Allegany County, MD Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 225-15A defines a disturbance of the peace to include a cat or dog that disrupts an inhabited area by excessive noise, and lists examples "by way of example and not as a limitation": excessive barking, whining, howling or crying, molesting passersby, chasing vehicles, destroying property, attacking other domestic animals, or an unreasonable accumulation or off-property deposit of excretory matter. The same subsection carves out one exemption by name: the barking of hunting dogs in pursuit of game is not considered a disturbance of the public peace.

Section 225-15B(1) makes it a violation to own, harbor or attract a cat or dog that disturbs the peace this way, or to allow one to remain on your property. Section 225-15B(2) then builds in a grace period unique to this section: where the disturbance is caused by an unowned cat or dog, the responsible individual must first receive a detailed written notice and warning and get a fourteen-day period to abate the problem before Animal Control can issue the first citation. Repeated barking complaints also feed into § 225-1's PUBLIC NUISANCE ANIMAL definition, since two or more Chapter 225 violations within a twenty-four-month period qualify an animal for that designation and the forfeiture process in § 225-9.1.