Catawba County, NC Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Sec. 16-68 sets the county's baseline noise standard: it is unlawful to cause noise so loud, raucous or disturbing that it frightens, endangers the health of, or seriously disturbs a person of ordinary sensibilities on neighboring property. Sec. 16-69 lists specific acts that violate that standard without limiting it, and item (7) singles out the keeping of any animal or bird which causes frequent, habitual, repeated or excessive noise as unlawful in its own right, so a single barking episode does not violate the section, but a pattern of repeated or excessive barking does.

S. 153A-133, which lets the board of commissioners regulate noises that annoy, disturb, frighten or affect residents' health and well-being (Sec. 16-66). A neighbor with reasonable grounds to believe the barking-dog provision is being violated reports it to the sheriff's office under Sec. 16-72; the investigating deputy decides whether to issue a criminal citation. Sec. 16-70 exempts specific categories, such as scheduled school athletic events, church bells sounded five minutes or less per hour, and farm equipment, but keeps no carve-out for pets, so a barking dog complaint is judged against the full standard regardless of the animal's location. Enforcement runs through Chapter 16, Article III, last amended by Ord. No. 2017-12 on September 18, 2017.