I know everyone has a dog in Sai Kung, but surely there are laws about excessive barking at all hours of the day and night? I have a dog myself, and accept that they do bark, but I don't let it bark relentlessly.
I have called the Police many times, and they do actually send someone out to have a look: but often the dogs stop barking just as they arrive! The owners are rarely there during the day, which makes it difficult to deal with. The local owners (who are the culprits) won't talk to me!
Essentially, the Police won't do anything. I have concluded that the majority of residents in my village are completely deaf, or accept it as normal life in HKG (or both).
Does anyone have similar experiences, or know of local laws that can be quoted or used in a civil case to deal with this effectively, or am I just wasting my time again??
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Had the same experience a while back living in Clearwater Bay. I wrote a very polite letter to the dogs owners asking them to consider muzzling the dogs as they were barking a lot at all hours of the night, but all it did was cause a terrible relationship with our neighbors. We actually lived in the same village house, and when it was time to move out, they denied us access to the ground floor garden as some of our furniture needed to be hoisted over the balcony, so we had to leave it behind. I guess some people can't except or deal with mild confrontation or show any empathy towards others, or see how their actions and decisions affect others.
There were other dogs, actually really sweet little ones, who used to bark alot as they were left out on a ground floor balcony for their existence..as I used to pat them most every morning on my way to work I noticed one had a really swollen muzzle one day...after a closer look, the owner had tied a band around the dog's muzzle and it was swelling up like crazy... I felt so bad for them that I called the spca... The dogs were gone shortly after and I feared the worst for them. Some people really shouldn't have dogs or animals of any sort.
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There is a law regarding barking dogs.
Under Cap. 228, Sec. 4
Any person who without lawful authority or excuse-
(11) keeps any dog accustomed to annoy neighbours or passers-by by barking or otherwise;
shall be liable to a fine of $500 or to imprisonment for 3 months.
BTW, this is the same ordinance for noisome glass-blowers, keeping beasts from cemeteries and kids buzzing someone's doorbell. Alas, how seriously do you think the police will take it...
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ldavy
18 yrs ago
When I lived in Sai Kung years ago I had a barking dog problem. I was advised by a policeman friend that I had to complain to the police a certain number of times before they would take action - can't remember the number. Anyway I had to complain many more times than that because the first few times, the police didn't give me a report number, then when I complained the next time they would ask for the report number, and because I couldn't give it to them they treated the complaint as a new one. This went on for some time ... they clearly didn't want to deal with the situation. On one ludicrous occasion they came to my flat and were demanding to see my ID card, while the owners of the dog walked past them and went into their flat. When the police had finished inspecting my ID, they rang the bell, got no answer, and turned away saying "There's no-one home".
Anyway, after about a year of messing around the dog owners were finally taken to court and fined $500. A complete waste of time. There's really nothing you can do if you live near such thoughtless people, except move.
But, food for thought - are you certain that your dog doesn't bark all the time while you are out? How would you know?
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Thanks Idavy. Yes, I am certain my dog does not bark while I'm out, as there is someone here most of the time. Yes, I had given that some thought. However, there are 3 large dogs in a tiny yard, who all bark loudly together at ANYTHING that walks past. It is way beyond just an irritation. What really gets me is that it doesn't seem to bother the locals. I'm sure they must be deaf, or think that it keeps the ghosts away or something!
Someone posted here that barking dogs are a natural occurrence and that "Yep, a part of getting life is to accept the nature as it is.
Dogs are barking, water is wet etc.."
That may be true, but so is urinating, and I'm sure City Licker wouldn't like it if someone urinated on their head!
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St K, you're a champ! At last some common sense! I like your style. Unlike that d*ckhead who thinks it's ok and 'natural' for this sort of excessive noise. And City Licker, I meant, you wouldn't like it if someone peed on your head, would you? It's natural though, isn't it?
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I bet you haven't been burgled! We live in Sai Kung and we had an attempted burglary a few weeks ago and that is exactly what the police said "Get a dog" the best deterrent. Must admit though barking dogs are a real pain,have you tried earplugs?
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Does not matter what the police or anybody says, a dog is a dog and the nature of a dog is to "react" in terms of its nature "barking". A dog does not bark for no reasons... "I bet you have never had a dog"...or understanding of it...
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dss
18 yrs ago
I saw the Thais' using powerful water guns which emit strong sprays of water during the Thai water festival. This will be on my shopping list for my next BKK trip.
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dss, when is this water festival? Guess u don't know or even its cultural background or its name....better buy the gun in BKK otherwise u might ve a little problem at the airport u come from...
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dss
18 yrs ago
Pinolino, FYI, the festival is called Songkran, around mid April. Contrary to what you think, Bangkok(BKK) & culture is not new to me as I have some family ties there and been going there for decades, except that I tend to give the festival period a miss > do not want to get soaking wet, not knowing the source of the water.
Dont reply to post if you cannot be civil and acting like " frog in the well, looking at only a patch of blue sky".
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Ed
18 yrs ago
In future rather than responding to unacceptable comments please click the Abuse Report option - responding to insults with more insults will result in bans in the future.
For now only City Slicker is banned
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Thanks to all who offered genuine advice on this issue. Of course it's not the dogs' fault that they bark all the time, as many have suggested, but rather it is a problem that belongs to the owner.
A dog can be trained not to bark. There is a very big difference between a dog barking at a genuine threat, and one that barks at anything that moves. One of my close neighbors [an old lady with 2 terriers] has now reduced the amount that her dogs bark by around 90% after I politely told her that it was causing us some irritation (in what would otherwise be a very peaceful place to live).
Encouraged by this response, I now seek to achieve a similar response from the owner of the three other large dogs [from the same property].
Claire, thanks for your input. Is there a link to a Government site that quotes the laws you have stated?
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Aurora
All the HK laws are viewable and (thankfully) searchable on BLIS - Bilingual Laws Information Service. It was updated on 31 December 2006.
Web site homepage:
http://www.legislation.gov.hk/eng/index.htm
Database homepage:
http://www.legislation.gov.hk/eng/home.htm
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Which is a better solution to excessive barking? The police or the spca? I called the police in the middle of the night but think that maybe the SPCA is a better choice. We have an excessive night barker in our village. I've talked about the dog to the neighbours and they even don't like the dog either but do nothing about it. I'm afraid of taking action because I'm the only foreigner in the housing cluster and I don't want trouble. Sadly, this dog was abandoned by expats (shame, shame) and so the Chinese family took her in. They barely feed her with their table scraps. She has no collar. At night she is quite aggressive. I've called the police to check on the situation but the dog disappeared when they arrived. I'm only in month 4 of a 2 year lease and don't want to make enemies. So what is the best but anonymous way of handling this situation?
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