I just moved into a new loft 5 blocks from Coors field. Wife and I sold the house cause we hated the neighborhood. Before I get the "You shouldn't have a big dog (120 Pounds) in an apartment," I'll say that it's 1200 square feet (400 more then our home was) and my dog gets 4 walks a day. Anyways here we go.
We got 2 complaints from the HOA (which is managed by some bank) that our dog was barking "constantly" within the first week of living there. I responded by saying "Please forward dates/times to me." I need to know this because my dog was sleeping in my room (still does) and does not bark at night and although she does bark (it's a dog) she is corrected quickly and doesn't bark often at all when I'm home. It should be noted that they only "narrowed" down that this was my dog because she was new. It wasn't a "Hey a dog in unit 222," is barking.
Anyways I was pretty sure my dog was not an "Anxious" barker who barked all day when I was at work. So I setup a skype cam and watched her for a full day. She was fine until I accidentally turned on the mic and freaked her out. She barked for 10 minute straight and stopped for the rest of the day (Ten minutes is way too much BTW but I kinda triggered it.)
Since then I've closed all windows that she can see dogs/people out of. I leave her a dog ball with treats when we leave. I leave music on for her. Well 2 months pass and I get another email from the HOA saying that someone complained that our Dog was barking constantly for 2 hours. This sounds nothing like my dog. I don't think I've ever heard her bark for 1/2 hour let alone 2 hours. I ask the HOA for the time and date of the complaint which of course she COULD NOT GIVE ME. Even though I told her that it would be very helpful in determining the solution to the barking.
If she can give me time/date I can rule that it was my dog or wasn't (at least). Or whether or not she was barking at inappropriate hours or if the 2 hours was an exaggeration.
Anyways I'm going to give my dog the citronella collar and I'm considering blocking off the front part of the unit so that she can only stay in the back away from the Hallway. BTW we share 1 wall with someone on the 2nd floor (and that person moved in last week). There are probably 10 units on our floor. None below me and None above me. The complaint came from a Homeowner on the 2nd floor which rules out the people across from me (they rent). I doubt it's the new people as the complainer from what I can tell is the same person. I literally don't know if this is a day or night issue or if it happens when I'm home. Is this person complaining about barking while I'm there (if so it's very very very little barking).
I'm just wondering what my rights are as a renter and what I should do to prepare myself. The HOA lady is slow as hell at responding to emails/phone calls (as is evident by her lack of fixing the lock on the front door of the building for 3 weeks). I love the unit and I DON'T want my dog disturbing people. I'm wondering what my options are all the way to the moment they tell me to leave or something. My wife will play the "Everything is fine," card so I'm the one trying to be proactive.
I'm mostly pissed at the HOA for not being detailed or following up with the complainer. Literally this is the exact quote from the HOA
"A homeowner on the 2nd floor emailed me about your dog. The emailed indicated that the dog is barking constantly again. It said this week (not sure what day) - it barked for over 2 hours while you were away. "
So you can't tell me the day but you are clear it was 2 hours. Anyways any ideas? Gracias folks.
well.. you know your dog better than anybody and if you say 10 min is a long time for the dog to bark, than 2 hours is probably out of the question. The fact that they can't even tell you what day it was nonetheless give you an approximate time is very telling. make sure that you keep very detailed notes on any actions or comments made to you about the dog from anyone in the building. Odds are what you have here is A) a resident that does not like dogs or most likely B) a HOA that does not like dogs. If it is within your right to have a dog (not stipulated otherwise in your rental agreement) then you have very little to be worried about. Make sure that you are as proactive as you can be in resolving the situation and save all emails and note all conversations. ask for dates and times and keep up the skype monitering or work on someother way of monitering the dog while you are away. With any luck they will eventually give you a date and time and you can catch them in a lie.
lastingsgriller wrote:well.. you know your dog better than anybody and if you say 10 min is a long time for the dog to bark, than 2 hours is probably out of the question. The fact that they can't even tell you what day it was nonetheless give you an approximate time is very telling. make sure that you keep very detailed notes on any actions or comments made to you about the dog from anyone in the building. Odds are what you have here is A) a resident that does not like dogs or most likely B) a HOA that does not like dogs. If it is within your right to have a dog (not stipulated otherwise in your rental agreement) then you have very little to be worried about. Make sure that you are as proactive as you can be in resolving the situation and save all emails and note all conversations. ask for dates and times and keep up the skype monitering or work on someother way of monitering the dog while you are away. With any luck they will eventually give you a date and time and you can catch them in a lie.
Thanks. And I'm not saying that she isn't barking. I figure she probably is barking. But I don't think her barking amounts to "disturbing the building." But hey maybe someone was moving in and walked by our door like 100 times.
I think I'm going to block her from being able to sit by the hallway door. She's got a ton of space in the other parts of the unit.
I do think whoever is complaining is probably exaggerating though
I'm guessing your neighbor doesn't like dogs and is kind of a whiner, and thus has exaggerated the situation. Likely the dog is unaccustomed to the new environment and is barking randomly at new noises, new sights, new smells, etc. The dog barks once or twice every 15-30 minutes, but because the neighbor is sensitive to the noise, once or twice in half an hour seems like a bigger deal than it is, kind of like how annoying Lambskins jokes are, so even though he only posts once in a while it seems like he's constantly annoying everyone because it's so offensive.
However, that doesn't stop this situation from being potentially serious. If you can keep the Cam thing going on for a while, and somehow record it and offer to provide it to the HOA chick, maybe she'll start taking your word for it and start realizing that the neighbor is overreacting.
knapplc wrote:I'm guessing your neighbor doesn't like dogs and is kind of a whiner, and thus has exaggerated the situation. Likely the dog is unaccustomed to the new environment and is barking randomly at new noises, new sights, new smells, etc. The dog barks once or twice every 15-30 minutes, but because the neighbor is sensitive to the noise, once or twice in half an hour seems like a bigger deal than it is, kind of like how annoying Lambskins jokes are, so even though he only posts once in a while it seems like he's constantly annoying everyone because it's so offensive.
However, that doesn't stop this situation from being potentially serious. If you can keep the Cam thing going on for a while, and somehow record it and offer to provide it to the HOA chick, maybe she'll start taking your word for it and start realizing that the neighbor is overreacting.
I'm thinking of recording just the audio just for records sake.
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by acsguitar » Thu Sep 09, 2010 3:04 pm 
