Glendale, CA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Chapter 8.36 of the Glendale Municipal Code, the city's Noise Control ordinance, addresses animal noise in a stand-alone provision, § 8.36.070, separate from the chapter's decibel-metered standards. Rather than setting a bark-per-minute count or a sound-level ceiling, the ordinance uses a nuisance test: keeping any animal or fowl "otherwise permitted to be kept" becomes unlawful the moment its sound, cry or behavior causes annoyance or discomfort to a reasonable person of normal sensitiveness in a residential neighborhood. The animal itself can be legally kept, dogs, chickens, birds, and still violate the code if its noise disturbs neighbors judged by an objective, not-hypersensitive standard.

The section applies citywide wherever animals are kept on premises "owned, occupied or controlled" by the keeper, so it reaches renters and property owners alike. It sits alongside the chapter's presumed ambient noise table at § 8.36.040, which caps exterior residential sound at 45 dBA at night and 55 dBA during the day, giving code enforcement a secondary, metered standard to invoke if animal noise is loud enough to register above ambient limits, in addition to the nuisance test in § 8.36.070 itself.

Because § 8.36.070 does not set its own penalty, a violation falls back to the citywide default in § 1.20.010: any act declared unlawful under the Municipal Code is a misdemeanor unless a specific penalty says otherwise, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in county jail, or both. Residents can report a persistent barking or crowing complaint for investigation and potential citation.