Pleasing 4 Pets

I am the proud owner of 3 new chickens; the chickens are about 8 months old and are starting to produce some lovely eggs. I have had the chickens for about 4 months now and I am really getting attached to them, there really lovely and can be quite calming after a day at work.

My chickens are kept in quite a sturdy shed and it would be quite difficult for a fox to get hold of them but I am really paranoid. I am worried that I will come down in the morning and they will be missing or have been attacked.

A couple of weeks ago I could hear the chickens making a lot of noise in the early morning so I grabbed my torch and no battery supply. I had to go out in the dark and check if they were ok, or to see if anything was lurking. It turns out that they just wanted to play out and had woken up early. I wasn’t best pleased but I was relieved that I didn’t have any dead chickens.

Overall the chickens have been great to have over the last 4 months and have been producing about 15 eggs a week, which is great and the neighbours love it too.

A recent survey has revealed that the majority of women - almost two thirds in fact would opt to take out an insurance policy for their beloved cats and dogs before taking out insurance for their partners.

Lots of women are more concerned about the health and well-being of their domestic pets than that of their spouse. It also revealed the drastic measures that pet owners in the UK would be prepared to take in order to keep their much loved pets in perfect health.

I go against this statistic because I am not that much of an animal lover, I am allergic to animals so if I come close to one my chest gets tight, my asthma gets bad and my eyes puff up and become bloodshot. I would most definitely not risk my life to save a pet - they are just animals and a human life is much more important.

You can find your local authority by using the following link and inserting your postcode: Local Authority

Once you have explained the situation to your local authority dog warden, you are normally given a record sheet to fill in to keep a diary of the level of the noise, the time the noise occur most often, how long it goes on for and how it affects the people living in your house.

Sometimes a dog warden may want to install sound monitoring equipment in your house. The local authority dog warden will then analyse the results. When they have the results, the dog warden will be able to tell if the law is being broken and he will then go and visit your neighbours.

Training advice will be offered to the neighbours to stop the dogs from barking but if the noise persists after the owners have been given a deadline by which to resolve the problem, then an Abatement Notice can be issued. Finally if the barking doesn’t stop, your neighbours could be taken to court.

I have a neighbour who has a stupid dog which continuously barks, non-stop; it is enough to drive you insane. I used to hate the dog but have realised that it is not the dogs fault – my neighbour is out at work all day so the stupid dog is barking because it feels lonely and bored.

Other reasons dogs bark could be they are being neglected and have medical problems or they might simply be defending their territory. Alternatively, the owners may simply not know how to train them or they haven’t even bothered to try.

Whatever the reasons, it’s not acceptable so if the barking continues after you’ve spoken to your neighbours, then you should contact your local authority’s dog warden service.

In a previous post I mentioned that I have a neighbour who has a dog called Bruno who constantly barks. The best course of action if you have a neighbour whose dog persistently barks is to go around to their house and have a conversation to make them aware of the issue.

Your neighbour should then take some action to stop the noise, take the dog to special dog training, or play with the dog because it may be bored in the house all day by itself.

However, if the barking continues after you have spoken to your neighbours, then you should contact your local authority’s dog warden service.

I have just bought a house – it’s a quasi-semi, it is in a nice area and I have a large back garden filled with grass. The only drawback to my new house is my neighbour; I seriously think she has a screw loose. We can be lay in bed and the walls are quite thin so you can hear her on the phone which is really annoying.

The main issue I have with my neighbour is her dog, she picked him up from a dog home (which is very nice of her I hear you say) However, this dog (‘Bruno’ – we hear her screaming his name all the time) just doesn’t stop barking. Morning, noon and night as our walls are so thin – you can hear him all through the house. She has got rid of him once but now she has him back, I know that persistent dog barking is not acceptable by law but I will go round to her house first and explain the situation.