The Beetley Barkers

~ beetleypete

As you will know from reading my blog, Beetley is a great place for dog owners to live. The nearby Beetley River Meadows and Hoe Rough provide the opportunity for enjoyable dog walks on your doorstep, and as well as those places, there are nearby woodlands, the large recreation field, and Beetley Common, all within a short walk.

In the last couple of years, more and more people with dogs have moved to the area, attracted by the abundance of carefree walks. This has led to a huge increase in the number of dogs locally, with dog ownership in our road alone approaching 50% of all the houses. In addition, this area has been featured on Facebook, attracting dog walkers from as far away as twenty miles. As a dog owner myself, I naturally see the attraction.

However, some of our neighbours seem to believe that their dogs should just roam outside in their gardens, rather than be inside the house with their owners. So, from very early in the morning, until quite late in the evening, many dogs can be heard yapping and barking constantly. They are either barking to ask to be let in, or because they are responding to the barking of other dogs nearby. As a result, we no longer need an alarm clock, in order to be roused from our slumbers. The barking of the dogs is our wake-up call, whether we want it, or not.

On some mornings, this is well before 6 am. It goes something like this.

First dog. Low woof. Repeat.
Second dog. Loud WOOF WOOF WOOF.
First dog. Louder WOOF in reply.
Third (and smaller) dog. YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP YAP.
Repeat.
Fourth dog. Much louder and deeper WOOOOFFF from some distance away.
Fifth dog, somewhere across the road. WOOF woof woof. WOOF WOOF.

This morning cacophony continues until the owners presumably tire of it themselves, and let the dogs back in. Our own dog, Ollie, doesn’t join in. He rarely barks, unless someone comes up the side of the house.

So, we are awake from whatever time these dogs start, with no chance of getting back to sleep, seven days a week. The former peace we enjoyed in Beetley, now shattered by inconsiderate people, with no idea how to control their dogs. Thanks for that.

If you want to get a guaranteed alarm sound that you will never sleep through, try this one.
woofWoofWOOFWOOFWOOFWOOFYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPWOOOOFFFWOOFwoofwoofWOOFYAPYAPYAPWOOOFFF!

44 thoughts on “The Beetley Barkers”

  1. Humorous post; annoying situation. I think you’ve mentioned that some of your neighbors read beetleypete. Maybe a few of them will get the subtle hint?

    Fourteen or 15 years ago, we had next door immigrant neighbors with a big white Labrador. These people either kept the dog in the back yard, which was so full of dog piles that I couldn’t go into my own back yard without pinching my nose (especially in summer when the mercury rises over 110 F), or else they tied the dog to the tree out front. Since these people also kept their trash can (in which they scraped uneaten food after their meals) at the front corner of their house by the tree, the dog often toppled it, spreading the foodstuffs all over the sidewalk between the houses.

    This dog barked almost constantly, interrupting both my waking hours and my sleeping hours. I often got out of bed, grabbed a couple of skillets, staggered outside, and made a prolonged racket in protest—not so much for the dog, who didn’t give a hoot (preferring to bark instead), but for the owners who might get the hint.

    I finally lodged a formal complaint about the trash can, whose location was against the neighborhood’s CC&Rs (covenants, conditions, and restrictions), as I got tired of stepping over rotting vegetables to get to my “front” door at the back of the house. Eventually, these people moved away. And they took the Lab with them. Once they were out of the picture, and peace and tranquility were restored, I landscaped the back yard. Suddenly, I realized that I would finally be able to enjoy having one…

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    1. Your story will be familiar to many people, David. At least we don’t have issues with trash or uncollected dog poo. Since I put this on the blog, the barking has not stopped, but it is not as bad. I suspect some neighbours told others about what I had written, but it is still a case of ‘good days, bad days’.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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      1. People move to the country to find peace and quiet, and a slower pace of living. It’s really a shame to have to endure barking dogs in the morning. I hope the situation improves over time. I have some extra skillets here at the house if you need them…

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  2. The joys of becoming popular. I’m sure it’s partly your fault for singing the praises of the area in your posts… I remember a comedy series (Catalan) about a grumpy GP that moved from the big city to the countryside and found he could not sleep for all the noises (he was used to traffic but not to birds, hens, cows, dogs…) Take care, Pete.

