neighbor called police bc i have dogs and he has a 3 yr old daughter-

Well, not to play devils advocate, but I'm not sure how I feel about this thread. Posters are pretty quick to call the father of the three year old a jerk, but what I am hearing is that three big dogs, which are outside most of the day, were barking, aggressively,(protecting their territory, according to the OP) at a three year old playing in her own yard. The dogs are contained by a ramshackle fence. I would find it pretty unnerving to have three big dogs going crazy every time I walked out into my back yard. I don't allow my dog to do that, but then again, my dog isn't left outside all day alone.
 
Also, how tall is the fence?  If it is a standard six foot stockade, it must be in pretty bad shape for the neighbor to be concerned. If it's smaller, that may not keep large dogs in.
 
I don't think having three big dogs barking at the fence every time your neighbor uses his yard is being a very good neighbor. My neighbor had a rather aggressive Rottie, and our yards were seperated by a chain link fence. She was a very gracious person, however, and would not allow her dog to charge the fence and carry on. She would recall him, or correct him, or put him inside. Over time he learned not to do it.
 
But he wasn't an "outside dog".
 
 

Bella, the majority of that reaction was based on the information given in the thread title and in the first post, which wasn't exactly the whole story.

I have a 6 foot chain link fence that seperates my property from the store next door. There are vinyl privacy slats through the chain link to cover it somewhat. That's a store over there, people coming and going constantly and my neighbor's would have to be hard pressed to come up with an instance where Boss was allowed to stay outside barking at people.
 
There is a 6 foot vinyl sided fence between my property and my neighbor's property. He has a dog on his side.. but we don't allow our dogs to bark like that.
 
First and foremost you have to understand that regardless of the way this man is going about it.. his job as a father is to protect his child. Many people are afraid of gsds.. and you never mentioned what type of mutts you have. People have television.. they see stories of dogs getting out and killing children. He doesn't know you or your dogs, he only knows that he MUST protect his little girl. And because you moved in next door with 3 dogs, it is also your responsibility to keep his little girl safe! You have to do whatever it takes to ensure that your dogs are secure on your property at ALL times, and on leash if off your property. Just part of the territory of having dogs. By doing this you are protecting both the little girl.. and your own dogs.

Doesn't matter who's right or wrong.  What matters is he is frightened by your dogs.  Unfortunately, in most jurisdictions, that means that if they did get out, and get into his yard, he could shoot them if he wanted to!  Put up the extra fence, even if it's just a cheap deer fence, and be done with it.   I also wouldn't leave my dogs outside where they would be barking at everything that moves, making this guy nuts and having him just dying to cause me grief.  Maybe using a citronella anti-bark collar would make them seem less frightening while they are out there. 

And, I'll say again....I do not EVER leave my dogs outside when I am not home to keep an eye on them.  It just isn't safe.

All:

I guess I didn't make a good job describing my dogs' situation. I have 3 dogs, but one is inside dog. The inside dog is 15 yr old, lab mix w. spitz. I have a 5 yr old, very very friendly, GSD. We built a little house for him that he can stay in and he has a 1/5 section of the backyard that's confined just for him. My other mutt is lab mix w. chow. He's the most lazy dog I've never seen. He lays on one spot all day long, and would bark if he sees someone. And no, I don't let my dogs bark continuously. I do spray water on his face when he barks. When I"m not at home, my lab/chow mix is tie to a long chain.  He is freely to move around but the chain is not long enough to go over  the fence.
I have a high 6 ft fence that is not bad. Like I said, the whole community is only 3 yr old. There has not been any traces that my dogs would chew on the fence or dig holes.
I didn't call my neighbor a jerk. I just think he is making my new home a living hell by demanding the things because I have dogs and he has 3 yr old daughter. Like I say, i understand his concerns, that's why I 've been trying to fix the fence here and there BEFORE my dogs even put a damage on it.

I always assumed you put the smooth side out to make it harder for people to climb over your fence into your yard.

