Pontiac, MI Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 18-51, Noisy dogs prohibited, sits in Article II of Chapter 18 and targets any dog whose barking, yelping or howling is loud, frequent or habitual enough to cause a serious annoyance to the neighborhood or to people passing to and fro on the streets. The broader unnecessary-noise provision at § 18-16 supplies the complaint process behind that standard: a person disturbed by a noisy animal must first advise the owner or custodian, and if the nuisance continues, notify the Animal Welfare Officer or other appropriate agency, which then advises the owner of the complaint and of the Code's prohibition on the conduct.

An owner or custodian who fails to abate the nuisance after that notice is guilty of a misdemeanor under § 18-16(c), which separately declares habitual animal noise a public nuisance detrimental to public health and welfare. Section 18-51 itself carries no distinct penalty, so the Code's general penalty clause, § 1-25, controls: a fine of up to $500.00, up to 90 days in the city or county jail, or both, at the court's discretion, with a repeat-offense floor of at least $500.00 and/or 90 days imprisonment under § 1-25(b) for anyone previously convicted of the same violation.

Enforcement of Chapter 18 runs through the Pontiac Police Department under § 18-2, with Oakland County Animal Control providing citywide animal-control services at no charge to the city since April 19, 2011, under Michigan's 1919 State Dog Law, Public Act 339.