Neighbours dog barking - how should we act?

[Feir]

Our neighbour has 5 dogs (4 small white fluffy ones and a slightly bigger sandy coloured one). They BARK. Go off at any cats walking past, but most annoyingly, at us. Every time we are in our back garden and they are let out, they start up. Most of them bark a few times and give up, but the new younger one goes on and on and on and on. Their owners come out (most times, eventually) and yell at them, making them go back inside. But the next time the owners are out of sight, it starts again.

I'm not a dog owner, so am unsure how to act. We've tried going up to the fence and offering a hand to sniff. We've tried saying "quiet" in as gruff a voice as possible (same word their owners use). But we are obviously not in their pack and they are not to be mollified.

Any tips on what we can do to make this better?

[weaselwords]

You can't do anything. It's up to the owners to stop their dogs from making a racket.

My hellhound was baying at the neighbours a couple of days ago for having the temerity to have friends round for a barbecue. They all fell silent in an effort to get her to be quiet. I felt so awful that my dog intrudes on their fun.

[Feir]

:(

[dudsville]

I always check these threads to see if i'm the culprit. My dogs bark for about 20 (interminably long) seconds when they first get let into the garden IF they have seen a monster (fox, cat, squirrel) using THEIR land. It usually takes me this long to get them to behave and I cringe the whole time. I'm thankful that some neighbours dogs bark for ages as I feel less bad in comparison! In my street probably 1/4 to 1/2 of the homes are doggy so I do feel bad for the non dog owners!