Nuisance dogs in new developments

[Negus]

Hi All,

We moved in to a new development in Watson about 2 years ago, and it’s fantastic!

With one significant draw back.

Dogs! Dogs everywhere. There are no less than 9 dogs living in close proximity of my bedroom and home office with varying degrees of enthusiastic barking from 7am through late evening and in some cases through the night. Further away, dogs barking have echos when they reach my office they are so loud.

First of all, these dogs are awesome. When they aren’t barking madly.

But they are a real problem when working from home, particularly as I have to work European hours at times and am up to 3am. Some of the problem dogs are 8 meters from where we sleep, and 5 meters to where we work / study. It can be aggravating / impossible to sleep or work in these conditions. These dogs can be heard as far away as France, during web meetings. They drown out the TV. Some bark continuously in the morning with such regularity you can set your watch by it. There appears to be a general lack of care / training on the owners part when the dogs are left at home alone or ignored. They are left in tiny spaces aim directly at their neighbors windows.

As best as I can tell, the owners of these dogs are (mostly) not home when the dogs are barking, and do not see the problem they are causing. Strata (where the owners are on a common strata block) repeatedly refuse to help by discussing with owners of these dogs or mediating for fear of legal action against them stemming from pet ownership laws. Discussing directly with owners is difficult, time consuming and potentially fraught from the outset.  Domestic Animal Services are great, but are stretched very thin, can take a long time to even start a case and correspondence is at arms length.  So far I can only assume they have some impact.

As much as we like our new home, we are thinking of selling up and rolling the dice on a new location. It seams absurd that so many dogs can be kept in such small spaces so close to where people work and sleep.

Is there something that can be done at the council level? Does anyone else struggle with these dog issues?

 

 

 

[Chair]

Hi,

This is a common problem.

The ACT Government has a webpage that addresses this very issue:

https://www.cityservices.act.gov.au/pets-and-wildlife/domestic-animals/dogs/dogs-and-barking-behaviour

If you have still having problems after following the advice on this page please let us know.

Regards.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by Chair.

[Negus]

Hi!

Yes I’ve been doing what I can – including following that pages instructions for well over a year now. Perhaps closer to 2 years.

Very keen to discuss with a council representative. Would be great if someone could motivate the strata where the problem dogs are on the same title, and follow up with DAS where there are outstanding requests.

Thanks!

 

 

 

[Chair]

Hi Negus,

If you can send an email to info@northcanberra.org.au we can put you in contact with the Watson community association.

Regards.

[Author]

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