Final Report – Case No. 09-07 San Joaquin County Animal Control

Barking dog complaints are very hard for Animal Control to verify, especially when the dog is barking at night. The Animal Control Division provides after hours services for emergency calls only, and just one officer provides service for the entire county.

The first step in responding to a barking dog complaint is to send a letter to the dog=s owner. A second complaint about the same dog results in a second letter being sent. A third complaint results in a Notice of Violation being sent. Sometimes multiple Notices of Violation are sent.

If the issue is still unresolved, the animal control officer must go to the location and actually hear the dog barking. The dog must be barking unprovoked, and the unprovoked barking must go on for 10 minutes. A citation can then be issued which can result in a fine imposed by a judge. However, Animal Control tries to resolve the issue prior to issuing a citation. They talk to the dog owner and see if the complaint can be resolved amicably. See Appendix A - Animal Control Ordinance Section 6-1021.

Based on the documentation provided by animal control and discussions with them, the complainant=s allegation of nothing being done was determined to be unfounded. A possible reason for the complainant thinking nothing was being done was because the first two notices were sent to the wrong address. This error was corrected in June and Animal Control subsequently took more than 10 actions between June 2007 and December 2007 to try to resolve this issue. Animal Control Officers went to the location to try and hear the barking. However, criteria for issuing a citation were never met.

After an Animal Control Officer met with the complainant and the dog owner in December, the final action on December 12, 2007 has resolved the issue to the satisfaction of both the complainant and the dog owner.