I would have expected there to be more neighbor pet complaints in urban settings than suburban ones, but Suburbia is the place where backyards are extensions of homes, and often are the venues for so much barking and other problems posed by pets. In addition, Arkow notes, statistics show cities have fewer pets per capita than suburbs.

In any case, I find the suburbs to be ground-zero for all neighbor complaints, with about a quarter of them involving pets.

Addressing complaints about pets in cities can pose greater difficulty for authorities. In some sections of a city, armed police officers are needed to escort animal cruelty investigators tipped off to dog-fighting rings, illegal puppy mills, and all sorts of abuse situations.

In better neighborhoods, clustered housing in a city tends to be managed by an association with rules and bylaws that authorities tend to defer to. For one, it means less work for that municipal entity; for another, many pet issues can and should be worked out within a condo, co-op, gated community or other association of homes.

The problem there is that management is frequently off-site or shows indifference to neighbor disputes of any sort.

As noted earlier, municipal clerks should be able to guide you through the local process of bringing a complaint against your neighbor regarding his or her pet. But whether you live in a high-rise, mobile home community or freestanding home, the availability of community associations should be exploited.

Once in-person dealings with the neighbors fail, the involvement of any given association isn’t helping, and the problem persists, it’s time to go to municipal court or to hire an attorney to sue for damages associated with the neighbor’s pet. These range from property damage and harassment to physical effects and diminished livability of one’s home.