Recommendations for Camera to Monitor Dog Barking

Ldeags on 01/11/2024 - 12:25
Last edited 01/11/2024 - 15:19 by 1 other user

Hi, not sure if this should be here or in electronics. Sorry if this is the wrong place.

We have had a complaint about our dog being a nuisance barker. It isn't our dog, but our neighbours. We have been using a webcam to record the dog throughout the day, whenever he is home alone and are confident it isn't him.

Problem is, using this method, I need to watch a whole 8-9 hours of video some nights, which even when running sped up, it takes a good hour to hour and a half.

Would something like a Ring camera, when mounted in the right place, be able to come on when it picks up barking (I know it would be noise in general) or do they really just pick up movement?

Any other suggestions would be appreciated also.

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  sumyungguy on 01/11/2024 - 12:29

  Security cameras can respond to motion and/or sound. If you prefer to spend less I recommend Wyze Cam v3

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  FoxJump on 01/11/2024 - 12:31

  could you extract the audio and then look at it in audacity to see when the barking is happening and then cross-reference that with the video?

  otherwise frigate NVR seems to have barking detectors
  https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/audio_detectors/

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    Bruceflix on 01/11/2024 - 18:27

    Came here to recommend Frigate NVR. Has both object and audio detection.

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    phila63 on 01/11/2024 - 19:30

    Similar issue some years back and used audacity. With Audacity you can zoom in on the sound level and the time axis. Stretch the time axis out and look for sound level peaks then zoom into them. Look at the timeline for how far into the stream it is, then go to the time in the video.
    Birds and other urban sounds will also show up. It can take some getting used to pick out the picks and what the sound source is likely to be.

    In our case, it was our dog barking and we nailed it down to when school kids walked past. We put up a fence which blocked the dogs view and limited their access to the side of the house. That covered us for the 2 to 3 weeks it took us to train the dog not to bark. Comment from one neighbour, who claimed they weren't the anonymous complainant was "good to see you taking some action, most don't".

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      FoxJump on 01/11/2024 - 21:00

      amazing. someone already did what i proposed.

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  kiitos on 01/11/2024 - 12:44

  +1

  What about an app on an old phone that only records when it detects sounds? Then you'd have timestamped files for when any sounds were made.

  Or do you need it to be part of the video?

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  joshjosh210 on 01/11/2024 - 13:54

  I'd suggest security cameras, personally the TP-Link Tapo range would be my recommendation.

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    FoxJump on 01/11/2024 - 19:30

    unless you want proper integration with home assistant and tplink ruins your day since April 2024.

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  joka on 01/11/2024 - 13:56

  your neighbour is a nuisance barker?

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  Boioioioi on 01/11/2024 - 14:25

  +1

  For it to be valid evidence, I feel you would need to have the full video

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  Miami Mall Alien on 01/11/2024 - 15:00

  -6

  We have had a complaint about our dog being a nuisance barker. It isnt our dog, but our neighbour.
  We have been using a webcam to record the dog throughout the day, whenever he is home alone and are confident it isnt him.

  Oh this is great. A suburban dog owner automatically on the defensive when someone dares to suggest that maybe their dog is actually the problem.

  So the dog is left home alone on most weekdays I'm guessing, like the average suburban dog is and yet you know for certain that your dog isn't barking incessantly and pissing off neighbours?

  Suburban dog owners and their cognitive dissonance in believing that their deprived animal isn't going insane from neglect in their little canine prison is something else. This is literally how every single neighbourhood dog dispute goes and in my experience, having lived in more homes with ridiculously loud barking dogs nearby than I can count, in the majority of cases the dog owner was at fault simply due to neglecting their animal and being in complete denial about it.

  Let me guess, you're also in a sub-200sqm villa where there's also next to no backyard/play area for the animal too?

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  sam-1966 on 01/11/2024 - 17:28

  Our local council (Moreton Bay, Qld) gives (or used to…) special collars for monitoring barking. They don't spray or zap or anything like that, just monitor and record barking. Maybe check with your council and you can at least use it on your dog/s… and if the complaint has gone through your council, ask them to provide for the neighbour.

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  Toph Beifong on 03/11/2024 - 20:05

  If you have an Amazon echo device, there is a feature that actively monitors for dog barking and sends you a notification via the Alexa app. Google may have a similar offering but I'm not too familiar with that ecosystem.

  Audacity is also a great tool to save you time. You don't want to spend hours after work each day listening to sound recordings! It's exhausting.

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  deags on 04/11/2024 - 12:39

  Thanks for all of the feedback. I will give Audacity a go.
  We have a weeks worth of data now and it clearly shows the dog barks like 2-3 times per day, and the maximum he has barked for in that week is 15 seconds.
  There is another dog in the neighbourhood that barks incessantly, again we can hear it on our recording.