Bark, bark, bark continuously!

[lakeside013104]

First off, I am a dog owner, have worked with dogs for years, play with dogs and love dogs.

Currently in an Elite RV resort in central FL with about 300 sites half of which are privately owned and the remainder are rentals. This place is clean except for the sites with oak trees and the park is dog friendly.

Our neighbors are often gone for the day or evening and leave their dog in RV while away. As soon as they leave their dog starts barking and does not stop until they return. The dog barks enough to cause his bark to become hoarse and labored sounding.

My question is: "When is the appropriate time to complain to the office and what kind of response should one expect to receive"?


Lakeside

[Dog_Folks]

coolbreeze01 wrote:
Very civil of the OP. I can't say the same for the Elite RV resort in central FL.

Elite? Really?

I agree 1000%. Elite's failure to take action because the dog's dada is a new owner at the resort speaks volumes. None of it good.

They care more about some folks, and their money, than others. I can now strike them of my list to spend money with. That is disgusting.

I hope the OP writes a factual review, which will be poor here: RV Park Reviews

The camping community needs to know what happened here.

[coolbreeze01]

Very civil of the OP. I can't say the same for the Elite RV resort in central FL.

Elite? Really?

[NRALIFR]

lakeside013104 wrote:
......
Office worker is sympathetic, but says: "They bought their lot so there is nothing that we can do".

The next time I see the owner, they are very upset that I would contact the office about their dog. Lots of NEGATIVE attitude toward DW and I and very uncomfortable around the camp site.

We leave next week for points west. Lesson learned = KMS. Keep Mouth Shut.

Thank you all for your points of view. Thank you moderator for allowing this post for it is somewhat educational.

Safe travels to all.

Lakeside

It's commendable that you tried to handle this civilly with owner first. Unfortunately, it went the way I thought it was MOST LIKELY to go. I started to post yesterday that I thought the odds were against the owner taking responsibility for and rectifying the problem, and that they would probably respond with a) disbelief or b) belligerence. Sounds like you got a little of both.

I don't buy for minute though the office workers statement that there is nothing they can do. Places like that have all sorts of restrictions in the paperwork that the site buyers have to sign at closing, just like in any other exclusive community. The fact that they bought their site does not exempt them from any laws or ordinances.

If the resort owners won't step up to the problem, there are municipal authorities that can be brought to bear. Local police, sheriffs office, code enforcement, or animal control will have the authority to enforce local noise or disturbance ordinances. The fact that the disturbance is extending beyond the boundary of the site their RV is on is reason enough for them to get involved.

It's a shame there are numb-skulls out there like this, but unfortunately there are.

:):)

[PamfromVA]

You still did the right thing. As a dog owner I would want to know. Our oldest dog is 13-1/2. She has been camping her entire life and was always quiet when we left the camper. She has now started barking when we leave to go to work. The only reason we know this is because our son works nights and is there to listen to Gracie bark all day. I've tried putting her in the thundershirt when I leave in the morning but it's not helping much. Fortunately, I will be retiring in two weeks but I don't know what we are going to do with her on our next trip. Back to the original poster: if you didn't tell me, I would not know because our dogs have not been barkers in the past. I would be receptive to your information and would not be a jerk. You just happened to run into jerks at this campground.

[paulcardoza]

I'd say you handled things perfectly. You gave the owner a chance and he proved to be a jerk. It could just as easily had turned out to be a positive experience.

There's no reason whatsoever to be afraid to talk to your neighbors about the issue. Going directly to the office almost guarantees animosity, where discussing it gives a better chance of keeping relations civil.

In your case there was no winning, but that's gonna happen.

lakeside013104 wrote:

shadows4 wrote:

spoon059 wrote:
Six pages...

Now I am curious as to how lakeside(OP'er) handles the situation.

OPer here. I read all the posts to this thread and decided to give contacting the owner a try in a positive manner.

When the owner returned I smiled and waved and asked them if they had a second to talk? I did the small talk for a minute and then got into my reason for our conversation.

It went something like this: "I'll make a wager that you didn't realize how much your pup loves and misses you while you are away. The poor thing misses you so much he has barked for the last four hours".

OWNER: "Oh really, I don't believe it could be THAT bad. My pup is a really good boy".

ME: "I think there are devices you can buy that help with barking problems".

OWNER: "I don't want to hear about it". Then turns and walks away....


That went WELL.

Next two days and about seven hours of bark bark, I went to the office.

Office worker is sympathetic, but says: "They bought their lot so there is nothing that we can do".

The next time I see the owner, they are very upset that I would contact the office about their dog. Lots of NEGATIVE attitude toward DW and I and very uncomfortable around the camp site.

We leave next week for points west. Lesson learned = KMS. Keep Mouth Shut.

Thank you all for your points of view. Thank you moderator for allowing this post for it is somewhat educational.

Safe travels to all.

Lakeside

[lakeside013104]

shadows4 wrote:

spoon059 wrote:
Six pages...

Now I am curious as to how lakeside(OP'er) handles the situation.

OPer here. I read all the posts to this thread and decided to give contacting the owner a try in a positive manner.

When the owner returned I smiled and waved and asked them if they had a second to talk? I did the small talk for a minute and then got into my reason for our conversation.

It went something like this: "I'll make a wager that you didn't realize how much your pup loves and misses you while you are away. The poor thing misses you so much he has barked for the last four hours".

OWNER: "Oh really, I don't believe it could be THAT bad. My pup is a really good boy".

ME: "I think there are devices you can buy that help with barking problems".

