Vermilion Parish, LA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Vermilion Parish Code § 6-84 puts the duty on the owner or keeper of a pet animal in the parish, and § 6-12 defines a pet animal as any dog or cat owned or kept for companionship, protection or sale. The owner or keeper cannot permit the animal to disturb the peace and quiet of any person by barking, whining, howling or making any noise that violates any parish ordinance regulating noise. If the animal does so, the owner or keeper is deemed guilty of a violation of § 6-84, in addition to any other parish ordinance or any state law. Section 6-12 defines disturbance as any act causing annoyance or agitation to another, or interference with the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the property of another.

The Police Jury's noise control code sits in Chapter 26. Section 26-64(a) applies it to sound originating from or received by any property in the unincorporated areas of the parish. Section 26-65(a) bars operating any source of sound so that it exceeds the sound level limits in Table I, measured at any location at or within the property line of the receptor property, and treats a reading above the table as prima facie evidence of a violation. Under § 26-66(b), to the extent plainly audible sound may constitute a violation, it does not require measurement with a sound level meter. The chapter's animal-related language is confined to § 6-84 and the nuisance rule below.

Section 6-85 adds a public nuisance rule. A pet animal that materially interferes with or disrupts another person in the conduct of lawful activities at that person's home is a public nuisance, and so is a pet animal at large that jumps on, or runs after and barks at, horses, joggers, pedestrians, bicyclists or any vehicle on roads or public grounds. Enforcement runs through § 6-23: parish animal control officers, with law enforcement officers, can issue verbal and written warnings, or contact law enforcement to issue a summons and complaint when there is probable cause of a violation.