Wicomico County, MD Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 133-18 of the Wicomico County Code makes it unlawful to allow an animal to become a public nuisance, and it lists excessive barking, whining, howling, crowing, chasing vehicles, attacking other domestic animals, or damaging property as one of six specific nuisance conditions alongside dangers to people, repeated soiling of property, trespassing animals, an unconfined female in heat, and unsanitary or overcrowded conditions. Enforcement starts with a complaint: any person may file a sworn complaint with an Animal Control Officer that states the date, time, location, description of the animal, the owner's identity, and the alleged nuisance conduct, and the complaint must be filed within 30 days of the incident.

The county does not require independent corroboration; the Animal Control Officer may issue a citation based on the sworn complaint alone. The consequences escalate with repetition. An animal found in violation of Section 133-18 four separate times is legally deemed a nuisance, and the owner is then required to keep that animal inside the residence rather than allowing it outdoors where the barking or other nuisance conduct occurs. The section sits in Article VII, Public Nuisances, Adoption, Liability, of Chapter 133, the same chapter that separately regulates leashing, tethering, animal care and dangerous-animal classifications, so a barking complaint can run alongside other citations if the same animal is also loose or unlicensed.