OWNER: "I don't want to hear about it". Then turns and walks away....


That went WELL.

Next two days and about seven hours of bark bark, I went to the office.

Office worker is sympathetic, but says: "They bought their lot so there is nothing that we can do".

The next time I see the owner, they are very upset that I would contact the office about their dog. Lots of NEGATIVE attitude toward DW and I and very uncomfortable around the camp site.

We leave next week for points west. Lesson learned = KMS. Keep Mouth Shut.

Thank you all for your points of view. Thank you moderator for allowing this post for it is somewhat educational.

Safe travels to all.

Lakeside

[et2]

lushy wrote:

et2 wrote:
It's past the time for you. We have two rug rats. When we leave they get spray collars on. No barking from them. No complaints. They work as we use them at home to quiet them down when needed. So no excuses from dog owners they can't do anything about it. There are things on the market to help.

Not trying to get off topic, but what is a spray collar?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=citronella+bark+col...


Wife didn't want to shock the little buggers. These seem to work great. And the dog smells good too. 😉

[camperforlife]

My brother always sweared that his dogs did not bark when he left them. We camp together ocasionally. When he leaves the dogs and we stay behind they bark. He claims it is because they know we are there. I explained to him that we have been out on the bikes and hear them long before we get back to the site. He still doesn't believe it.

We as siblings probably have one of the best relationships ever. Both are in their 50's and never have had an argument that lasted over 30 minutes yet I can't convince him that his dogs are a nuisance to others. Dogs are like children, if the parents don't want to see their little ones in a negative light, no one is going to convince them otherwise.

[azrving]

You want some real barking?

[Dtank]

mikeleblanc413 wrote:
I'm with dodgeguy!

Ditto.

Didn't need to go past (six more pages) that post.

Woof, woof, OP - for the nice rant..:W

.

[hershey]

His has to be a record, one camper and 8 dogs>>

[azrving]

rockhillmanor wrote:
Been full timing for over 6 years now and when I see a problem I tell the CG manager/owner period.

In the beginning I have tried to politely talk directly to the owners and boy let me tell you there are a multitude of very confrontational campers out there now a days!! Not worth the time or effort to try and talk to people like that.

Tell the manager and let them deal with it. They have the power to eject the camper from the CG and sometimes that is what is needed for an offender to take heed and start abiding by the CG rules.

:B

[shadows4]

spoon059 wrote:
Six pages... I can only guess the "biting" (pun intended) comments contained within.

Here is my suggestion... write a note letting them know their dogs were barking and tape it to the door and see if the situation resolves itself.

About 4 years ago my wife and I were that offending party that you mentioned. Our dogs bark at new sites and sounds. When we are there we are able to quickly get them calmed down. It never really dawned upon us that they would bark incessantly when left alone. Well... they did. One neighbor anonymously taped a note to our door alerting us.

We have no desire to cause aggravation and were blissfully ignorant of the situation. The next day we left the dogs again (we were 1000 miles away in Florida for a 2 week vacation). This time we closed the blinds so they couldn't see people walk past, we turned on the radio and turned on the AC fan to drown out any outside noise that might startle them.

At the end of that day we approached our next door neighbor who was sitting outside. We explained the note we had sent (no idea if it was him that left it...) and expressed how concerned we were about causing a nuisance. We asked him if the dogs were barking all day. He mentioned that he had been out all day and didn't hear anything until we got home (dogs know my truck and always bark out the window when I get home... camping or our real house).

Throughout the rest of the week I would ask him how they did, he advised not a peep.

Moral of the story... most dog owners want to be good neighbors. Tattling to management is likely to rub some people the wrong way. I, as a dog owner, preferred to be notified directly and politely.

X2 This makes the most sense of all these posts. Now I am curious as to how lakeside(OP'er) handles the situation.

[rockhillmanor]

Been full timing for over 6 years now and when I see a problem I tell the CG manager/owner period.

In the beginning I have tried to politely talk directly to the owners and boy let me tell you there are a multitude of very confrontational campers out there now a days!! Not worth the time or effort to try and talk to people like that.

Tell the manager and let them deal with it. They have the power to eject the camper from the CG and sometimes that is what is needed for an offender to take heed and start abiding by the CG rules.

[spoon059]

Six pages... I can only guess the "biting" (pun intended) comments contained within.

Here is my suggestion... write a note letting them know their dogs were barking and tape it to the door and see if the situation resolves itself.

About 4 years ago my wife and I were that offending party that you mentioned. Our dogs bark at new sites and sounds. When we are there we are able to quickly get them calmed down. It never really dawned upon us that they would bark incessantly when left alone. Well... they did. One neighbor anonymously taped a note to our door alerting us.

We have no desire to cause aggravation and were blissfully ignorant of the situation. The next day we left the dogs again (we were 1000 miles away in Florida for a 2 week vacation). This time we closed the blinds so they couldn't see people walk past, we turned on the radio and turned on the AC fan to drown out any outside noise that might startle them.

At the end of that day we approached our next door neighbor who was sitting outside. We explained the note we had sent (no idea if it was him that left it...) and expressed how concerned we were about causing a nuisance. We asked him if the dogs were barking all day. He mentioned that he had been out all day and didn't hear anything until we got home (dogs know my truck and always bark out the window when I get home... camping or our real house).

Throughout the rest of the week I would ask him how they did, he advised not a peep.

Moral of the story... most dog owners want to be good neighbors. Tattling to management is likely to rub some people the wrong way. I, as a dog owner, preferred to be notified directly and politely.