For many dogs, barking is part of their job description; they bark to warn off intruders and to keep their human and animal family members safe. But spending a little too much time on the job can land the pet and their owner in the dog house, at least for some living in Southern California.
On Tuesday the Los Angeles City Council amended the city’s existing law about barking dogs. The original version, similar to statutes in Sacramento and other cities across the country, referred to “excessive barking” without explaining exactly how much is too much.
The amended version defines barking for ten minutes, or for 30 minutes during a three-hour period, to be excessive.
The first citation issued to the owner of an excessively barking dog in the city of L.A. now comes with a minimum penalty of $250.00; by the third citation the cost is up to a minimum of $1,000.00.
By contrast, L.A. County’s barking dog statute carries penalties for the owner of up to six months in jail on misdemeanor public nuisance charges.
Some complaints are true cases of disturbing the peace; other complaints appear to be made for the sole purpose of getting a disliked neighbor in trouble. Regardless, the complaint and resolution process requires a large amount of time on the part of an Animal Control Officer (ACO).
City of Sacramento Chief Animal Control Officer Dan Torres says that the staffing needed for such complaints locally is “a resource I don’t have”.
Torres leads a team of seven ACOs handling issues in the city, far below the 22 to 30 officers needed for the area according to a study done in 2000 by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
The population of the city has grown by more than 60,000 residents since that determination was made.
Funding cut-backs have caused the low number of ACOs for the city, but the number of issues they need to handle has done nothing but grow.
Torres says that the most critical issue that City ACOs must respond to is dog or cat bites, due to the possibility of fatal rabies infections. Next are reports of “loose, aggressive strays at schools”, another immediate and serious safety concern.
Then there are sick and injured animals on the roadways, coyotes, raccoons and skunks in residential areas, potential abuse and cruelty cases, strays on the street, getting animals out of locked vehicles, transporting injured strays and wildlife for veterinary care, removing deceased animals and assisting the Police, Fire Department, Highway Patrol, SPCA and Sacramento County Animal Services with larger cases. Just to name a few.
Oh, and complaints about barking dogs. Many hours of an ACO’s time must be used for the investigation, follow-up and required paperwork of a barking dog complaint, particularly if an appeal is filed by the pet owner.
Each Sacramento City ACO is responsible for a specific area and each officer’s typical day starts with a list of 40-60 calls they must respond to. More issues and complaints come in throughout the day and night.
It is understandable then, why complaints about how much noise an animal is making had to be looked into after public health and safety issues are handled.
As of July 1, 2011 City complaints about barking dogs are routed to Sacramento Mediation Services; doing it in-house was simply a poor use of very limited resources.
Unless Los Angeles has a full contingent of Animal Control staff and a small number of issues to handle – which are highly unlikely – the newly amended barking dog law may not help solve any problems.
Click here for tips from the City of Sacramento Animal Shelter on how to help your dog bark less.
Sacramento Pet Rescue 