Dodge County, WI Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

07(1), part of the Disturbing the Peace ordinance created by County Ordinance #560, prohibits keeping or harboring any dog which, by frequent or habitual howling, yelping, barking, or making of other noises, may tend to disturb a person of ordinary sensibility living in the area. The standard is objective rather than tied to a decibel meter or a fixed number of minutes: enforcement turns on whether the noise is frequent or habitual and whether it would bother an ordinary neighbor, which the Dodge County Sheriff's Office and, on referral, the county's animal control function evaluate based on complaints and observed patterns.

07(2), the county's general prohibition on loud or unnecessary noise, so a habitual barking complaint can also be pursued under that broader clause if it better fits the facts. Because Dodge County's Land Use Code and its Chapter 9 general code apply only in the unincorporated towns, a barking-dog complaint inside Beaver Dam, Watertown, Mayville, Horicon, Waupun, Fox Lake or Hartford falls to that city's own police department and municipal noise or animal-control ordinance, not this county section. 01(1).