Minnehaha County, SD Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)
Barking dog rules in Minnehaha County, SD, also called nuisance dog, dog noise, or excessive barking ordinances, define when a barking dog becomes a code violation and how complaints are handled.
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Sec. 3.07(B), MC52-17
- Where it applies
- Residential Development Areas only
- Nuisance standard
- Ongoing problem across several days
- Witness rule
- 2 complaints from separate households required
- Exemption
- CUP-licensed commercial kennels
- Violation class
- Class 2 misdemeanor (Art. VIII § 8.01)
Summary
In a Residential Development Area, an owner cannot let an animal make frequent, habitual or continued loud noise that becomes a neighbor nuisance. A conviction requires at least two complaining witnesses from separate households, unless an Animal Control Officer personally observed the behavior.
Disturbing the Peace. The owner or custodian of an animal located within a residential development area shall not allow the animal to create a frequent, habitual or continued disturbance by making loud noises so as to be a nuisance to a neighbor or neighbors at any time of the night or day. A nuisance shall constitute an ongoing problem over several days and at several intervals throughout a 24 hour period for any length of time. The Animal Control Officer, or its authorized designee, shall have the authority to use all reasonable means to abate such nuisance, including but not limited to requiring that the owner make bona fide efforts to quiet his animal and impoundment of the animal at all times. No summons and complaint shall be issued nor shall there be a conviction for violation of this Section unless there are at least two (2) complaining witnesses from separate households who shall have signed such complaint.
Full Breakdown
06 as a residential zoning district, a residential subarea of a planned development district, or any subdivision of five or more lots. It bars an owner or custodian from allowing an animal to create a frequent, habitual, or continued disturbance through loud noise that becomes a nuisance to a neighbor at any time of day or night, and defines a qualifying nuisance as an ongoing problem occurring over several days and at several intervals across a 24-hour period, not an isolated incident. The Animal Control Officer can use any reasonable means to abate the nuisance, including requiring the owner to make bona fide efforts to quiet the animal and impounding it.
If the animal is impounded, the officer must attempt to locate and notify the absent owner by any reasonable means. Critically, the ordinance builds in a procedural safeguard: no summons, complaint, or conviction can proceed unless at least two complaining witnesses from separate households have signed the complaint, though an officer who personally investigated and observed the animal's behavior can stand in for that second witness and testify at trial. The section explicitly exempts any commercial kennel operating under a Minnehaha County conditional use permit.
Violations & Fines
A substantiated barking or noise nuisance is a Class 2 misdemeanor under Article VIII, Section 8.01, but no citation can be filed or sustained without two signed complaints from separate households, or one household's complaint plus an officer's own documented observation of the animal's behavior. The Animal Control Officer may also impound the animal as an abatement measure while the case proceeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I report a neighbor's barking dog by myself?
Does one loud night qualify as a nuisance?
Does this rule apply outside subdivisions?
Are licensed kennels exempt from the noise rule?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Minnehaha County
Compare Minnehaha County to another location·View the South Dakota noise ordinances overview
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