(Below is pretty close to a copy of the text on the Seattle Animal Control website.)
Animals that make unreasonable noise can be reported to the Seattle Animal Shelter. Unreasonable noise includes loud and raucous, and frequent, repetitive, or continuous sounds made by any animal.
We should expect to live with some level of noise in the city. Traffic, lawn mowers, construction, barking dogs or other animal noises are just a few examples. However, pet noises that are unreasonable can be reported. First you should:
1 – Communicate with the pet owner
Often, neighborly discussions can be very helpful. Let the pet owners know that you are disturbed by the noise. Sometimes pet owners are not aware of the problem or the effects on other residents. Try to work out a mutually agreeable and reasonable solution in a neighborly manner. Strategies that may help include manners training, changing the animals’ routines, maintaining the animals inside, creating visual barriers from passers-by, or providing the animals with more exercise. Allow a reasonable amount of time for a remedy by the pet owner.
2 – Submit a complaint
Call the Seattle Animal Shelter at (206) 386-7387 or file a complaint online. On a first complaint, a letter will be sent to the pet owner notifying them that a noise complaint has been filed and that they must take appropriate steps to abate the noise created by their animal(s).
3 – If the violation continues
If the violation occurs again, call the Shelter and speak to a representative. A declaration form will be sent to you for you to fill out. At the same time, an Officer will be sent to the residence to investigate. No further enforcement action will be taken without a completed declaration. It is important that you document the nature and the extent of the problem in the declaration. Be thorough and honest in your documentation as you are signing this document under penalty of perjury. If there is a six month period between complaints regarding noise issues, the process will return to step two and start over again. You can find the city ordinance regarding animal noise here.
How do you communicate with the owner when they cannot even manage their pet? for example, the poor lady with the black poodle that shrieks uncontrollably whenever it sees something.
It is a daily occurrence around the streets (north of Northgate Way and 15th) and obvious that the animal has not been trained. We should not be forced to listen to the squealing of your dog every night as you walk it.. I don’t know who your are but please do something to address this problem before we have no option to report the problem.
This is interesting in light of two animal noise complaints I know of. We and one of our very close neighbors both got pet noise complaints anonymously. Neither of us had been approached by neighbors letting us know there was a problem. Somebody out there is being passive-aggressive about our pets. I wonder if they told the authorities that they had talked with us about the noise? Well, they didn’t in either case. Harrumph! If your neighbor’s pets are making you crazy, PLEASE let them know about it. Don’t just stew over it and get angry. There may be an easy solution.
The dog goes BARK, and with good reason. Our part of the neighborhood (near the golf course) is so dark at night, and that those shadowy areas beg for crime and the criminals that act it out. On more then one occasion we were alerted to junkies lighting up there pipes in the alley way by our furry four legged security systems. Just this week someone helped themselves to our pressure washer and had we been home we would have heard the dogs alerting us to the theft that was taking place in our carport. Dogs are gonna bark, and we really should listen up, because its most likely a warning. So consider this. Next time you hear a dog bark take a look out your window. Our dogs also have marks on their permeant record, because someone was playing quick draw McGraw with the phone instead of inquiring about the noise directly.
Funny how the dog owners who have really large, high-strung breeds in 300 sq ft runs, according to the breed-specific books at PetCo shouldn’t be left out all day anyway, aren’t justifying their neglect in these comments. Nor the neighbors who were fond of leaving their two dogs alone on weekends to yelp 16 hours a day, well into the night always, due to separation anxiety.
And some owners are fine with letting geriatric, senile dogs with thin coats and sore bones out in 40F weather, even though the dogs are locked out of the house.
I agree that the first step is to let the dog owner know, but sadly there is no capability or suitability test for animal owners. Frame the concern in the dog’s best interest, and provide solutions that do not hurt the dog (no debarking, no shock collars).
One owner is in denial, even though more than one neighbor has called Animal Control and the police on her several times; even though her dog screamed for over a half-hour because someone the owner INVITED onto the property was removing, with the owner’s active help, some item. The owner invites dogsitters who think there’s no problem with leaving loud dogs out after 11 pm and before 7 pm. No problem if one lives out in Conway or Covington: it is a problem in a city.
The owners who left on weekends chose to debark the dog rather than board it in a kennel. They’re surprised the neighbors have ears, and astonished that the neighbors, also dog owners but responsible ones (the majority of dog owners I believe are responsible), would think their own property rights would mean anything.
“Goodbye, I’ll take care of the place while you’re gone,” “Hey, someone’s at the door!” are normal, reasonable canine communication. “Help I’m alone! I never go anyplace! I’m bored stiff! I’m wet and the pet door is locked and it’s night and I’ve been out for hours!” continually is NOT fair to the dog, if one can’t be bothered to think of the neighbors, at least think about the poor dog.
Motion-sensing lights, silent alarms don’t keep the neighbors up, nor irritate them to the point of eternal antipathy.
I believe dogs are only as smart as their owners, and with Great Dog Shoppe and PetCo nearby for dog training, there’s no excuse for the number of irresponsible and negligent dog owners to be as large as it is in Pinehurst.