Hi, I'm late to this discussion. I have been on both sides of the fence, literally!
I have some suggestions for both you and your neighbors.
We have always had big dogs. One in particular, our border collie mix, can be aggressive. Ironically, she's the smallest. She was abused, and taken to the SPCA, where I found her and adopted her. She is "owner protective." She also loves to chase things, like bikes and motorcycles, which can scare people. I walk her and keep her on a leash, and we have a nice fenced-in yard where she can play. When the kids leave the door open, she gets out and I always have heart failure.
We usually put her in the kennel in the kitchen when kids come over because she does nip. She has gone through obedience twice--16 wks--and early on, I put her on anti-anxiety medications, which basically slowed her down so I could train her.
The other dog is a collie and he's very big, a tri-color, (black) and makes him seem bigger. He and the border collie can bark up a storm, and at one point, we had four dogs.
The next-door neighbors complained on many occasions, but it was hit-and-miss. I never knew when they'd be home and never knew exactly what my dogs were barking about until very deep into the situation, because they'd always stop barking when I walked out, and I was very confused.
It turned out that one of the neighbors went to bed several hrs earlier than we did and one of my dogs, a collie, would bark next to his bedroom window.
They don't have a garden right next to the fence, but do cut the grass with-a riding mower, which made the dogs crazy. Anyone coming near the fence will make the dogs feel protective, which is normal, so I asked the neighbors to tell me when they were going to be outside so I could put my dogs inside, and they were so angry at that point they refused to come up with-a schedule or cooperate.
If you can come up with-a gardening schedule and get the neighbors to keep their dogs indoors, say, for 3 hrs on a Sat., a.m., that would be a good solution.The other thing would be for your neighbors to train their dogs, with-your help. They would have to put them on leash, keep them on their side of the fence, and have you pretend to garden or bring in groceries, and then they jerk the leash and say, "NO BARK!"
by the way, I used to have Borzoi, which are huge dogs. They are a beautiful breed but they hunt and kill. They killed birds of every color, squirrels, a possum, you name it. They kill easily because they DO NOT BARK while they run, and they can reach speeds of 35 mph.
We had Invisible Fencing at our former house, and the neighbor's King Charles Spaniel came into our yard (I had warned the neighbors repeatedly) and one of the Borzoi nearly killed it. (Shook it like a rag.) I pd half the vet bill, even though it was in our yard and it was their fault.
My vet suggested that I place bells around the dogs' collars so that when they make that last min. leap, it will warn the prey and give it a chance to get away. GREAT idea! You should suggest that to your neighbors.
The Borzoi got out once and killed the neighbor's cat. It was old and deaf and didn't hear the bells. I found them on the neighbor's front lawn and it was gross and scary and OMG, that neighbor was so distraught and angry. Can't blame him. After a few days whe he calmed down, I brought him flowers and a gift card to purchase another cat from the SPCA.
So, is there a way you could speak to your neighbors again? You should be able to garden. I wish my neighbors hadn't waited until they were spitting tacks b4 they called me and left nasty msgs on my machine, and called the SPCA, too, because our relationship was ruined and we could have worked something out.
Now I just time it so my dogs are only out from 7 min.-15 min., at a time, and it's a shame that I am a prisoner to THEIR needs when I have 4 acres of land!