Randy DeCarlo had to catch his breath for a moment after navigating the hound dog scrimmage line at his back gate Tuesday.

The 55-year-old Lilburn resident finished chasing down Belle before sitting down to talk. Belle, one of DeCarlo's 12 beagles, managed to slip through in the commotion of a visitor at the door. It was a short chase.

George Chidi/AJC (ENLARGE)

A few of Randy DeCarlo's basset hounds and beagles, at his home in Lilburn. The 55-year-old animal rescue activist faces 24 months on probation in court, charged with violating the county's noise ordinance because of barking hounds.

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DeCarlo's other dogs, 12 bassett hounds and an odd-dog-out Shih Tzu, weren't up for the sprint. They just stood around howling and sniffing for 15 minutes before sacking out on the porch in the noon sun.

"They're the only thing that's really important to me," DeCarlo said.

DeCarlo's been rescuing dogs since his father passed away in 2001, he said. He counts 250 animals saved from euthanasia since he started. But his avocation has his neighbors howling.

Police issued DeCarlo 24 citations for violating Gwinnett County's nuisance noise ordinance last year. DeCarlo heads to Gwinnett County Recorder's Court on June 12.

DeCarlo potentially faces 12 years in jail — six months for each of the 24 charges. Gwinnett County Solicitor Joe Randazzo offered DeCarlo a deal to avoid trial and jail: give up 10 of the 25 dogs, and accept 24 months on probation.

No deal, DeCarlo says.

He likens a two-year term of probation for barking dogs to Michael Vick's 23-month prison term for, among other things, killing dogs. And giving the dogs to Gwinnett's animal control is probably a death sentence, he said.

"I specialize in dogs with issues," he said. Sitting behind him was Casey, a one-eyed beagle who was kicked around by former owners, DeCarlo said. Casey is probably not adoptable. Nor is Frannie, who has a thyroid problem. Or even Mulligan, who needed months of physical therapy when he was found on a dirt road.

DeCarlo said he will continue to keep them indoors from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and that they only bark when someone comes around. But his next-door neighbor sees and hears things differently.

Susie Porter bought the house next door out of foreclosure last year with plans to fix it up and live in it, she said.

"I didn't see dogs," she said. Not long after starting renovations, she saw a few, she said.

"I thought there might be five, but they just kept coming."

When someone would visit, two dozen dogs would rush the back fence to see what was going on, barking a storm, she said.

"It's not just a yip," Porter said. "They're hound dogs. I couldn't take it. I couldn't live there." She's renting the house out now, and plans to sell.

She pressed the complaint, but doesn't want to see DeCarlo jailed. "I just want him to be reasonable."

Randazzo expressed similar sentiment Tuesday, calling DeCarlo's rescue efforts commendable

Randazzo said his office is not trying to be punitive, but is seeking a long-term solution to the property dispute.Probation as a sentence is a formality needed to assure compliance with the ordinances, he said.

"I don't think this is an issue about what he does, it's where he does it," Randazzo said. "If Mr. DeCarlo were to relocate out into the country, we would do whatever we could to assist him."