Millcreek, PA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

The barking rule in Millcreek Township is a time-based test, not a decibel test. Section 8-3A of the Township Code makes it unlawful for any person to own, harbor or keep in custody any animal which, by harsh noise or disturbance, disturbs, interferes with or deprives the public of peace, quiet, rest and peaceful enjoyment. Section 8-3B then defines the threshold: continuous barking, howling or the making of loud or harsh noise for more than 15 minutes on two or more consecutive days or nights, or two such fifteen-minute periods on any single day, constitutes a disturbance of the peace, quiet, rest, sleep and enjoyment of the public and a violation of the article.

The word "harbor" matters. Under § 8-1, OWNER includes the registered owner, the person responsible as keeper, and the custodian charged with oversight of the animal, so a tenant or houseguest who keeps a barking dog is covered the same as the registered owner. The section reaches any animal, since § 8-1 defines ANIMAL as a dog, cat or any other species, domesticated or nondomesticated.

Section 8-3 does not cite the decibel table in Chapter 40, which sets separate limits for sound by zoning district, and it prints no measuring procedure of its own. Enforcement runs through § 8-7E, which authorizes the Millcreek Township Police Department and the Township's Animal Resource-Code Enforcement Officer to enforce the article, and § 8-7F, which sends cases to a Magisterial District Judge in the same manner as summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. The Animal Resource-Code Enforcement Officer sits inside the Code Enforcement Department and enforces all laws and ordinances relating to animals.