It kinda seems to me that people are taking sides here and I don't think that by doing that anything is being accomplished.  People are correct for saying that the OP has a responsibility to contain her dogs, she does.  She has the responsibility to keep her pets safe and by keeping them safe she is keeping her neighbors safe as well.  Her priority is her dogs.  People are also correct in saying that the father of the child next door is worried about keeping his kid safe from dogs that he does not know.  The kid is and should be his priority.  I took the original posting to sound as if the father was making statements about the problem and not offering any constructive advice to help the situation.  Both parties should take responsibility and do their part to ensure the safety of their dependants and work together to do this.  Call me skeptical, but I have found more dog owners than parents that are responsible for the safety of their dependants and thus in turn the parents rely on and often insist that the full responsibility for the safety of their children lie in the hands of dog owners and not themselves.  This to me is not being responsible, so my advice is it CYA to the dog owners.

I think almost anyone that lives in a neighborhood has this problem.  I have a great dane pup that is very protective and barks at anyone.  Well we realized one day that she could jump the fence so we bought a runner chain just so i didnt have to worry about her jumping the fence and getting hit by a car.  I only leave her outside when i am home so not like she is always out there.  Well anyway one weekend one of the lovely neighbors cam over with a beer in his hand saying she was barking all day and he couldnt handle it anymore.  She had only been out with my other dogs for maybe an hour.  Then he said well you need to take her off that chain that is why she is barking so much.  I just looked him straight in the eyes and said she is chain for her safety and please do not tell me how to handle my dogs.  I also asked him if he went around to all the other neighbors who have dogs out all night who bark late at night.  I dont see how mine was such a big deal at 4 in the afternoon and the other dogs are fine at 4 in the morning.  So now until i get a new taller fence put up i have to go in the fenced in back yard with her everytime she goes out.  Really wish i lived out in the woods like i did a few months ago where my dogs could bark and do whatever with out neighbors being so horrible.

I think it is extremely unfair to neighbors to have to listen to dogs bark. I have a neighbor who's dog barked for about an hour every day. A few neighbors commented to them about it. They saw nothing wrong with it. We all ended up calling the police a couple of times. They now take the dog in when it barks.  I take my dogs in when they start barking.

around where I live, there must be dogs in every house. Everyday, dogs bark continuously. But surprisingly, my dogs that bark once in a while when there are people walk by..not barking hrs after hrs, just a few barks and they stop, REALLY bothers my neighbor-just ONE neighbor.
Well, for my peace sake, my dogs stay inside more now. I already put up another layer of the fence that I'm sharing with him. Hopefully, he'll leave me alone.
 
 

My dog was only barking for a few minutes and i was about to let her in and the boom he shows up saying she was barking all day.  If i left her out there barking for hours then i would see the problem but it was maybe 5 minutes of barking at the neighbors sawing down a tree.

But surprisingly, my dogs that bark once in a while when there are people walk by..not barking hrs after hrs, just a few barks and they stop,

 
Mickeyboo - I must ask the obvious question... 
 
If your dogs are outside during the day and you are NOT there - then how do you KNOW that they only bark a few times and stop?  

 
 
labcrab- of course I can't tell if they bark while I wasn't home. But when I'm home and they are outside, they bark a couple of times and stop. So, I assume they would bark like when I'm not at home. Also, my neighbor's complaints aren't about barking, but about my dogs are too close to the fence. His original suggestion is to put my dogs elsewhere that they can't be close to the fence. The putting up another layer of the fence is my suggestion. I dont think the barking is the problem. The problem is that I have big dogs.

ORIGINAL: labcrab

But surprisingly, my dogs that bark once in a while when there are people walk by..not barking hrs after hrs, just a few barks and they stop,

Mickeyboo - I must ask the obvious question... 

If your dogs are outside during the day and you are NOT there - then how do you KNOW that they only bark a few times and stop?  

ORIGINAL: mickeyboo
I have the need to say this:
jeano-I'm looking for good advices to help me solve my problems that's why i'm here on this forum. No one know who I am, why would I make up stuffs for? it just doesn't make sense. But I guess it's our nature to over analyze. Anyhoo, it's cool.

Mickey, I didn't say you made anything up at all. I don't know how you got that. All I did say was that we had another, very similar thread and I thought it was interesting. I try to say just what I mean! No innuendo, whatever! We have enough of that, blah! []