Smyrna, GA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Smyrna does not regulate barking in the noise chapter for dogs. It handles it as an animal nuisance in Chapter 14. Section 14-9 says the owner of any animal is in violation if the animal exhibits any behavior or engages in any activity defined in § 14-1 as a "nuisance animal." Subsection (3) of that definition covers an animal that causes a disturbance by barking, howling or other noisemaking for a period of more than 15 minutes. The trigger is a duration, not a decibel reading or a time-of-day window. It covers any animal, so cats and other pets are reached by the same wording.

The definition has five other prongs that often travel with a barking complaint: damaging, soiling or defecating on property other than the owner's, causing unsanitary or offensive conditions, chasing vehicles, bicycles or people, being in estrus without confinement away from intact males, and causing serious annoyance to a neighboring residence that interferes with the reasonable use and enjoyment of that property. That last prong gives a neighbor a route even when the noise is shorter than 15 minutes, if the annoyance is serious.

Enforcement runs through the animal control unit, defined in § 1-14 terms as staff under the Cobb County Police Department, the Smyrna Police Department or their successors, together with Cobb County Animal Control (CCAC). Section 14-66 lets an animal engaged in any activity prohibited by the chapter be taken and impounded at the animal shelter, and § 14-11(d) lets a judge accept relinquishment of the animal to CCAC in lieu of a fine or jail time. Section 14-138 separately requires owners to pick up and bag feces left on other people's property. Section 14-3(b) states that the chapter creates no liability for the city or its officials for failing to enforce it.