Posted: Sun Oct 3, 2021 5:07pm
Major problem in Spain and my urbanisation has raised the question recently. We live in two parallel blocks and the sound echos and echos. Mostly I can ignore it but occasionally there is a crescendo of several dogs barking together.
So, I asked what they could do about it, to those that complain and this seems to be as far as I have got with info.
The law says a maximum of five dogs in a domestic property and they have to be well cared for. The Guardia take this seriously as there has been a lot of adverse publicity for Spain about cruelty to animals. They will investigate and will remove dogs that are in an insanitary condition etc. They will also remove them if they are proving to be a nuisance.
If you have a problem you need to talk to the owner - note Mattthews point about this being inflammatry and do not go alone. if the owner is hostile and or you get no success then call the Guardia - they will come and take pictures of the dogs and talk to the owners, they have an established system for this. One of our residents had 9 dogs on the solarium but it is only a two bed apartment with a mum and two children - a teenage boy and tennage girl. The police removed the dogs and now there are only two dogs. This is despite the dogs being clean and well cared for! If you live in an urbanisation you need to check local rules too. local rules can not exceed government rules but it there were rules in place at the time of the building of apartments in recent times - they had to be submitted as part of the planning regulations in recent times.
The more people you have complaining about the same thing will help. Noise is subjective and what annoys you might not annoy aomeone else. The more people the better and if, like us, we have an active president for the residences, who is Spanish and can talk to the Guardia all the better? The Police do take the problem seriously.
Also, keep a record of times and duration? The barking here used to go on for ten minutes or more, an hour one day, and you can not concentrate during that time?
Lastly, the internet is full of stories and tales of people arming their properties with banks of detectors and ultrasound devices that whistle at a dogs bark - the more it barks the more it sounds back in a feedback loop. Maybe over the top but in terms of getting a result and some peace and quiet, great, just expensive. I have found out-staring a dog very useful too - works with cats as well.
Happily I found a better solution - an app for the mobile phone, called 'dog whistle' and it emits a high pitched whine, inaudible to humans and gives the dog a feedback loop it doesn't like. Can't believe how effective it is, although not perfect it did work in most cases and I have recommended it to others in my neighbourhood. Where you may have a problem is dogs left at home they can get an anxiety syndrome - here you need to tell the owner because all they see is a happy dog -use an anonymous note if necessary and get the Police or Guardia involved, they will record it at least for future use?
The situation is not hopeless, good luck!
ps any dog lovers taking exception to this, please note, if that dog is a loved and cherished family member it should behave like a member of a family and not a wild animal?? The choice is yours.