We (the County of Los Angeles Department of Animal Care and Control) can only accept and process animal noise complaints—including barking dog complaints—from residents of our service area. We provide service to all unincorporated (non-city) areas of Los Angeles County as well as to a number of contracted cities.
The City of Los Angeles is not serviced by our agency (except for small unincorporated areas surrounded by or adjacent to the city). If our agency does not serve your city, we cannot accept your complaint request. Our agency does not have the legal authority to conduct animal noise abatement proceedings outside our service area.
We understand that continuous noise caused by animals ( dogs, roosters, etc.) can adversely affect quality of life, and we are dedicated to helping to resolve such situations.
The following areas handle their own barking dog complaints:
- Commerce
- Covina City
- Culver City
- Duarte City
- El Monte
- Gardena
- Huntington Park
- La Puente
- Lancaster City
- Lawndale
- Palos Verdes Estates
- Redondo Beach
- Rolling Hills
- Torrance City
- West Hollywood
- Whittier City
Before continuing, please click the Animal Care Centers button to ensure that we service your area.
Animal Noise Complaint Process
It is required that the following steps be followed for animal noise complaints:
1. Submit your complaint
Submit your complaint, either by visiting any of our Animal Care Centers, by completing the form found below, or by calling our Communication Center.
2. A courtesy letter will be sent
The animal care center staff will send a courtesy letter to the resident (and to you) notifying both parties of the complaint and the need to resolve the situation. In some cases the letter will make the owner aware of the issue and resolve it. When it does not, the complaining party should submit a sworn affidavit to initiate further action.
3. Affidavit requirement
An affidavit will be included with the letter to the complaining party. If the noise issue has not resolved or lessened soon after the receipt of the letter, please completely fill out the affidavit, sign it, and send it via U.S. Mail to the address shown in the letter or deliver to any Department Animal Care Center near you. Please be aware that we must receive a signed original affidavit within 30 days of the original complaint date. Copies, faxes, scanned documents, or those that lack either a signature or verifiable information regarding the excessive noise, cannot be acted upon.
4. Officer issues warning
Once we receive the sworn affidavit, an officer will be dispatched to the animal owner’s address and speak to the person responsible for the animal(s). The Officer will issue a Warning of Excess Noise form (WEN).
5. Ten days to reduce the noise
Once the WEN has been issued to the animal owners, they have ten (10) days to reduce the noise.
6. Administrative Citation
If the excessive noise continues beyond the ten-day period, the complaining party can provide the Department with some evidence of the continuing excessive noise. With evidence to support the complaint we can re-contact the responsible person and issue an administrative citation that results in a fine that must be paid within 30 days. The first offense has a civil penalty of $100. If the responsible party fails to correct the noise each complaint may result in additional administrative citations with penalties increasing on a progressive scale to $500 for each occurrence.
For additional information on this process, or, if you have received a courtesy letter stating that a complaint was made against your animals please click on these links:
Visit Administrative Citation Page
Suggestions to reduce animal noise
