White Noise Ideas for Pool Build - Barking Dogs

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ajw22 said:
What do you play on your outdoor sound system all day?
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Just a simple mix or 70s - 90s. Here in the San Antonio/Austin areas we have JACK FM or BOB FM. I still need to correct the dogs when they get out of hand, but I think it helps a little bit.
 
Wow! This brought back a memory and reminds me I'm glad our daughter's family doesn't live next door. When I was in college (1968) my wife and I lived in a garage apartment. The people renting the main house had one of those yappers. All the time, we'd hear the yapping dog, then the lady of the house calling out back, "Hush up [dog's name], hush up." A minute later the dog resumed yapping. Luckily, my wife worked and I went to school days and worked evenings, so we weren't there much. We did move, though, as soon as our lease was up.

Fast forward fifty years. Now...whenever we visit our daughter's house waaay across town, I can't help but think their neighbors are either deaf or making plans to hire a hitman for those dogs. It seems anything sets them off, especially people walking by--since their on a corner the back yard is next to the side street. Our neighbors have a little dog, but he's an insider with only 30 minutes or so outside. Besides, he is a police officer, so it wouldn't do for his household to ignore city ordinances.
 
Our neighbor has a springer spaniel that loves to bark at us when he hears or sees that we are in the back yard. It definitely does kill the chill vibe :mad:. We're still under construction, but are going the waterfall route and privacy fence, but we'll also have outdoor speakers as well. We have a split rail stockade style fence right now, so I think the privacy fence will go a long way, since he'll no longer be able to see us. Hopefully, the sound will not only drown out the barking, but also make it tough for him to hear us. The neighbors are pretty good about trying to curtail it if it goes on more than 30 mins, but they are older and have a doggy door, so the dog comes out any time he senses us out there.
 
How many people do you know that have a neighbor who came over and said, "we are really sorry our dog is barking so much, we are working on it, please accept our sincere apology we will make sure the dog barking doe not continue to be a nuisance." Yep, exactly it never happens!

Even generally nice, reasonable people with dogs will take the approach, of "dogs will be dogs" or "just go talk to your neighbor who by definition already doesn't care enough to hear their own dogs barking".

I "had to" go talk with my neighbor about their dogs barking. Note didn't want to, nor should not have had to but that's what even nice dog owners force the rest of us to do. The neighbors were very nice, apologetic and for the most part the dog barking nusance in our urban neighborhood got better. I have had to call to let them know their dogs were out back barking non-stop a couple of more times (to my point, clearly nice people who really don't care).

So in addition to talking with my neighbors I have installed a dog barking device that does work Dog Silencer<sup>®</sup> MAX
Note as with most things electronic there is a lot of cheaply made Crud devices for dog barking, I know as I tried a few. The ultimate bark control was more expensive but it definitely works.
 
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New neighbors one street over, know they have a schnauzer that barks. They were proactive, before they moved in, they had chocolate cakes delivered to every neighbor within earshot from their dog to apologize in advance of his barking! It charmed them all and the neighbors are much more tolerant and know they can let the owners know anytime the dog is obnoxious.
 
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I have a dog that loves to bark. She's a great guard dog, so go figure. (My other dog, not the one in my profile pic) I do not want angry neighbors, so I do not leave her outside for hours at a time, but I know 5 minutes even can be annoying. It wasn't bad until my rear neighbor built a workshop near my fence line, so now he's always there, which makes her crazy. I have a chain link fence, so I put up a black mesh screen that blocks her view out onto that neighbor's yard. It has cut down the barking 90%.
It is the dog owner's responsibility to not annoy the neighbors.

I am not sure if you need a waterfall. The pool pump itself will likely be 65 db or more.
 

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Texas Splash said:
Just a simple mix or 70s - 90s. Here in the San Antonio/Austin areas we have JACK FM or BOB FM. I still need to correct the dogs when they get out of hand, but I think it helps a little bit.
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Jack FM is still on down there? Wow...kinda surprised. We used to enjoy KONO but they changed the format a while back and it wasn't nearly as good.

As for the OP, we have a neighbor who "forgets" the dog is outside. THANKFULLY, the dog doesn't bark too much. However, they tend to have a LOT of parties and often make a lot of noise. Our pool is situated in such a way we don't really hear them, but cranking up the tunes drowns it out what we can hear. Thankfully, no neighbors on the other side and we own the 5 acres behind us, so no worry in disturbing others. I don't think I could ever live on a 1/10th acre lot ever again.
 
