Tenant's dog constantly aggravating neighbours

Other

I have just had a lengthy hour of conversation between 10-11 pm tonight with the neighbour of my tenant who sounds like he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown(seriously).

He informed me that the tenant's dog was locked up in the house all day and has been constantly barking with no one in the house to look after it, take it for walks, etc. Apparently this is a regular occurence and he would have contacted me earlier but didn't want to make a fuss initially however things have become completely untenable for him.

Clearly this sitation is totally unacceptable and simply cannot continue. However I am at a loss as to realistically what my options are to deal with this - if I confront the tenant about this it could lead to a difficult relationship whereby the tenant may end up damaging the property/not pay rent etc.

On the other hand if I contact the council to involve Environmental health, they would most likely want to only deal with the affected neighbour rather than myself, however he is worried about potential repercussions from the tenant and being elderly just isn't up to dealing with the council on this kind of matter.

Any urgent advice would be greatly appreciated.