SERVICE, dog.

But the thing is, it seems her dog is just her, pet.
NOT A certified, SERVICE dog.
And she does not have, any legal papers saying she is needing such a dog etc. in her DAILY life etc.

AND, can those neighbors, even have... a HOME business, out of their house??? Check on those laws, too.
AND you can also complain about them, too. Or if it is or not, a LEGAL business etc.

LOOK up the LAWS for the hearing impaired or for the Deaf or for the disabled.
http://deafness.about.com/od/legalrights/a/legalrights.htm
http://www.drnpa.org/
Or laws on the legal rights of the Deaf.

Friend may need to look into a trainer that can RE-train the dogs to alter her in a non-noisy way. Dogs can show they need your attention in many ways - tracking dogs move a certain way to show they've found something, etc.

The barking isn't a great idea, because if she looses her hearing entirely, it's not going to work

And she needs to use her hearing aids all the time when she's awake.

S.,

Does your friend live in an HOA? Are there rules against a home-based business in the HOA?

I'm sorry your friend is going through this. What a pain in the butt. My suggestion would be to purchase black out blinds so that the dogs cannot see people walking to the door, etc.

Maybe she can work with a trainer to make sure they ONLY bark at people knocking on THEIR door or coming to THEIR home...I don't know how close the houses are....

It sucks that this is happening!

I live in a neighborhood where some neighbor's dogs do in fact bark ALL day and night... and yes, it is too much ..... at some point, enough is enough.. it's one thing during the day, but then again at night.. there was a time when this one dog howled all night long.. not sure where the owners were, but it was downright annoying..
so I do think there comes a point when there can be too much barking..
just as your friend might have a right to her dogs, the neighbors also have a right to some peace and quiet..
Also, seems to be that service dogs are better trained and don't bark at everything... maybe the dogs need more training... in which case, if the dogs are true service dogs, perhaps the place from which your friend got the dogs would be willing to do more training.
it seems to me that before they allow a dog into service as it were, the organizations of such places make sure the dogs are well trained,not only for the pet parent's sake, but for the dogs..
maybe she can look into this..

good luck

i would consider myself harassed if i lived next door to big dogs barking all the time. if this gal needs her dogs to bark (and she may well) then she (or her landlord) need to make sure that any neighbors are aware of it and sign off before they move in.
khairete
S.

Why couldn't the dog be trained to raise his paw or walk over to her and give her a non barking signal?

I think it is ridiculous to have a super smart dog bark in place of less violating options.

Why does your friend leave her house without the service dog?

I have looked at houses to buy and a crazed dog was the reason we did not bother to look further at the house. I think that house went into foreclosure.

edit: Does it bother your friend that the neighbor has a lot of people coming and going?

If these are certified service dogs who have been formally trained, then your friend can easily gain legal ground.

If they are not really service dogs, then your friend is simply a bad pet owner, legally speaking, and has no grounds at all. I suspect this might be the case because a properly trained service dog would go to it's human when the doorbell rings to let them know with a touch. It doesn't bark at the door or phone.

If this is the issue, then she needs to hire a professional trainer to work with them to stop the barking and teach them proper alert behavior. Tell her to take off those collars immediately, because that is downright cruel to do to animals that she taught to bark in the first place. She will need a daytime pet sitter or kennel care while she is at work until the dogs have been retrained.

A well trained service dog would not have used barking as a way to alert... they could and should be trained to come get the person, or alert in another way.

I understand that she also wanted the aspect of the big dog and the bark to help "protect" her, but that could also be done a different way.

Is there anyone that could come in and train the dogs properly?

If she wants the dogs to be respected by law enforcement as service dogs then they need to be trained and certified as service dogs.

Does the neighborhood have an HOA? If so the home business may be against the rules and she could then do something about all the foot traffic. I know businesses of any kind are prohibited in my residential area.

To me your friend attempted to be nice and has not been met in kind. My starting point would be in determining if the neighbor even has a legal right to run her business out of her home. In my area that would not be legal. Beyond that I am appalled at the neighbor's conduct. Your friend gave the neighbor her number and offered to work on resolving the matter to a mutually satisfactory level. Instead this neighbor has taken it upon herself to harass your friend. I'm sorry but I am not sympathetic to the neighbor who by your account is acting like a self-centered -itch not to mince words. If I was your friend, I would try to work with my dogs and tune out the neighbor. I know receiving the police notices must be trying your friend's patience but has she tried contacting the police? They might be surprisingly sympathetic to your friend if they heard her side of things. Also it would give your friend a chance to figure out what if any consequences there are regarding these noise violations. Finally I think maybe your friend can tackle her dogs from two angles. She should try to minimize how much the dogs can see out of her home while she is gone (kenneling/crating, secluding to one room without visible access to the outside, etc.). Then she should also try retraining the dogs also to give her a different (silent) cue. Good luck to your friend since this sounds like an unnecessarily stressful situation. People can be absolutely lacking in regard for their fellow man.

You know, I think both sides have a valid cause. I would check the zoning laws about having a business in that area. I had a child care facility and if it had not been a home first that had a home child care business in it then turned into a child care facility it would not have been allowed because it was not a business zone.

This person next door may be violating the zoning laws especially due to the heavy traffic. That's specifically the reason that businesses are not allowed in residential area's. The traffic is supposed to be less in residential areas.

This woman should also NOT have to pay out her money for a dog sitter while she's gone. That's counter productive. The dogs do need some further training though so they don't bark about neighbors visitors.

The police need to be aware of the woman's handicap status and that the dogs are for a hearing impaired person. I think the neighbor can't do anything or the Disability organizations could get involved and that neighbor in trouble.

Lots to check out.

Where I live, I can have a business license attached to my home address, however, I am not allowed to run business out of my home.

So, I can be a photographer and use my residential mailing address, however, I cannot have clients in and out of my home because IT IS RESIDENTIAL. I could lose my license for doing so.

Can she sell the house and dogs, and move to a smaller place in a less borderline community?