Lawrence, KS Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 3-501 lists animal nuisances the city prohibits, and subsection (a) targets noise specifically: no person may own, possess, harbor or keep any animal within the city, including a dog or cat, that disturbs the peace and quiet of a person or family of ordinary sensitivity in the vicinity by creating noise for frequent or prolonged periods, day or night. The standard turns on the objective 'ordinary sensitivity' listener rather than a decibel meter or a fixed duration, so a single short bark is not enough, but noise that is frequent or prolonged and actually disturbs a nearby neighbor is.

The same section also bans an animal whose odor is objectionable to a person of ordinary sensitivity nearby, an animal left unsupervised outdoors while in heat, an animal that damages private property belonging to someone else, and an animal that injures another domestic dog, cat, equine or livestock, though the injury clause carves out fowl and animals hurt while trespassing on the offending animal's own premises. A nuisance complaint is investigated and cited by an enforcement officer under the chapter's general enforcement provisions in Section 3-104.