At a glance
- Who handles it
- LA Animal Services, at the shelter that serves your area.
- How to report
- A written complaint with your name, address and signature.
- The rule
- No fixed time. Animal Services weighs how often and how loud, the time of day, how many neighbours are affected, and more.
- What happens first
- A written notice to the owner asking them to stop the noise.
- If it goes on
- A second complaint after 15 days leads to a meeting, and if that fails, a hearing.
This page covers the City of Los Angeles, where LA Animal Services handles barking. If you are not sure your home is inside the city, check with your city hall first.
What counts as excessive barking
The city’s rule, quoted on LA Animal Services’ Nuisance Barking page, is about “excessive noise”: noise that is unreasonably annoying, disturbing or offensive, or that unreasonably interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of nearby homes. There is no fixed number of minutes. Animal Services may weigh:
- how often the dog barks, how loud and how repetitive it is;
- the time of day or night;
- how far away the people affected are, and how many neighbours are affected or complaining;
- any other evidence that the barking is unduly disruptive;
- whether the dog is being provoked.
Before you complain
- Talk to the owner. If that is hard, the barking dog letter generator writes a friendly note.
- Try free mediation. The City Attorney’s Dispute Resolution Program offers free, voluntary and confidential mediation, including between neighbours.
- Start a diary. Dates, times and how often it happens are exactly what Animal Services weighs. Use the printable bark diary.
How to file a complaint
LA Animal Services says you must send a written complaint. Your letter needs:
- your name, address and phone number;
- the address of the barking dog;
- a description of the problem;
- your signature.
Send it to the LA Animal Services shelter that serves your area. There are six; find yours. In the description, say when the barking happens, for how long and how it affects you.
What happens next
- A notice to the owner. Animal Services writes to the owner, describes the complaint and asks them to stop the noise straight away.
- A second complaint and a meeting. If the barking carries on, you can complain again once 15 days have passed since that notice. Normally a written complaint from another household nearby goes with it, though Animal Services can go ahead with yours alone if the noise affects you. You and the owner are then asked to meet a department representative to find a solution.
- A hearing. If the meeting doesn’t solve it, or the owner doesn’t come and there is evidence of excessive barking, the case is set for an administrative hearing. LA Animal Services calls this the final step for barking complaints.
The rule provides for a dog licence to be revoked. Someone whose licence is revoked under it can’t own or look after a dog for a year.
Keep a record
A phone can keep the log while you are busy or asleep. Left near a shared wall or window, DogQuiet logs each bark it hears with the time, how long it lasted and a short clip, and makes a PDF report. It is an approximate record, not proof: it can miss a bark or log another sound. See how to keep a bark diary for your own notes.
Other places
The general steps, the evidence officials ask for and when to call the police are in how to report a barking dog.
Sources
Official pages this guide is based on, all read in October 2026:
- LA Animal Services. Nuisance Barking. laanimalservices.com/nuisance-barking
- LA Animal Services. Administrative Hearing Guide for Barking Dogs and Dangerous Animals. laanimalservices.com/administrative-hearing-guide
- Los Angeles City Attorney. Dispute Resolution Program. cityattorney.lacity.gov/drp