Read the letter fed-up neighbours across THREE streets sent to busy mum suggesting she walk her dog at 6am to stop it from constantly barking – and her firm response
- Neighbours complained of barking dog
- Dog owner responded in shock to demands
A single mum has been left stunned after neighbours complained about her barking dog and sent her a letter demanding she walk her pet at 6am.
The woman found a letter pinned on the back gate of her property at Randwick, in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs.
The letter claimed to have been written by residents from three different streets and opened up with an apology before addressing the ‘unsettling’ barking from the dog.
‘We understand that dogs will bark but some neighbours feel it is a little unfair and a little inconsiderate that the dogs are allowed outside to do so from 6am, which is awakening neighbours as the barking is echoing throughout the neighbouring streets,’ it read.
A woman in Sydney’s east received a letter from disgruntled neighbours over her barking dog
‘You have some neighbours who are police, nurses and other shift workers who have just finished a night shift and are trying to get some sleep at this time of the early morning.
‘We also have two elderly care homes nearby to which this is causing some residents to become distressed’.
The fed-up locals said they had been urged by the RSPCA to make a complaint to the council, but instead decided to write the note in the hope of resolving the matter.
They suggested the dog owner walk her pet at 6am if she was ‘already up and about’.
‘There are numerous parks within walking distance that dogs are allowed, and this could resolve the issue and concerns that some of your fellow neighbours have around the matter,’ they wrote.
The dog owner took to social media to respond to the demands of the neighbours’ letter.
‘You’ve suggested that since I am up at 6am when neighbours are trying to sleep, I walk him at that time… it simply isn’t possible,’ she wrote.
‘As a single mother, I am up at 5.15am preparing school lunches, breakfasts, organising school bags and getting two children ready for sports training and/or school and myself either to clients offices, or at my home office for the day.’
The neighbours urged the woman to walk her dog (pictured) at 6am
The complaints claim to be from neighbours from three streets in Sydney’s eastern suburbs (stock image pictured)
The dog owner – who said she had lost 80 percent of her hearing due to chronic disease – also attached a photo of her dog, whom she said she walked daily.
The woman said despite the group’s insistence they had tried to contact her, she had not been aware of anyone coming to her home to discuss the matter.
‘I am surprised I haven’t heard your knocks at the door. Even though I have a hearing impairment I sit right next to the door,’ she said.
She ‘warmly’ invited the disgruntled neighbours to bring the matter to her in person, saying she had a ‘very open door policy’.
She said the dog ‘only barks when people are hanging around or moving near the back gate to protect the property’, and that she would be ‘reported to the RSPCA for cruelty to animals if I kept him inside all day’.
‘Inevitably night shift workers sleep when deliveries are made by day so it’s a tricky coexistence,’ she said.