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The Dog, what do you do about the dog!?

So I showed one of my listings tonight to a potential home buyer. He had felt that from the photos he'd seen, that he would love the back yard of this home. Beautiful green grass, mature shade trees, great big deck, a dog run, fruit trees... all the things he wanted. And he in fact, he did love the yard. And, as luck would have it, he liked the house too! Great! Right? Beautiful back yard of home for sale

Well, not so fast. The dog in the yard behind would NOT stop barking. Bark, Bark, Bark! Now, I could give the dog the benefit of the doubt... the house (my listing) has been vacant for some time, it may not be used to hearing people at this house. Heck we're strangers.. maybe getting a little too close to his territory. I'd be wary too. BUT, what IF the dog isn't just wary this one time? What if it does bark every time he hears a noise? My client shared he loves quiet at night. He enjoys unwinding after a long day in the backyard playing with his own dog. And could he live with the possibility of that barking each and every night...?? No way.

The worst part (for me) is that I've NEVER heard this dog barking in all the times I've been there, in all the times I've held open houses and I asked my client and they had not noticed any problems with any dogs in neighboring homes. Alas... what to do when otherwise the house seems to be a perfect match?

What I did is to suggest that the potential buyer come back during daylight and find which house is behind this one , and go meet those people. I figure that a dog is only going to do what his owner lets him do (if I heard my dog barking like that at ANYONE I would've brought it in the house PRONTO and yelled an apology!). I said, meet the neighbor and then see how he feels. See what their pattern is with the dog. Maybe its usually in the house, but not this night? Maybe they acknowledge the dog will bark for the first couple of weeks til he gets used to you and your pattern... Or, maybe they don't care, and they're mean. I don't know... the question is....

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Posted by Catherine Myers, Walnut Creek, CA Real Estate on 10/22/2007 11:11 PM

Comments (17)

buying a home, barking dogs

Post is included in group: Certified Residential Specialists

17 Comments on The Dog, what do you do about the dog!?

OCT

2007

tough spot to be in. Maybe it is a newer dog to the household. I have had a similar situation with neighbors before and the dogs were very friendly once they knew the person. they would however scare the daylights out of them when they walked up to the house.

The owners were very nice people and woudl come out to meet clients at showings and introduce them to the dogs and then the dogs were great. They would let the buyers know about the dogs and their habits. It worked out well.

Joe, Thanks for coming by. Yes I agree... you just never know. That is the other part of what I suggested. If the people seemed nice, and their dog is nice, maybe the two dogs can be introduced and if the neighbor dog gets to know the new buyer and his dog, maybe they could all just get along :) Hoping...

Could be the yard from which the dog was barking was new neighbors (did you check to see if the house at that address had sold recently?), maybe it's a puppy and hasn't been trained yet, or maybe the owners of the house are just 'dog-sitting' for a few days. Your idea of having the prospective buyer meet the owners of the house in question is a great idea.

Tough one!

How are you with dogs generally? If you are OK. I would ask your sellers if you can reach out to the neighbors. Explain the situation to them and see if they will cooperate.

Possible solutions:

1. BRING BUSCUITS - Do this several times on your own. if the dog gets used to you being the source of all that is yummy - chances are he'll be happy to see you and wag his tail.

2. Another possibility is to purchase a CITRONELLA COLLAR for the dog. This is a training collar available at Foster & Smith. It prevents barking by spraying the dog with citronella scent when they bark. It is triggered by the muscular action in the dogs neck when he barks. This works when the owner is home or away.

3. soda can of change. That will train a dog not to bark. They HATE the sound and it stops them dead in their tracks....

You need owner cooperation for each of these - so I wish you good luck.

Mary, so right you are. It could be they were dog sitting. Or a new dog. I do hope that if he does go to meet them it is a simple explanation for all the barking tonight. I do believe any dog is going to be wary of a new neighbor for a while.. my guess is that "most" dogs would settle down after getting to know the new neighbor, but I sure want that buyer to make that decision on his own :)

Ruthmarie, thanks for stopping by and for your ideas. I appreciate it. I did adopt a yippy yappy Jack Russell once many years ago and the citronella collar did help . I do hope that whatever the buyer finds out, he'll be willing to work it out the neighbor - assuming the neighbor of course is a nice, amiable person :)

Oh, and Mary, I forgot to address one thing you asked. And no, in fact NOTHING has sold in that area in a while.. unfortunately BUT it could be a renter? Maybe...

When new owners moved in behind me the dog barked for a day or two, but I haven't heard a peep out of him since.

But I certainly wouldn't buy a house with a noisy dog barking all the time. I don't run into it very often.

Ardell, nice to see you! Thanks for stopping by. I do tend to think you're right.. I think most dogs would act like that with new neighbors... but one always worries.. what if? What if I move in next to a maniacal , barking dog? Yikes.

NOV

2007

Roll Over and Play Dead..........

Actually it is not uncommon for dogs to sense strangers in the area. Once someone gets moved in they will get used to them......hopefully......otherwise carry a big bone or huge dog biscuit and throw it at Fido...

The suggestion for Buyer to come back and meet the neighbor who has the dog was a good one.

really not much you can do about the dog - I would rather have it in the backyard barking then in the house jumping on everyone!

I had a property listed where this same scenario occurred. No noise not even a peep and then one day all heck broke loose next door. Seems the neighbors were a foster family for dog rescue services. They had about 10 dogs that particular day. Someone bought the house even though. We told the buyers agent they had dogs , sometimes they barked, sometimes they didn't. Disclose....

I think you handled it well. There's only so much you can do. I've witnessed that situation myself and wondered what the owner of that dog was thinking just letting it bark when obviously their neighbor was desparately trying to sell their house!

I just want to make one thing clear. If you give a barking dog a biscuit, the dog will bark for biscuits. Remember Pavlov's Response from school?

Meet the neighbors and ask if the dog barks all the time or occasionally. Then meet the dog owner and the dog.

Terry, Love it! Throw it AT the dog. Yah, I wanted to knock him out that's for sure!

Bill/Barbara Jo, yes you're right, though I have a lab that probably resembles that remark :) oops, need a little more training here :) (not sure if its me or her that needs the training though, likely its me)

Shannon, it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round huh? Amazing.

KC, you're right... probably. If it learns everytime I come I give it a biscuit, it will probably keep barking, lol... geez, can you imagine , the realtor that actually trains the neighbors dogs to bark at them!? Great!

NOV

2007

I had a foreclosure listing that the neighborsapparently did NOT want to get sold. They had 2 little yippy-yappy things, and they ONLY put them outside when the house was being shown and people were in the backyard. You would hear them open the door and tell the dogs, "Go get 'em!' The annoying little things would run to the fence and not stop barking until we left the backyard. It was cited by 2 buyers as the main reason they wouldn't buy the house. One buyer, who ended up unable to purchase and lost his EM said when he moved in, he was going to poison the dogs and be done with it.

I am so glad he didn't get the house!

That is a tough one. One other thing that worry me is the fact the potential buyer has a dog and what if the two dogs spend hours barking at each other?:) Maybe they'd get tired of it. I know our dog barks only when we are outside and another animal or person comes near the farm. She is only trying to protect us from the rabbits or cats.

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