Barking dog complaints in Massachusetts

Section 136A defines a nuisance dog in three parts, and two are about noise. One is a dog that 'by excessive barking or other disturbance, is a source of annoyance to a sick person residing in the vicinity.' The other is a dog whose excessive barking, 'causing damage or other interference,' a reasonable person would find disruptive to quiet and peaceful enjoyment. The third part covers a threat or attack that was not grossly disproportionate. The words excessive and reasonable person matter: an occasional bark at the delivery truck is not what the definition describes.

The statute sets no decibel level, no number of minutes and no quiet hours, so whether barking is excessive is judged at the hearing on the evidence. It also draws a firm line in the other direction. Section 157 says no dog shall be deemed dangerous 'solely based upon growling or barking or solely growling and barking,' so a barking complaint, however heated, ends at a nuisance finding at most, unless something beyond noise happened.

Section 173 lets a city or town make 'additional ordinances or by-laws relative to the licensing and control of animals' as long as they are not inconsistent with the state sections. That is why a barking complaint can look different from one place to the next: a town may add its own noise or dog rules, and its own fines, alongside the state process. On Cape Ann, Gloucester's dog rules sit in chapter 4 of the city code and are summarized on the city's dog regulations page, while Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea each keep general bylaws; read your town's text or ask the clerk.

Rented homes add another layer, because a lease can carry noise terms of its own and a landlord can act faster than any hearing. Our guide to renting with a dog in Massachusetts covers that side. The point here is that the state process is rarely the only one in play, and that the least expensive answer to all of them is the same: a quieter dog.

A complaint letter is information about hours you are not there to hear. Barking tends to have a reason you can work on: a long, empty day, a window onto a busy street, a doorbell, or distress at being left alone, which is a different problem from boredom and may need your vet as well as a trainer. Start by finding out when it happens; a neighbor's log, or a camera at home, answers that faster than guessing.

A dog who spends the long day in a matched playgroup has had its exercise and company by the time it gets home; a full daycare day is $42 and a half day $33, and a Dogtown Academy day, $89 full or $69 half, adds a training session with our trainers to the play. For the barking itself, our trainers work fear- and force-free, with sessions from $94. A written training plan is also something concrete to show a hearing authority weighing remedial action.