Alamance County, NC Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

C of the Alamance County Animal Control Ordinance, titled 'Noisy Dogs,' provides that it is unlawful for the keeper or other custodian of any dog to allow it to bark, whine, howl, or make any other noise for a protracted period so as to result in a serious annoyance or interference with the reasonable use and enjoyment of neighboring premises. The rule sets no decibel limit or fixed number of minutes; it turns on whether the barking is protracted and seriously interferes with a neighbor's reasonable use and enjoyment of their property, a standard an animal control officer applies case by case after a complaint.

The ordinance defines 'Keeper' broadly to include anyone who has custody of the dog or who feeds or shelters it for ten days or more, so a person watching a neighbor's dog can be cited just as the legal owner can. B, and a chronically barking dog can independently be declared a public nuisance if it also molests passersby or damages property. Enforcement runs through Section V of the ordinance rather than a separate noise chapter, so a sustained violation carries the same escalating civil penalty schedule and misdemeanor exposure that applies to the rest of the Animal Control Ordinance.