One year, a neighbor’s dog kept jumping over the fence onto my backyard. Normally, I would not be upset because who does not love dogs? The problem was my tied-up Rottweiler, Roscoe, grew frustrated of this German Shepard going over to fight him and eat his food. I am not a morning person either so waking up to BARKING DOGS at three in the MORNING was very irritating. Don’t mess with me when I am hungry or sleeping!

By now you are probably thinking, how does this dog business relate to the law. Well, Nolo Press has published a book on laws affecting dogs and their owners, Every Dog’s Legal Guide and written by Mary Randolph. In chapter 7, there is a checklist of actions when a neighbor’s dog is being a nuisance. Some of the actions include talking to your neighbor, mediating dog fights and calling the police or animal control.

Talking to my neighbor reasonably was the first thing I did try but it did not turn out in my favor. I started to get frustrated because I gave them advice like being outside with their dog, both of us fixing the small fence and making it bigger. Well that did not work out, either

After the situation only got worse, I figured that I could check the local laws to see what legal options I had. I started to research if there were any codes or ordinances that falls into what my dog and I been dealing with. According to Riverside County Ordinance no. 771, “any animal which has once attacked bitten or otherwise caused injury to person or animal engaged in lawful activity is a dangerous animal.  Therefore, a fence or enclosure shall be designed to prevent the animal from escaping.”  Hmm, promising.

In addition, Ordinance 630 Section 14. Stray or Barking Dogs noted that, “it shall be unlawful for any person to keep or allow to be kept, or permit any dog to remain upon the premises under control of such person, when such dog habitually barks, whines or makes loud noises in such manner as to disturb the peace and quiet of the neighbors surrounding of such premises.”

By doing this blog and finally being able to know what I can and not do as a Riverside County citizen I realized, there are such codes for my situation and that I can do something about it. I came to the conclusion to try and speak to my neighbor once more and in doing so, I was able to convince her to construct an enclosure for all three of her German shepherds. Although, my barking dogs’ problem at 3 a.m. has not been fixed, I believe we made plenty of progress.

If you happen to have a barking dog problem or need any information find Every Dog’s Legal Guide at the Indio Branch at REF KF 390.5 .D6R36 2013, in the shelf to the right of the reference desk. Also, take a look at your local ordinances, they can be very useful!

~Jocelyn Padilla