Noisy roosters and kareoke battling neighbours

[Colsie]

When I first moved to the province I thought, cheap living and built a simple wooden house with one bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen/dining area...about 100k, took a couple of weeks to build and "a presto" life is sweet... 

Not quite... Kareoke wars from the neighbours nearly every f&kin night until 2-3am... Then the first sniff of daylight and the roosters would kick in...how the locals and the wife can sleep through that crap leaves me bewildered, I'm sure I aged 5yrs in a couple of months. Then there was a typhoon on Christmas eve that nearly wiped us out, but that's another story. 

Then circumstances seemed to conspire against me. Living in the wooden house wasn't desirable or that safe. Covid had travel restrictions had kicked in by late January, so my only practical plan was to build a more substantial house. 

I designed and built a concrete house within a couple of months with some fundamental features that now mean that the bedroom is too sound proof. 

In the bedroom it's impossible to hear any noises from outside, no karaoke, no roosters, nothing. The problem with this is that I can't even here our dogs barking if someone comes to the front gate. 

The only solution that works is to install one of the dogs (big ears Girlie) in the bedroon at night so that she can alert me if she hears the other two dogs barking outside. 

I think it's compulsory here in the province to have atleast 3 dogs (the bigger the better). 

[Dave Hounddriver]

40 minutes ago, Colsie said:

I think it's compulsory here in the province to have atleast 3 dogs (the bigger the better). 

I had 1 dog and no fence.  But he was the MEANEST sumbitch in the neighborhood and all the people and dogs knew it.  Often battered, never defeated.

EDIT:  I tell a lie.  We had two other dogs, but they were just pets.  Those were the ones my lady and her helpers liked to play with.  But the point is . . one good dog with a rep and you're golden.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Dave Hounddriver

[Old55]

Good info Colsie, an armored, soundproof bedroom is not a bad idea over there.

When we stayed at our folks old house down in Talisay proper I wore foam ear plugs. Worked well for me. 

[Kingpin]

4 hours ago, Colsie said:

In the bedroom it's impossible to hear any noises from outside, no karaoke, no roosters, nothing.

Did you have windows?

[BrettGC]

I don't mind the noise to be honest but it never seems to goes on after 9-10pm here so we're lucky. 

I'm up early up at 5am to walk the dog in the morning anyway to beat the heat.  A little later now the days a getting shorter but the roosters aren't starting till a little later as well. 

We knocked down part of our concrete wall and installed a steel sliding gate to accommodate our car but despite specific instructions the guy that made the gate made it with horizontal bars rather than vertical so it's way to easy to climb.  He also put in a metal groove for the gate wheels to go into rather than a metal bar with the wheels overhanging each side so as a result, the groove where the wheels now go needs to be cleaned out regularly.  The second issue was probably my fault, as I didn't specify but assumed... Never a great idea here. 

Our dog is a great watch dog, but not that intimidating if you're familiar with him.  He barks whenever someone he doesn't know approaches too close but being a Japanese Spitz (pure white downsized husky looking lad in the medium size range a little smaller than a border collie) he's more not that intimidating.  He's fiercely loyal and protective but isn't going to stop someone with determination.  The other side it being a somewhat rarer breed here attractive lad we're little worried he may be taken by someone, something not unheard of in PI. 

Picture of the boy and the gate

We're in the market for a more intimidating medium sized guard breed like a English or American Staffy, a Boxer or an Standard American Bully.  English Staffy is also on the list but very hard to get here. We have a lot of kids in and out of the place (nieces and nephews) so those 3 are chosen due to the loving nature with family but are fiercely loyal and intimidating looking dogs. 

Yes we feel safe here given we're surrounded by family but we both love dogs so why not have the extra protection just in case.  

Excellent video of some great medium sized guard dogs:

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by BrettGC

[Tommy T.]

6 hours ago, Colsie said:

When I first moved to the province I thought, cheap living and built a simple wooden house with one bedroom, bathroom and a kitchen/dining area...about 100k, took a couple of weeks to build and "a presto" life is sweet... 

Not quite... Kareoke wars from the neighbours nearly every f&kin night until 2-3am... Then the first sniff of daylight and the roosters would kick in...how the locals and the wife can sleep through that crap leaves me bewildered, I'm sure I aged 5yrs in a couple of months. Then there was a typhoon on Christmas eve that nearly wiped us out, but that's another story. 

Then circumstances seemed to conspire against me. Living in the wooden house wasn't desirable or that safe. Covid had travel restrictions had kicked in by late January, so my only practical plan was to build a more substantial house. 

I designed and built a concrete house within a couple of months with some fundamental features that now mean that the bedroom is too sound proof. 

In the bedroom it's impossible to hear any noises from outside, no karaoke, no roosters, nothing. The problem with this is that I can't even here our dogs barking if someone comes to the front gate. 

The only solution that works is to install one of the dogs (big ears Girlie) in the bedroon at night so that she can alert me if she hears the other two dogs barking outside. 

