greenmtnramble t1_j6ck9g5 wrote on January 29, 2023 at 10:50 AM

Pie in the sky positive assumptions approach:

Did you knock and ask? Its understandable if you havent yet or feel a bit intimidated about the prospect, but it seems the logical first step. Maybe, in spite of how stupid this may sound, they genuinely didn't realize the nuisance they are causing and they can rectify the situation without getting authorities involved.

And now what is probably the shitty reality of how it needs to be handled:

Call the police and file a complaint with them. They may be aware of the situation and take action. I've literally had the same thing happen in vergennes. Called animal control multiple times -nothing, called local police once - they came, checked on the welfare of the animals, and came back and spoke with the owners when they were home and told us to call immediately if it happened again.

Chances are you probably aren't the only person to have experienced, or said something about, your neighbors dogs. People who treat animals shitty tend to treat people shitty, and do other shitty things that the police may already be aware of.

Good luck.

LuckyMacAndCheese t1_j6cqu1h wrote on January 29, 2023 at 12:16 PM

I'm gonna go ahead and say I strongly recommend not going to talk to them. This person knows they're a shitty dog owner, I'm sorry but there's no way they don't. They just don't care.

If you're going to get the police involved to complain about noise (which I think you should) or escalate with repeated complaints to animal control, you do not want this person associating you with the reason they lost their dog or are being fined. The type of person who's going to just leave their dog outside barking all night is the type of person who would go out of their way to be shitty to the neighbor who caused trouble for them...

greenmtnramble t1_j6cse70 wrote on January 29, 2023 at 12:34 PM

Good points. I guess it's a personal opinion, but I'd rather give them the chance to fix it before I get someone else involved.

LuckyMacAndCheese t1_j6ctm0n wrote on January 29, 2023 at 12:48 PM

If it were something like... having a party with loud music, I'd agree about trying to talk to them first. But a nightly occurrence with a dog barking at all hours sounds like animal neglect, and getting authorities involved in one way or another is probably the best thing to do, and that could get really ugly with the neighbor being fined and/or losing the animal.