Neighbours dog barking

[Scunnered12]

Hello - there are points to this I know AIBU but I'd like popular consensus.

My neighbour (J), not immediate next but the one after, has 2 dogs. She doesn't walk them and just lets them out to the garden. Last winter the garden was totally reduced to a mud pit but it regenerated itself?! When it's dry, the door is open so they come and go as they please. As soon as I go into my garden, or my immediate neighbour (S) goes into her garden, they bark constantly. It upsets my DD. The owner will shout "shut up" but that doesn't achieve anything. When it's wet she lets them out a few times a day. One time coincides with my DD (3yo) bed time and the next time is my bed time. As soon as they are out they start barking. For the full 15 mins they are out. They bark at nothing, or if a car passes, or if someone else passes within 500 yards. I need to shut my windows because it's so disturbing.

Our gardens all have lower fences and I don't really want to shut out MY neighbour as she's lovely and we really get on - and have both moaned at the barking. S actually has her own dog who I don't hear at all.

The final thing that's annoyed me is the fact J has now moved her son, fiancé, baby AND ANOTHER DOG into the house so now the 3 dogs bark at each other!!!

Would IBU if I asked her politely to stop the dogs barking? But I don't think that would achieve anything - it's unlikely she's going to start walking/training the dogs now. She is quite active on the community FB page and seems a bit of a shit stirrer, so I don't want to cause any drama at home. Do I just need to suck it up?

Keep a diary of days, times, what type/level of noise and how it affects you then get in touch with environmental health at your local council and report it as a noise nuisance. No one expects dogs to be completely silent but they should not be barking to the point where it's causing continued disturbance to other residents. She won't even know it's you, they're in the garden so it could be anyone within earshot and if she did come to your door you can just claim ignorance.

I have a dog and would never let it bark like that, and would be equally annoyed if I had noisy dogs next door so YNBU

As PP said, start a diary, take recordings (if you’re worried about her knowing it’s you then you don’t need to record video, just sound). There isn’t an actual law on how much barking is too much but if the council deem it unreasonable they can intervene. From what I can see online combined total of 1 hour within a 24 hour period is considered unreasonable in most circumstances, especially if between 11pm and 7am as those are deemed ‘quiet hours’