San Benito County, CA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

San Benito County's animal regulations are codified in Chapter 13.01 of the County Code, titled 'Animals and Fowl,' which covers dog licensing, animals at large, dangerous animals, and related nuisance provisions for the unincorporated area. Habitual or prolonged animal noise - the classic barking-dog problem - is generally pursued either under the animal-nuisance provisions of Chapter 13.01 or, where it rises to an unreasonable disturbance, under the general noise-disturbance prohibition in Section 19.39.020 of the County's Noise Control Regulations. Because the specific barking-dog subsection and any required number of complaining households were not available verbatim in the sources reviewed for this writeup, residents should confirm the controlling section and procedure directly with San Benito County Animal Control and Code Enforcement before relying on a specific rule. In practice, California counties handle barking complaints through a complaint-and-investigation process: the complainant documents the dates, times, and duration of the barking, ideally with corroboration from more than one affected household, and Animal Control investigates and can issue warnings, abatement directives, and citations. Persistent, unabated barking can be declared a public nuisance and abated. This framework applies in unincorporated communities such as Tres Pinos, Paicines, Ridgemark, Aromas, Cienega, Panoche, and Bitterwater. Inside the cities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista, the city's own animal-noise and nuisance provisions apply and complaints go to city police or the city's contracted animal services. For an aggressive or at-large dog (as opposed to a merely noisy one), the dangerous-animal provisions of Chapter 13.01 and the Sheriff's office are the appropriate channel.