Henry County, GA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Sec. 3-17-44(4) prohibits owning, possessing or harboring any animal which frequently, or for continued duration, howls, barks, meows, squawks or makes other sounds that annoy or disturb an ordinary reasonable person of normal sensitivities across a residential or commercial boundary line or within a noise-sensitive area. The same paragraph supplies the operative definition: a barking dog is one that barks, bays, cries, howls or makes any other noise continuously and/or incessantly for a period of fifteen minutes, or barks intermittently for one-half hour or more to the disturbance of any person at any time of day or night, regardless of whether the dog is physically situated in or upon private property.

The section carves out one defense: a dog is not a barking dog if it is barking because someone is trespassing or threatening to trespass on the property where the dog is kept, so alarm-barking at an intruder is not chargeable. An identical definition of disturbing noises also appears among the general offense definitions at Sec. 3-4-2, confirming the county treats nuisance animal noise as a countywide standard rather than a district-specific rule. Because the barking-dog prohibition sits inside the noise article, it is measured by disturbance and duration, not by a decibel meter, and applies throughout the unincorporated county regardless of zoning classification.