Barking Dogs - Grrrrrrr

How much is enough, when a neighbor leaves his dogs at home, windows open, and takes off for the evening?

I have a neighbor who leaves his two dogs in his first-floor apartment. The dogs run from window to window, barking at everything - and at nothing. For hours! The apartment is dark; the windows are open.

What part of being a good neighbor is missing from this picture? If you own dogs and leave them alone, wouldn't you reasonably expect that they would bark? Don't other tenants in the house that was converted to apartments object to the constant barking?

The dogs bark for HOURS. It's not just a little yip here and there.

How do you get the dogs quieted down? While I'd like to think that a neighborly visit would solve the problem, talking to someone about his dogs is worse than complaining about a person's kids. If a kind visit solved the problem, that would be terrific. However, it can escalate and also lead to retaliation, and I am definitely not interested in having to defend my health, life and property against an upset dog owner.

So I guess the best solution is to ask the cops to pay a visit and explain that the dog is creating a nuisance. The police don't enforce dog laws; that's up to the County Animal Control office, even within towns and cities. I think they will make one visit. After that, the offended party must sign a complaint and go to court.

This is really a stupid law. If the dogs are barking and you call the cops, and the cop comes and hears the dogs barking, then he should be able to write the ticket and prosecute it without a citizen's involvement.