Franklin, TN Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

' Subsection (3)(d) applies that standard specifically to pets and livestock, declaring it a violation to keep 'any animal or bird which by causing frequent or long continued noise shall disturb the comfort or repose of any persons in the vicinity,' and it applies even where the underlying sound would not otherwise breach the 'plainly audible' curfew set by § 11-403. Because the ordinance fixes no bark-count or minutes-per-hour threshold, § 11-404(2) supplies the test animal control and the city judge use instead: the volume and intensity of the noise, whether it is natural or unnatural for the area, its proximity to residential sleeping facilities, the time of day or night, its duration, and whether it is recurrent, intermittent, or constant.

A single yelp is not a violation; nightly hours of continuous barking that keep a next-door bedroom awake is squarely what the section targets. There is no built-in exemption for dogs comparable to the domestic-power-equipment carve-out in § 11-405, and an owner cannot cure a citation by invoking a special noise permit, since § 11-406 permits are limited to construction and public events. Beyond the misdemeanor fine, § 11-408 lets the city or a neighbor pursue chronic barking as an additional public-nuisance remedy through a restraining order or injunction in a court of competent jurisdiction.