Lakeville, MN Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Lakeville's nuisance dog provision, City Code section 5-1-9(D), targets chronic barking rather than any single noisy episode. The ordinance defines habitual barking with two objective tests: the barking or crying must occur in repeated intervals of at least five minutes each, with gaps of less than one minute between intervals, and it must be audible beyond the boundary of the owner's or caretaker's own premises. A single short outburst, or barking that never carries past the property line, does not meet the definition. The section was most recently amended by Ordinance 1103 on June 16, 2025, following an earlier 2008 amendment under Ordinance 842, showing the city has revisited the standard within the past two years.

A resident who believes a neighbor's dog is a nuisance under this section can bring it to the attention of the Lakeville Police Department, which functions as the city's animal control authority under the chapter's definitions in section 5-1-1. Because the barking rule sits inside the same chapter as the leash, dangerous dog and impoundment provisions, enforcement typically follows the chapter's general animal control process, including the misdemeanor penalty structure in the code's general penalty section 1-4-1 that applies to any violation of the code, whether the complaint concerns one dog or several kept on the same property.