A buddies dad had a neighbor with dogs that always barked. He called the police and they asked how long had the dogs been barking, because they had to bark continuously for an hour before they would come out. So if they barked for 58 minutes out of an hour you were out of luck.

Had some folks move in a couple houses down and there dogs would bark at me the entire time I was outside. What worked for me was I went down the alley to their fence and talked to the dogs and let them smell my hand only for a minute or 2. Know if they start barking at me all I have to say firmly is hush its just me and they stop.