The dynamics of tilted dipole vortices in the equivalent barotropic vorticity (or Hasegawa-Mima) equation is studied. A recent theory is compared with numerical simulations and found to describe the short time behavior of dipole vortices well. In the long time limit the dipoles are found to either disintegrate or relax toward a steady eastward propagating dipole vortex. This relaxation is a consequence of nonviscous enstrophy loss by the dipole vortex.