Barking Dogs
Barking is a way dogs communicate, including for reasons like anxiety, distress, boredom, lack of or excess stimuli. It is normal for a dog to bark during the day, only when a dog's barking is excessive, should it be reported. Barking continuously for more than 10 minutes is considered as excessive in some municipalities where a "habitually noisy dog" is a dog that barks for more than 10 minutes, 10 times in a 30-day period.
What to do when the barking is becoming a consistent problem:
1. Contact the dog owner
Let the dog owner know you're concerned about the barking and give them a chance to make it right.
2. Report your concern
Report the barking dog. Provide the following details:
- Your name, address, and phone number
- The specific address and unit number of the barking dog, to help us investigate efficiently
- The description of the barking dog, if possible
- The date, time and duration of when the barking became a nuisance.
*We ask for your name, address, and phone number because we contact you to discuss your concern and explain next steps. Your information is protected by FOIPP. We do not take anonymous reports, they will not be investigated.
3. We investigate your concern
After we receive your report, we assign an officer to:
- Contact you to discuss your concern and explain next steps
- Visit the owner of the barking dog to communicate the complaint (while keeping your information private) and suggest ways to prevent nuisance barking i.e. Bark Limiter
Barking Log
Barking logs are used to record the date, time and duration of the barking to serve as evidence for further enforcement. These documents are only useful if the persons who keep the log are willing to testify in court as a witness if the ticket is disputed. Please do not begin a bark log until an Officer requests you to do so, any evidence collected while the officer is investigating will not be accepted as we may be working with the dog owner to assist with the issue and it can take some time to change the dog's behavior.