Also, this is not a “closest” neighbour. Our closest neighbours hardly hear him barking at all.

You guys have every right to have an outside dog and this neighbor has every right to complain about it. The city I live has laws for noise and peace. Find out what the law is and stay within the confines of this law and you will have nothing to worry about except maybe an unfriendly neighbor. The problem I have with this post is your complaint about the way your neighbor handled this. Your neighbor did nothing wrong. Everything else your saying is pure speculation. The way your acting proves to me that if your neighbor did confront you in person, he or she would have gotten no resolve. You would have defended your dog, as you have in this post, and nothing would have changed. It does not matter if you did this peacefully or not, that is not the point, the bottom line is that this person doesn’t want to hear that dog bark. There is no question that the dog barks. Your immediate neighbors have nothing to do with this complaint. You cannot justify having a barking dog outside just because you and your closest neighbors are not bothered. Only the laws of the land can justify you. Find them out. Live accordingly.

As for dogs, most neighborhoods I have lived in have had barking dogs. It’s one of those constants in life you just can’t get too worked up about, especially not during the day. Generally I am just glad if the dog is properly confined, since my son was once bitten by an aggressive dog for doing nothing other than venturing near the property line while in a public park.

As for sleeping, I have discovered an excellent solution your neighbor should know about. It’s a box-fan turned up to the highest speed. There is no better white noise. Perhaps you could inform your spying neighbor of this simple solution with the method Rick suggested!