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

The county's noise article, adopted by Ordinance No. 556, was written to regulate 'unreasonably loud and unseemly noises in unincorporated areas,' but its findings section, § 30-26(b), acknowledges that some noise sources are better handled elsewhere, 'such as the animal control ordinance.' Section 30-27 then lists what the noise chapter does not cover, and clause (9) states plainly: 'Sound from domestic animals addressed by other ordinances or statutes.' That hands barking dogs to Chapter 6.

Chapter 6 delivers the actual rule. Section 6-18(e) provides that the owner or keeper of any animal which habitually barks, whines or howls, or which habitually chases or runs after persons or vehicles, or which habitually runs at large or trespasses on the property of others, or which destroys, damages, soils, defiles or defecates on property of another person or legal entity, or which habitually causes annoyance to a neighboring resident and interferes with the reasonable use and enjoyment of property shall be deemed a nuisance, and treats keeping such an animal as a violation of § 6-18, punished under § 6-4.

Because the noise ordinance's own warning requirement in § 30-32 never applies to animal sound, a complaint under § 6-18(e) runs on Chapter 6's process instead: the animal control/environmental enforcement litter officer (§ 6-5) can patrol, take a signed complaint, and issue a uniform summons under § 6-3 without the notice-and-abatement steps § 30-32 requires for ordinary noise sources.