Roanoke, VA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Sec. 6-26 targets the harboring or keeping of any dog whose loud, frequent or habitual barking or howling, or other conduct likely to cause annoyance and disturb the peace and quiet of any person or neighborhood, is heard or observed by an animal warden, another officer, or any other person. The section declares such a dog a public nuisance outright, not merely a candidate for one. Enforcement runs through notice: after reasonable notice from an animal warden to the dog's owner (if known), or on complaint of any person if the owner is unknown, the dog may be impounded and confined at the city dog pound by an animal warden or any police officer.

This barking provision sits alongside the broader public-nuisance-animal definition in Sec. continued or repeated howling, barking, whining, or other utterances causing unreasonable annoyance, disturbance or discomfort to neighbors' if that pattern recurs; Sec. 6-11(c) makes clear that provision does not reach dogs already regulated as dangerous or vicious under the chapter's separate dangerous-dog division. Because barking violations fall under Chapter 6's animal nuisance scheme rather than the city's general noise ordinance, complaints are routed to animal wardens (police department employees designated under Sec. 6-2) rather than a separate noise-control office. No decibel threshold or time-of-day window applies; the standard is disturbance to a person or neighborhood as actually observed.