Nicholasville, KY Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Nicholasville has two overlapping rules for barking. The main one is Sec. 12-10(b)(11), part of the excessive noise ordinance in Chapter 12 (Ord. No. 399-2002, 4-11-02, amended by Ord. No. 052-2021, 8-23-21). It bars keeping or harboring within the City of Nicholasville any animal, including domestic pets, that repeatedly or frequently emits any sound, naming barking, yelping, howling, meowing, and squawking, or that otherwise creates a noise disturbance across a dwelling unit boundary, in such a manner so as to annoy or disturb a reasonable person of normal sensitivities. The standard is objective: a reasonable person, not the most sensitive neighbor. Where subdivisions (1), (2), (4) and (7) of the same subsection tie the ban to 10:00 p.m. through 7:00 a.m., subdivision (11) prints no clock-hour window and no count of barks.

The second rule is Sec. 5-6 in the animals chapter. It makes it unlawful to house and keep under control any dog or cat that causes a general inconvenience and annoyance to persons in the immediate neighborhood, and it defines acts of such annoyance as loud and continual barking, whining and the general emission of continuous noises that surrounding neighbors can hear. Sec. 5-6 comes from Code 1972, § 5-6, and prints no penalty clause, so the default fine in Sec. 1-10(a), not exceeding $250 and not less than $10, applies to it.

Sec. 12-10(a) adds a general ceiling: no person can emit beyond the boundaries of his property, or from any vehicle, any noise that unreasonably interferes with the enjoyment of life or any lawful business or activity in contravention of any rule or regulation adopted by the environmental resources cabinet for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A barking complaint can therefore be framed under the animal-specific subdivision (11), under Sec. 5-6, or under that boundary standard.