County considers banning barking

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

A proposed ordinance, scheduled for a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, would prohibit excessive dog barking.
The draft ordinance presented to the Supervisors last month describes excessive dog barking as a dog barking “on a frequently or habitual basis for multiple days” and “that persist continuously for periods of time in excess of 15 minutes or multiple shorter episodes for consecutive, cumulative time periods in excess of one hour” and “such barking is plainly audible across outdoor real property boundaries or through partitions common to two residences within a building.”
To raise a complaint, according to the ordinance, two or more people from different households or a law enforcement officer must witness the long-term barking. Exemptions to the statute would include animal shelters, kennels, dogs on the hunt, dogs responding to pain or injury and a dog protecting itself or property. The ordinance requires that at least one person must have asked the dog’s owner to control the noise. Complaints also wouldn’t be considered emergency matters.
Sheriff Fred Newman said he has mixed feelings about the proposed ordinance. He said it would make if difficult for law enforcement and it would be time-consuming for animal control officers.
“Really overall, countywide we don’t get a lot of calls (for dog barking),” he said. “We get more calls on dogs running loose than on barking dogs.”
During a discussion at a Board of Supervisor meeting last month, board member Phil McCall said that an ordinance outlawing barking dogs might make their owners take the problem more seriously.
“I think at least we’ll have an ordinance even though we may never use it,” said board member Ken Reynolds.
Board member Odell Owens said, “I personally think it will be virtually impossible to enforce…. and if we can’t enforce it, do we want to put it on the books?”
Newman said, “If it’s on the books than we need to try to enforce it.”