Barking Dog Complaints

Is your neighbor's dog(s) barking at all hours of the day and night? What do you do?

Nuisance Barking City Ordinance

Section 5-3a: Public Nuisances

Animals creating disturbances.  No person shall willfully or knowingly keep or harbor on his premises or elsewhere any animal of any kind that makes or creates an unreasonable disturbance of the neighbors or the occupants of adjacent premises or persons living in the vicinity thereof, or permit such animal to make or create disturbing noises by howling, barking, crowing, bawling or otherwise. A person shall be deemed to have willfully and knowingly violated terms of this subsection if such person shall have been notified by the animal control officer or any police officer of such disturbance and shall have failed or refused to correct such disturbance and prevent its recurrence.

Section 5-1(6): Definitions

Barks, whines, or howls in an excessive, continuous (15 minutes) or untimely fashion.

File a Complaint

The Colony Animal Services fields nuisance barking and other animal-related disturbances during our regular operating hours. To file a complaint, contact Animal Control with your name, address, and a contact phone number, as well as the location of the nuisance animals.

Once we have this information, we will make contact with the animal owner(s) to attempt to rectify the problem. We'll then give the animal owner 7-10 days, during which time we'll make at least two more visits to observe. If at any time we can hear an animal barking for 15-minutes continuously, we can immediately write a citation carrying fines, however we try to give the owner time to fix it first.

If after the 10-day period the animal is still barking, and if an officer does not hear the animal barking for 15-minutes, we will advise the complainant to sign an affidavit with the courts, who will then issue the citation on the complainant's behalf.