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Texas Splash said:
Some good comments above. We have 7 dogs. They alert for various reasons, but in their mind it's normal (prey-driven, protection, etc). I would encourage maintaining a good relationship with the neighbors. They may not be fully educated on how to best manage their dog's behavior, but if your relationship deteriorates it only adds to the problem. You might have better luck if you can somehow socialize with the dogs a little bit as noted above. But unless the owners educate the dogs (consistently) on other appropriate behavior, their instinct behavior will probably remain. We planted large red-tip bushes around our property to help "try" and keep visibility between properties to a minimum. It helps a little. I also have a simple stereo out back I leave on all day to help provide some white noise to the dogs and for us as well. If you anticipate having a pool event, you might ask the neighbors if they can keep the dogs inside for a certain period of time just for a break in the noise. Good luck! Woof woof!
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Given what I've seen so far I don't think the neighbors would be open to socializing their dogs with us. While I think that might help, we back up to a popular trail that's heavily used. The owners have covered space for them with dog bowls and dog houses so clearly their decision with the dogs is relatively deliberate. Before us, other neighbors found a way to tolerate it, but that's not how I roll :).

You can imagine with dachshunds, when they're outside, they bark for hours due to all the people they can see / hear. Even in winter the dogs will be outside barking for ~30 minutes at a time and I can see them barking at the door to be let in. There are lots of issues on the owners end relating to 'responsibility' and 'ownership' of the issue and I suspect they face the same issues within their home, too. Suffice to say I don't think they will correct it at this point.
 
Waterfall, muriatic acid and a good sound system. Neighbor issues can suck. Give it a shot then find your way to deal. Sounds like that's the plan.
 
bmoreswim said:
Waterfall, muriatic acid and a good sound system.
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**note for any newbs in the 'how to silence dogs thread' **

A waterfall and the aeration it causes will likeky raise the PH, so you'll need MA to combat that. MA is *not* to silence (cough cough dispose of) the dogs.
 
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Newdude said:
**note for any newbs in the 'how to silence dogs thread' **

A waterfall and the aeration it causes will likeky raise the PH, so you'll need MA to combat that. MA is *not* to silence (cough cough dispose of) the dogs.
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Wow, I suggested a very accepted and common solution, and not nearly as terminal, and I was censored.
 
klanel said:
Why?
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Waaaaaaaaaaay too science-y of an answer for me, so here is @chem geek take on it :

Anything that increases the surface area of the air-water interface will increase the rate of carbon dioxide leaving the pool water. Aeration, as with air bubbles in water, is one way. Splashing or spillovers or fountains are another. Pools are intentionally over-carbonated both to provide a pH buffer and to saturate the water with the carbonate portion of calcium carbonate to protect plaster surfaces from dissolving. In other words, there is a lot more dissolved carbon dioxide in the water than would naturally occur in equilibrium with the air (though obviously not as much as a carbonated beverage!).

As for why the pH rises, the easiest way to explain it is that some of the carbon dioxide in water is carbonic acid -- that is, carbon dioxide plus water makes carbonic acid -- so removing carbon dioxide is like removing carbonic acid. Removing an acid from the water makes the pH rise


TLDR : water movement / jets / waterfalls cause the PH to rise so the Muriatic Acid suggestion above would seem sadistic in the noisy dog thread to a new/casual TFP-er, and *exactly* why i made a joke about it.
 
Newdude said:
Waaaaaaaaaaay too science-y of an answer for me, so here is @chem geek take on it :

Anything that increases the surface area of the air-water interface will increase the rate of carbon dioxide leaving the pool water. Aeration, as with air bubbles in water, is one way. Splashing or spillovers or fountains are another. Pools are intentionally over-carbonated both to provide a pH buffer and to saturate the water with the carbonate portion of calcium carbonate to protect plaster surfaces from dissolving. In other words, there is a lot more dissolved carbon dioxide in the water than would naturally occur in equilibrium with the air (though obviously not as much as a carbonated beverage!).

As for why the pH rises, the easiest way to explain it is that some of the carbon dioxide in water is carbonic acid -- that is, carbon dioxide plus water makes carbonic acid -- so removing carbon dioxide is like removing carbonic acid. Removing an acid from the water makes the pH rise


TLDR : water movement / jets / waterfalls cause the PH to rise so the Muriatic Acid suggestion above would seem sadistic in the noisy dog thread to a new/casual TFP-er, and *exactly* why i made a joke about it.
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Thanks, looks like I'll probably be needing lots of MA.
 
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klanel said:
looks like I'll probably be needing lots of MA.
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New plaster curing will have a healthy MA appetite for 6-12 months also. Added bonus is by week 3 you are a PH pro. By week 41 you are a Jedi PH Master and will sense a distrubance from your kitchen table. Like a million bubbles cried up and were silenced. *sigh* * goes and gets gallon of MA from garage *
 
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