What would YOU do??

I have a dilemma. One that involves animals and angry neighbors.

The animal is not mine.

The angry neighbor? Well, that would be me.

We live in house where our backyard backs up to several other backyards, and many of the residents in our neighborhood own dogs. That's fine, so do we. However, over the last few weeks one of these backyard neighbors has chosen to let their dog out at all hours of the night. Still, this is not the problem.

The problem arrives when I am awakened from a dead sleep because of this barking dog. This has been happening nearly EVERY NIGHT for the past THREE WEEKS!!! Now, I understand that a dog barks, and it's cold outside so this dog probably isn't thrilled at being thrown out in the cold. But, is it necessary to let your dog out for 10-15 minutes, while they are BARKING THE WHOLE TIME???? And at 3:00 IN THE FREAKING MORNING???? Does it not occur to you that this might DISTURB THE NEIGHBORS??? (The ALL CAPS are necessary to accurately convey my thoughts as I lay in bed, having been awakened ONCE AGAIN by the incessant barking).

So, last night as I lay awake at 4:30, I came up with these options:

1. Send Mike out in the cold to yell at the dog. I'll take my turn in the summer. (Mike didn't take too kindly to this idea.)

2. Open my window and yell at the dog, and hope the neighbors will hear. (I nearly did this last night, and I may go that route tonight....it just makes me feel like a scene out of a movie.)

3. Call animal control.

4. Talk to the neighbors. This would seem like the most adult way to handle things, but we don't actually know these people, and their backyard is actually several down from ours, so we're not directly connected to them. Besides, at 3:00 in the morning, all reasonable, sensible, mature options seem to fly right out the window.

5. Stand out in the backyard and start barking too.

Alright, my friends. Thoughts and opinions are not only very much appreciated, they are needed. The battle of Hoss v. Dog has begun!