The next-door neighbor seems to have acquired 2 extra dogs on top of the two
that were already resident. I don't know if these are permanent or just
visiting, but it's really stirred up the neighborhood. First problem is that
now the dogs -- all four of them -- seem to be spending an awful lot of time
outdoors, unattended. Hours at a time. Bark, bark, bark, bark. And the rest
of the neighborhood joins in. Even with multiple dogs in most houses on the
block, it's never been this noisy. Mailman comes by, a few dogs bark.
Stranger going door to door, you hear the dogs barking, which is good. But
this is a bit much.

I work from home now, and when the weather's nice enough, I leave doors open
so my dogs can choose to follow me in and out, house to garage, or not, as
they choose. But now, if my dogs are on *that* side of the yard, the two new
dogs are barking up a storm, and mine answer back. I can call mine and
they'll come, or we play for a while and they lose interest in the other
dogs (who keep barking), or we go inside and close the door. Which is fine,
but a bit annoying as I tend to go from place to place a lot, and if the
dogs are following me, I have to make sure I'm not accidentally locking one
in or out.

I hope they're just visiting dogs. Or that they calm down or go inside.
Aaargh....

Donna