Catoosa County, GA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 14-1 of the Official Code of Catoosa County defines 'nuisance' for animal control purposes to include a long list of dog and cat behaviors, from property damage and attacking people to spreading garbage, and it specifically adds 'any dog that by it's loud, continuous barking disturbs the peace of persons other than the owner.' The same section then defines the phrase itself: 'loud, continuous barking' means a sound from the dog that can be heard more than 100 feet away and continues for more than five minutes without interruption.

Section 14-1 does not stop at defining the term; it directly obligates every dog and cat owner in the county to ensure the animal does not become a nuisance, and states plainly that an owner whose animal becomes a nuisance, including through barking that meets the distance and duration test, is guilty of a violation of Chapter 14. Section 14-9 reinforces that duty by making the owner or keeper responsible for keeping the animal from becoming a nuisance and for keeping it under control at all times.

The Department of Animal Control, established under Section 14-2, along with the sheriff, deputy sheriffs, and other peace officers, is authorized to enforce the chapter and bring violators before the appropriate court; animal control officers and the director also have the right to enter private property when necessary to investigate a complaint under Section 14-5. Because the barking definition is tied to a specific distance and duration rather than a vague 'excessive noise' standard, a complaint has to establish that the barking carried past 100 feet and lasted more than five minutes straight before the county can treat it as a chargeable nuisance.