Barking dog rules in Yellowstone County, MT — also called nuisance dog, dog noise, or excessive barking ordinances — define when a barking dog becomes a code violation and how complaints are handled.
In Billings, keeping any animal that unreasonably annoys people by continuous and habitual barking, howling, yelping, or whining is a public nuisance and a misdemeanor. Unincorporated Yellowstone County handles habitual barking through county animal control and Montana's public-nuisance law.
Billings City Code Sec. 4-404 ('Noisy animals') makes it unlawful to keep, feed, harbor, or allow to stay any animal that unreasonably annoys or disturbs a person by continuous and habitual barking, howling, yelping, whining, or other noise. It exempts animals kept as part of a licensed veterinary, boarding, or agricultural/livestock operation. Yellowstone County itself administers animal control and rabies under Montana law (MCA Title 7, Chapter 23) for unincorporated areas; a persistently barking dog there is addressed as a public nuisance rather than under a numeric decibel limit.
A Billings noisy-animal violation is a misdemeanor; on conviction in municipal court civil penalties reach up to $300 for a first violation and up to $500 for subsequent violations.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Yellowstone County's barking dogs rules stack up against other locations.
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