Cherokee County, SC Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Two separate parts of the Cherokee County Code reach a noisy animal in unincorporated Cherokee County, South Carolina. Section 4-11, in the animal chapter, makes it unlawful to maintain a dog which habitually barks, whines or howls, which habitually chases or runs after persons or vehicles, which destroys or damages property belonging to any person or legal entity, or which habitually causes serious annoyances to a neighboring residence and interferes with the reasonable use and enjoyment of that neighbor's property. It closes with a catch-all for any habitual disturbance or nuisance of any kind. Animal control officers enforce that chapter under § 4-3(b).

Section 15-64(1), in the noise article adopted by Ord. No. 2006-13 on November 20, 2006, reaches wider. Regardless of the level of sound, keeping any animal, including a bird, that causes a frequent or long, continued noise such as barking, howling or screeching, disturbing the comfort and repose of any person of ordinary sensibilities in the immediate vicinity, is deemed a nuisance. No decibel reading is required. Section 15-66 tells the enforcing officer to use judgment and lists the factors: the volume, the intensity, whether the nature of the noise is usual or unusual, whether its origin is natural or unnatural, the type and intensity of ambient noise, and the nature and character of the area where it is heard.

The noise article builds in a warning step. Under § 15-67(a) a law enforcement officer can advise people of the rules without a complaint, but no charge is made unless a complaint is made to law enforcement and the person has first been given an opportunity to abate the noise without penalty. A person is then guilty if the noise continues or recurs within a twenty-four (24) hour period, or if the same person was given an opportunity two (2) or more times within the previous one hundred eighty (180) days at the same location and the noise continues. Under § 15-67(b), the complaints of three (3) or more persons, or of one (1) or more persons combined with the complaint of a law enforcement officer, are prima facie evidence that regulated sound was produced.