Lakewood, CO Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Lakewood Municipal Code § 9.52.080, 'Animals or birds,' makes it unlawful to keep or maintain or permit the keeping of, on any premises owned, occupied or controlled by the person, any animal or bird otherwise permitted to be kept, which by frequent or habitual howling, barking, meowing, squawking or other noise unreasonably disturbs the peace and quiet of any neighborhood or causes discomfort or annoyance to any person. The section sits within Part II of Chapter 9.52, the list of acts declared to cause unreasonable noises under § 9.52.050; that list is expressly non-exclusive, so it supplements rather than replaces the general ban on unreasonable noise in § 9.52.040. Section 9.52.030 defines 'Unreasonable noise' as any excessive or unusually loud sound, or any sound which disturbs the peace and quiet of any neighborhood or causes damage to any property or business, the same standard applied to a barking-dog complaint.

The section covers any animal or bird 'otherwise permitted to be kept,' so it applies equally to a dog, cat or backyard poultry, and it targets habitual or frequent noise rather than a single bark; one isolated incident does not establish the pattern the ordinance addresses. There is no fixed decibel threshold or duration test written into § 9.52.080 itself. Chapter 9.52 does not carve out a night-only or daytime-only period for animal noise the way it does for construction and amplified sound, so the prohibition against unreasonable animal noise runs at all hours of the day and night.