Freehold Township, NJ Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

This animal-noise rule sits inside Chapter 217, Noise, as one of several examples listed under § 217-2 illustrating the general prohibition in § 217-1 against loud, unnecessary or unusual noise likely to annoy, disturb, injure or endanger the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others. Rather than setting a decibel meter reading or a fixed time window the way the radio and construction provisions do, § 217-2A(3) uses a qualitative standard: the keeping of animals or birds whose noise is frequent or long-continued, and which disturbs the comfort or repose of a person in the vicinity, is treated as a noise violation.

The Township carved out a specific exemption for licensed animal facilities: the provision states plainly that it is not intended to apply to a dog pound or kennel licensed in accordance with Chapter 79, Article I, Dogs, of the Township Code, so a properly licensed kennel operation is not exposed to a noise citation for ordinary animal sounds tied to its licensed use. Because the standard turns on frequency and duration of disturbance rather than a measured sound level, enforcement depends on evidence such as repeated complaints or an officer's own observation of a pattern of ongoing barking or animal noise, rather than a single brief incident.