Dogs are important household members to 37.3% of Australian households with 92% of them reporting that they feel very close to their pet. NP&P

While barking in domestic dogs is not only a natural but reasonable behaviour in pet dogs (Excess barking: a more complex problem than it would appear) it is also one of the largest sources of complaint to Local Authorities.

Moreover, excessive barking has the potential to impact negatively on neighbour relations and cause severe community disruption.

The causes and the effects of barking noise are many and varied and while some "watchdog" barking is generally valued by the community, excessive barking is not appreciated. (Barking Management)  Due to its multi-faceted nature, issues of excessive barking must be managed with multi-factorial strategies.  Unfortunately, due to the difficulty in managing barking noise little progress has been made to effectively address the problems.

The following papers, authored by experts in the field, seek to better understand the cause and effect of barking noise on communities and deliver methods that help address this complex issue.

A summary of suggested approaches

• Review current regulations to ensure that they are definitive, meaningful, and enforceable


• Invest in developing an accurate tool to measure the levels of barking noise


• Seek to find ways that regulators are able to objectively measure and apply the same noise standards across entire communities


• Develop strategies that involve prevention, education, mediation, regulation and enforcement


• Create efficient administration for prompt and cost effective service responses


• Create effective public awareness and education programs for barking minimisation


• Involve different stakeholder groups such as dog breeders, trainers, veterinarians etc to attain best practice bark management methods and outcomes


• Understanding the different variables of dog barking will help create more effective strategies


• Look to preventative measures and include identified stakeholders (community, dog owners, animal)


• Encourage sensible dog selection through education

Most barking problems can be resolved by skilful mediation and routine bark management protocols. 

In more difficult cases however, fair and even handed decisions can only be made when the assessment of the nuisance level is objectively defined.    In such cases, local government has little choice but to invest time, resources and seek community opinion in prescribing appropriate noise control standards.