Calaveras County, CA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

110 makes it unlawful to keep any animal, including livestock, on property under your control that disturbs the peace and comfort of the neighborhood or interferes with the reasonable enjoyment of life or property, listing excessive noise among the conditions that count as a nuisance, alongside excessive dust, odors, vectors and health threats. A complaint can't move forward on the word of a single neighbor: the code requires at least two complaining witnesses from separate households, unless an animal control officer or police officer who personally investigated a lone complaint and observed the problem behavior can serve as the second witness.

A dog becomes a 'chronic barking dog nuisance' once it has persistently and chronically violated the section, shown by a conviction and complaints from more than one household. When that threshold is met, the director of animal services serves written notice, personally, by mail, or posted at the property if no one can be found, giving the owner between seventy-two hours (three days) and one hundred twenty hours (five days) to abate the nuisance. If the barking hasn't stopped when that window closes, the director may impound the dog, bill the owner for the abatement costs, and issue a citation; the impoundment continues until the citation is resolved or a hearing officer determines the dog isn't actually a nuisance.

An owner who disputes the classification has seven business days after impoundment to file a written petition for a hearing, which must be held within thirty days, and the hearing is limited to whether the dog is a chronic nuisance, not whether the abatement was adequate. 6.