Yep, you did the right thing. The cops aren't going to do anything about the dog being ignored or possibly neglected, but the howling is a noise disturbance and you can complain about that.
There was a house right across the street from us that a bunch of frat boys (they seemed to be) rented out and they were always having parties. I told bf next time they have a loud party and running around outside in the front yard and street tossing cans around and being shirtless I'm going to call the cops. I never got to, they moved out really soon after that.
