Richardson, TX Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

City Code Sec. 5-9(6) makes it unlawful for an owner or person in control of an animal to allow it to unreasonably bark, howl, crow, or make any other unreasonably loud noise, unprovoked, that disturbs the peace and quiet of a person of ordinary sensibilities. The ordinance defines "unreasonable" specifically: the recorded loud animal noise event must have continued for at least 15 minutes, or occurred in sporadic intervals across a 15-minute span. A "recording" can be video or audio. "Unprovoked" excludes noise deliberately caused by the complaining witness or another person, and the code names examples of provocation: standing along a fence line, taunting, teasing, or whistling at the animal.

Enforcement has real evidentiary teeth: no prosecution may proceed unless there is a complaining witness and a recording of sufficient quality to authenticate the location, time, and date of the alleged disturbance, and the recording must run long enough to establish the 15-minute unreasonableness standard. If those conditions are met, the recorded proof is treated as prima facie evidence both of a violation and that the noise constitutes a nuisance. Complaints and enforcement run through the animal services division under the director of health referenced elsewhere in Chapter 5; a citation is filed for prosecution in Richardson Municipal Court. This section replaced former numbering; Ord. No. 4507, adopted August 12, 2024, renumbered what had been Sec. 5-10 as the current Sec. 5-9.