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Well although I have not trained him as such, in the 2 years that he has been with us, Jules has certainly only once left his mark outside of the garden, and even here, although I do walk round everywhere each day to clear up after him, there are only 3 or 4 places where I expect to find them.
In sharp contrast to our dear English Setter who died at 16 just after Jules came to live with us. She was know as â2 shits Toscaâ for a reason. Never would one do. 
He is such a country bumpkin that hard surfaces like pavements and gravel are anathema to him. Caused us a huge problem when he came to London with us, wandering the streets at 7am searching for something he might consider suitable.
(He hated London, and never wishes to return.)
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Anyone got the answer to this? My next door neighbour lets her ârat on a stringâ into the garden when sheâs out. This brainless mutt then stands at the fence overlooking the street with the âbarkâ neurone in its tiny brain stuck on âbarkâ. It does this for hours on end. It totally spoils sitting out in the garden.
I think the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to deal with the issue is to speak to the neighbours and let them know it is irritating and unreasonable.
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It most communes there is an arrĂȘtĂ© that covers bruits de voisinage, divagation des chiens and the like. Ask at your mairie, and if there is one and people break this you can complain.
If there isnât, you can suggest they put one in place!
Yes, best first gambit. I do feel a bit weedy about doing this as I am Johnny Come Lately to our street - only since Jan - and a Rosbif to boot.
It always surprises me what others will tolerate by way of barking dog nuisances. I had this problem in my block of flats in Spain. Everybody hated the constant barking but I was the only one to do anything about it.
There is a much worse barker - all day, every day - but itâs far enough away not to impinge the way that next doorâs does. But the people nearby must find it infuriating.
If it comes to reporting to the Mairie, I shall mention both, thoâ.
local council regs on nuisance, youâd need to present videos and/or recordings proving how bad and frequent it is. Proving no effort by owner after being spoken to at least 3 times etc.
Even then some councils canât be ar$ed, some will. A call to the Noise Abatement Officer at the local council for an initial chat would be a start. Also trying to find how theyâve gone on with previous cases.
Naturally approaching dogâs owner directly first but by that point you should also be logging everything.
PS is the owner there at the time? do dogs like buckets of water thrown over them?
sorry above is for UK (but you still need a log anywhere).
In F I suspect seeking informal guidance from the mairie once youâve got a log is the way to go, also getting other neighbours on side
In my (painful) experience these dogs are often owned by people who couldnât worry less about their neighbours. Perhaps they have a corresponding anti-social gene. An ultrasonic device could help if other remedies fail. I write this as a dog lover.
Had the same problem with Vita in Bordeaux visiting the acupuncturist. The only decent piece of grass was between the rails of the tram line. 
Annoying dog behaviour has nothing to do with the dog. People make dogs the way they are.
Dogs like that are bored out of their poor little minds.
I went to see what the howling was and found, sitting in the middle of a neighbourâs garden, a large dog sitting with her head lowered down onto her chest, nose pointing down to the ground, then she lifted her head to look up at the sky and howled again.
She was lonely. A sociable intelligent animal like a dog, left all day on their own with nothing to do â not surprised they become the way you describe.
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I agree with @Bonzocat - itâs far from brainless. Thatâs the problem.
If she is out, maybe she doesnât realise itâs barking all the time? Would be worth talking to her.
Could you lob a âkongâ over the fence for it to chew?
But captainendeavour, donât lob that kong to the dog while he/she is barking â that will be a reward for barking.
When the barking stops, then lob the kong. Training dogs is so easy. These are intelligent animals that love treats.
Added edit: you could make a friend thereâŠ!
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Dogs behaving badly - how to stop a dog barking - so easy - just watch.
Will try it now. Havenât been able to watch it because my dogs started barking when they heard Frank.
This is getting off-thread but I recommend watching Dogs Behaving Very Badly â lots of videos on YouTube, such as this one. I leave it at that.
Thank you. Had some success with chihuahua but early days. Our dogs are not nuisance barkers just bark when they hear something or someone. Can be useful but can be annoying if it persists. Would be good to be able to get them to stop on command.
Distract them whenever barking â then when they stop and are quiet, reward them with kind words or a treat. Needs patience.