I think it's compulsory here in the province to have atleast 3 dogs (the bigger the better). 

Hi Colsie. That's unfortunate that your gate guy did the horizontal rails...bad idea. You might consider cctv for outside your home - with one aimed specifically at your gate. You could set up the brain box and monitors in your secure bedroom? Many of them come with motion detector functions and also built-in microphones/speakers. Virtually all offer infrared lighting which gives you decent black and white imagery at night. There are some - more expensive versions - that even offer colour viewing at night.

You might consider a burglar alarm using infrared light and detector across the top of the gate to alert you of intruders climbing over? Just be sure to turn it off during the day or birds will set it off.

We have a Belgian Malinois as our "guard" dog. He is friendly but protective. The drawback is he is a bit hyper and requires a lot of attention and play time to burn off some of his energy. People here all know about him (including his name) and are all afraid of him due to his size and tendency to sometimes try to lunge at some other dogs and passing motorcycles. He is never outside off the heavy, chain leash. He is loose on the property all the time and has the loudest bark in the neighbourhood by far.

Anyway, just some ideas for you. Good luck!

Edit: To correct spelling of Malinois....never could get that right.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Tommy T.

[BrettGC]

18 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

Hi Colsie. That's unfortunate that your gate guy did the horizontal rails...bad idea

That was me with the gate. 

18 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

We have a Belgian Malanoise as our "guard" dog. He is friendly but protective. The drawback is he is a bit hyper and requires a lot of attention and play time to burn off some of his energy

We considered a Malinois as well but discounted it due to the exercise requirements.  AM (wife) is a fitness nut, but not 2 hours a day of nuttiness.  We're still toying with the idea based on the fact we already have one dog and them playing together burning off energy but it'll only happen if we can't get our preferred breeds or similar.  They seem to be very common here for some reason. 

We're in the process of shopping for CCTV systems with audio.

Edited October 26, 2022 by BrettGC

[Tommy T.]

14 minutes ago, BrettGC said:

We considered a Malinois as well but discounted it due to the exercise requirements.  AM (wife) is a fitness nut, but not 2 hours a day of nuttiness.  We're still toying with the idea based on the fact we already have one dog and them playing together burning off energy but it'll only happen if we can't get our preferred breeds or similar.  They seem to be very common here for some reason. 

We're in the process of shopping for CCTV systems with audio.

Yeah... understood. Ours just turned 2 years old. I must say that the first year was not so much fun. He used to jump up on us all the time (in fun because he was excited) and bite at our clothes when we walked away from him. He tore up L's plants and dug holes in the grass. He would grab clothes off the clothesline and chew and shake them to death if we didn't catch him. He stole flip flops and chewed them to death too. It was almost impossible to control him outside on the leash. But gradually, this behaviour subsided as I (sometimes) patiently worked at training him with scolding and treats - carrots and stick. We throw his beloved rubber ball and he loves to chase it and bring it back into our hands. He can outrun the ball when thrown at full force! He reacts very well to praise and keeps improving regarding instructions to stay or "go away!" I think a lot of his bad behaviour stemmed from his being tied up for most of the first 9 months here. He was also already 4 months old when we got him, so he already had some bad habits to break - totally untrained when he arrived here.

We also have a burglar alarm that we sometimes deliberately - by mistake, hahaha - set off when people are working nearby or passing by. 

The CCTV has been wonderful. We have seen a local cat roaming around in our laundry area. We had a kid working for us for a time and he snuck outside to use his cell phone when supposedly working. He didn't see one of the cameras and so we busted him on it. Having the images recorded is a great feature so that, in case someone does invade, we at least have a record of it that may or may not help with identification. At least it is a partial deterrent for some would-be miscreants...

[Colsie]

8 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I had 1 dog and no fence.  But he was the MEANEST sumbitch in the neighborhood and all the people and dogs knew it.  Often battered, never defeated.

EDIT:  I tell a lie.  We had two other dogs, but they were just pets.  Those were the ones my lady and her helpers liked to play with.  But the point is . . one good dog with a rep and you're golden.

I here you...and for me I totally agree, one dog should suffice as long as it is reasonably big and ferocious... 

Our older dog fitted that description down to a tee and before we moved here, the dog was basically a killing machine and killed half a dozen dogs in the neighbourhood... and not only dogs, chickens, ducks and even goats... 

The dog's world revolved around a 5ft length of chain, until we moved here. 

Now it roams around freely within the fenced property, it has been also been castrated and is placid enough around other animals... 

It still decided to bite one of the builders who was play fighting with a family member and I had to take the guy for anti rabies shots 

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 minutes ago, Colsie said:

Now it roams around freely within the fenced property

I'll tell you what surprised me about my dog.  We had no fence but he knew exactly where the boundaries of our property where.  He never left the property and defended everything inside the boundaries.  Well he did try to leave once, but got tangled up in a neighbor's barbed wire fence and was in dire trouble.  It took me and two other men to cut him loose as he was maniacal while trapped.  I thought I might lose him then but no, he came through.