Barking Dogs

SOME CONSIDERATION FOR YOUR NEIGHBORS - NUISANCE DOG BARKING

1. The neighborhoods covered by NWACA are rolling hills and beautiful greenbelts. They tend to be very peaceful and quiet. Lately, however, it seems that every other house has a barking dog. Sometimes one can go outside and it is very tranquil. At other times one may hear half a dozen dogs barking. While the occasional barking is understandable, the constant barking for long periods is what can be classified as noise pollution. As you will see below, there are city ordinances that address this issue whether it takes places at 2:00 AM in the morning or 2:00 PM in the afternoon.

Many put their dogs outside while they are at work and may not know that they
bark or think that it is okay since it is during the workday and no one will be
bothered. For those that work from home, are retired, or on a different shift,
it can be very annoying and can down right make a sane person go crazy. The
cause for evening barking in our neighborhood is most likely due to the
abundant deer population rather than unwanted individuals tress passing onto
ones property.

Even the occasional barking dog is not acceptable when it occurs for no apparent reason. Just because you decide to spend a night out or even just go to dinner, nuisance dog barking is not acceptable. You need to have a plan in place to prevent the nuisance barking.

2. ORDINANCE

Source: 1992 Code Section 3-3-6; Ord. 031009-9; Ord. 031211-11.

§ 3-2-2 NOISY ANIMALS. An owner or handler may not keep an animal that makes frequent or long, continued noise that is disturbing to a person of normal sensibilities.

The city will also send animal control out to 'educate' owners but enforcement of the ordinance is the responsibility of the person making the complaint. Animal Control and the Austin Police Department will not issue a citation against the owner of a noisy animal. The person complaining about the nuisance has to go down to city hall and file a complaint against the owner in person.

3. Thanks to Officer Dana Munguia, who is our Northwest area Austin Police Department contact for neighborhood concerns. She has provided some simple steps to address this issue.

The following is her response to the Northwest Austin Civic Association's request for recommendations:.

We deal with numerous barking dog calls. We first advise the neighbor to talk to the dog owner. We have found many times the dog owner is unaware of the dog barking. As strange as that may sound, the dog owner has grown accustomed to the dog barking and therefore is unaware of the problem. This usually will rectify the situation.

If the problem is not resolved after speaking with the dog owner, I would recommend the neighbor call the district representative (DR) for their area. Every citizen in the city of Austin has a DR assigned to their area. The neighbor should advise the DR they have already spoken with the dog owner, to no avail. (One thing to keep in mind with calling the DR or 911 about the problem is this might cause animosity between the two neighbors. I say this not to discourage reporting, but this is real issue to consider.)

If the police are called they cannot file any charges. The police are to get the information from the dog owner and give that information to the complainant.

At this point, the complainant can go down to Municipal Court and file charges on the dog owner for the excessive noise. One thing to note if charges are going to be filed, the complainant can only file charges on one day at a time, even if there have been multiple violations. (For example, the dog barks all night Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The complainant can only file charges on one of the nights at a time. They can come back and file charges on a different night another day, but only one day per affidavit.)

Ofc. Dana Munguia #3570

Austin Police Department

Central West District Representatives

974-5440

4. Some additional steps are defined below to help resolve the situation.

* Maintain a "dog log" that includes all dates, times and durations of barking activity. Include any correspondence in which you have addressed the subject via phone, mail or in person.
* If possible, approach the individual(s) with your concerns in person when convenient.
* Call and talk to or leave a message during normal business hours the first time you contact them. If that does not work, be sure to call when the barking is taking place even if it's during the middle of the night.
* Write a letter documenting all of the times the dog has been barking utilizing your dog log.
* Initiate the complaint process by calling the Travis County court house at Phone: (512) 854-9188, Fax: (512) 854-4526, and filing paperwork with Travis County. This requires the dog owner to make an appearance at the county court house to respond to the complaint.
* Another option might be the Dispute Resolution Center

5. For additional information on chronic dog barking, go to BarkingDogs.net

6. On a similar note, when it comes to walking your dog, a friendly reminder that even if you carry a dog scooper, it's always best to not allow your dog to defecate on someone else's lawn or property.

On behalf of all of us your neighbors, Thank You