New Brunswick, NJ Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Two parts of the code reach barking dogs. Section 8.28.050(B)(3) prohibits owning, possessing or harboring any pet animal or pet bird that frequently or for continued duration makes sounds that create a noise disturbance across a residential real property line, and it fixes the meaning for dogs: barking continually for ten minutes or intermittently for thirty minutes, unless provoked. The animal provision sets time thresholds rather than a decibel limit. Section 8.28.010 defines a noise disturbance as sound that endangers the safety or health of any person, disturbs a reasonable person of normal sensitivities, or endangers personal or real property. A noise control officer, defined as a designated employee trained in the measurement of sound and empowered to issue a summons, enforces Chapter 8.28.

Chapter 6.04 adds a nighttime rule. Section 6.04.280, titled Disturbing the peace, says no person shall own, keep, harbor or maintain any dog which habitually barks or cries between the hours of eight p.m. and eight a.m. Section 6.04.400 fixes the first-offense penalty for that section at $50.00, while a Chapter 8.28 violation falls under Section 8.28.110, which sets a penalty of not more than $1,250.00 for each offense and treats a continuing violation as a separate offense for each day it occurs. Section 8.28.050(B)(3) reaches pet birds as well as dogs. Under Chapter 6.04 the dog warden and the animal control officer are the enforcers, and Section 6.04.270 makes it unlawful to hinder, molest or interfere with anyone authorized to perform a duty under the chapter.