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    1. Thanks, Olga. The dog-walking opportunities appeared on Facebook a while back, so it seems my posts are not to blame…
      I’m not a GP of course, but could be described as ‘grumpy’, at least occasionally. 🙂
      I am just back from a weekend in London, which was considerably noisier. I think that city noise becomes a constant that you adapt to. In the country, the sounds punctuate the peace, so tend to wake you up.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  3. Terrible. The insensitivity of others is difficult to understand. Like mowing the lawn at 8:00 Sunday morning. Surely you aren’t the only one in the neighborhood who feels the same way.

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    1. I haven’t canvassed opinion as yet, Jennie. I am hoping that someone may have read this post, as the problem has reduced considerably since I published it! Or it may be because we have had days of rain, so they have not been letting them out…

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  6. I have grown accustomed to the barking of dogs, thankfully most of them are far enough away not to disturb, with the exception of our own who I invite in every night before I go to bed to ensure a restful sleep for us all. They don’t always except the invite and I curse myself for my lack of insistence when I’m woken at 3 in the morning as they bark at shadows. Although it seems that I’m the only one they wake up!

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  8. There’s a few on our patch too Pete, it always reminds me of that scene in 1001 dalmations where the dogs are woofing/yapping the news to each other! Ours have a lot to say! Luckily we don’t get woken up by them, we get woken up by blackbirds every morning at 5am, another lot of gobshites. 😊

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  10. Both my neighbours have dogs and one side let theirs out very early in the morning (around dawn) so I am woken by incessant yapping. The other side walk their dogs, but as soon as they spot the neighbour’s dogs THEY start frantic barking and howling and whathaveyou!! We have come to the conclusion that dog owners (yourself excepted) actually don’t HEAR their noisy dogs…

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    1. They may become inured to the barking themselves, but that doesn’t excuse them from knowing full well how much it annoys the neighbours. People are changing, unfortunately, and just don’t seem to care anymore. I find it all quite sad. x

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  15. I wait until a more reasonable 7:30 AM to walk my dogs, but we wreak havoc by causing eruptions of barking as we walk. My dogs pay no attention to this at all. I think they are feeling superior since they are on a walk and the barking dogs aren’t. Or something like that.

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  17. I know exactly what you mean, Pete. In our first house the neighbours were never home and their dogs barked constantly. My husband is a light sleeper and he had to get sleeping tablets as he couldn’t sleep. We ended up moving and haven’t had this problem in our new house.

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    1. I think the neighbours are at home, Robbie. They just leave the dogs outside most of the day. It is hard to lay blame though, as we cannot tell which of the houses it is coming from, and almost everyone has dogs. I am hoping that some of them might read this, but I doubt it!
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  20. Oh dear! That’s annoying. I think this could eventually be a matter for the local county parish council, what do you think? I have just come back from Norway. There are lots of dog owners in the area of my parents, mostly no problem at all. Since last year there’s a new family 10 houses away. They have 7 dogs! It’s unbelieveable, they bark and wooo and it’s so annoying. The dog owners are the problem.
    I hope you don’t get a dog/puppy training school in your near. Before I used to love watching them. Now they go crazy with all kinds of sound gadgets, trying to klick the dogs attention to a certain sound, like nails in a metal box. X 2o is very loud.
    Are you going to Blakeney today? It’s Blakeney greasy pool this late afternoon, early evening, the biggest attraction around here. 🙂
    Have a great weekend, Pete and Ollie 🐾🐾
    Love from Cley 🌊

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    1. Sorry, Dina. No trip to Blakeney for me. I am cutting the hedges at the front, then have to get everything ready for a trip to London tomorrow, to attend a wedding over the weekend. Just time for Ollie’s normal walk in between of course!
      Love from Beetley, Pete and Ollie. X

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      1. What a pity. Our hedges have to wait until next week, the gutters have to been cleaned first, all kinds of things are growing there now. 🙂
        Have a great time in London. I hope you are driving anticlockwise to the heavy holiday traffic.
        Dina x

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