Neighbour's dogs driving me insane
Hi, everyone
I could really use your advice on how to proceed here, especially if you have experience with this...
I'll preface this by saying the neighbour here is an ex-magistrate with a chip on their shoulder against everyone. But I am tired of cowering in fear of her, and my mental health is at an all-time low due to her and her dogs.
She has three dogs on her property (which, unless a permit has been acquired - for which she has not asked any neighbour's permission - is against city bylaws where we live). One dog is okay, and stays mostly indoors. The other two dogs are pitbulls, and the one jumps against the wall and barks aggressively whenever we do anything in the garden. This has been addressed by having them (eventually) raise the wall and them (finally) putting barbed wire at the top, as the dog was constantly hooking his front paws over the wall and barking at us aggressively. We have two small dogs and a baby, and were obviously terrified of their safety.
The third dog is what is currently causing us distress. There is almost no period in the day (not even five minutes) during which the dog is not barking. And not just barking, howling and sounding in need of some attention. Lonely, fenced off in a small area, with no attention being given to it, this is no life for a dog. Whether it be the heat of summer, or the coldest winter day, this dog is sitting outside, howling and barking, and driving us all insane with its plight.
We have tried talking to the neighbour. They eventually blocked us on WhatsApp. We are just. so. tired. Not only is our mental health suffering, we're also struggling to sleep (especially me, as I am a light sleeper, and the barking often wakes our baby as well). Additionally, this is resulting in a loss of income, as (a) we had to put up curtains to try and block some sound (which was unsuccessful); (b) my wife could do TEFL, but is unable to do so due to the constant noise disturbance from the dog; (c) I am unable to record videos for my monetised YouTube channel, as I require times of >1h to record a video, and cannot even get 10 minutes without this dog barking and howling.
How should I proceed? I have started making voicenote recordings of the dog barking, and accrued about 5 hours of barking over the past week. I am also going to the police station to do an affidavit, but am unsure what I should put in it? And the plan is then to go to Law Enforcement (who I have contacted before, but the barking just continues) with the affidavit and recordings.