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My neighbor's dog barks loudly and continuously whenever it hears the sound of my typing on the computer keyboard inside my house. The dog lives in the neighbor's backyard 24 x 7 and can hear that typing sound at night when the neighborhood is quiet, and it barks very loudly and annoyingly. The dog's hearing is extremely good unfortunately, and our houses are very close to each other.

I wonder if I can play an audio (MP3) of a small puppy's whining or crying on either my smartphone or my small boombox to calm that neighbor's dog down so that it won't bark when I type on my computer keyboard ?

For example, here is a (MP3) audio sample a small puppy's crying or whining:

https://audiojungle.net/item/puppy-crying/29466032


Edit: One interesting note is that the neighbor keeps 5 dogs in their backyard, and only 1 dog is barking loudly and continuously at the sound of my typing at night. The other 4 dogs are good.

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That's an interesting idea and it might actually work, but on the other hand it's totally possible it causes the stark opposite. The big question is: Why does the dog bark at you typing?

Personally, I'd say it's plausible the dog might think the clicking noise of your keyboard is some other animal running around. Not sure if you've ever heard a dog with uncut nails running on hard ground, but if the nails scratch along, it might totally sound a bit like someone "keyboard warrioring".

As such, it's hard to guess why the dog barks. It barks, because it can hear you, but there should still be an intention behind.

  • Does the dog hear you and want your attention, because you might be someone to play with?

  • Does the dog hear you and thinks you're some kind of potential danger that has to be driven away?

So a whining puppy might swing this in both directions: The dog might want to get you to go, it might want you even more, etc.

As such, I'd suggest a little bit different approach:

In the past we've had a similar neighborhood dog here: As soon as he'd hear our dogs running, anyone in our family do something, or just hear us talking, he'd start to go nuts, bark away kind of aggressively, etc.

While said dog once attacked ours when he had the chance (no long time injuries), it often boiled down to some mix between the dog feeling lonely (i.e. wanting attention) and the dog not trusting the noises. Talking to him (e.g. from the balcony, because we can look down into their garden) worked.

So, after that small tangent, back to my suggestion:

  • Talk to the owner and get to know the dog a bit, if you don't know it yet. If the dog knows you (and e.g. doesn't just outright bark at you), even better. You should ideally be at a level where the dog stops barking once he notices it's you or you talk calmly to it. Think of something like "Ah! It's you! I know you don't do anything, so just stay away." or similar.

  • Now first, if you can, get to a balcony or window where the dog can see you and start typing a bit. If he sees you, potentially tries to start barking, etc. talk softly to it, no need to whine like a puppy or anything. Just show the dog basically "Hey, it's just me!". Also noteworthy you shouldn't have to do this at night, maybe even plan with the owner, if the dog normally isn't there during the day or so. It should be in their interest to keep the dog calm/quiet at night, too.

  • Over time the dog should desensitize towards you making noises on the balcony or window. When you're at that point, you can also try to make the noises further inside, like usual, etc. If you hear the dog barking, again, try talking to it, a bit louder, but still calm and in the same tone. Over time, the dog should once again notice it's you and due to you talking make the connection to getting noticed, too. This is the part you can also try all the time, if you have to work/type at night (i.e. you shouldn't have to stop doing so just to follow these steps one by one).

In our case, this kind of worked. The dog would still bark if he'd hear or see our dogs, but would quickly calm down, once I talk to him over the balcony. The exacts words etc. totally don't matter, just make sure you're talking in a calm and sooth way. Just don't scream at the dog or do anything that could be interpreted as barking or something aggressive, obviously.

Edit: Assuming you've got a rather clicky mechanical keyboard, investing 5-10 bucks into good key cap dampeners that go under the key caps might actually work, too! They'll dampen the noise to human ears a bit, but I have no idea how they change the noise perceived by animals.

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  • Great answer from many angles. I will look into your suggestions. BTW, I have just tried to play the audio of a small puppy's whining from my smartphone, but that does not calm the neighbor's dog unfortunately. However, all your suggestions seem to be good points to try. Aug 1, 2022 at 17:43
  • One interesting note is that the neighbor keeps 5 dogs in their backyard, and only 1 dog is barking loudly and continuously at the sound of my typing at night. The other 4 dogs are smart and good. Aug 1, 2022 at 17:47

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