Thursday, November 10, 2011

Barking up a Strom

There are changes being made in Los Angeles that may inspire changes throughout Southern California.  Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, November 1st, to enhance the city's dog barking law with a new ordinance that would impose fines for excessive dog barking.
The old ordinance was last amended about 20 years ago, and as it was, it was stalling city action.  This ordinance did not reprimand residents who did not have their dog licensed nor did it come with fines, essentially rewarding those who were not abiding the law.
With this new ordinance, dog owners would be looking at a starting fine of $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second offense, and $1,000 for the third strike if a hearing held by the Department of Animal Services determined that their dog barks too much.  According to the Los Angeles Times, this new ordinance also gives animal service officials more power in dealing with owners of unlicensed dogs.  These fines will be imposed regardless of whether or not the dogs are licensed by the city.

“Excessive barking” is going to be more clearly defined for authorities.   Assistant City Attorney Dov Lesel said, “A dog's barking would be considered excessive if it continued for 10 minutes or more, or intermittently for 30 minutes or more within a three-hour period.”
This new law is met with mixed emotions.  Some do not believe this law will be enforced any more than it was before, despite the changes, while others are grateful and hopeful that it will make a difference.  Some officials worry that this might negatively impact the neighborhoods that own dogs as a crime deterrent, and are concerned that the fines may be too steep.  General Manager of the Animal Services Department, Brenda Barnette, believes the fines are reasonable and says that dog owners would have time to fix the problem before a fine would be imposed.

"If a dog hears somebody or something and barks, that's a good thing. That's a warning," Barnette says. "If a dog just stays out and barks and barks, that's really not reasonable."
If this was news in your immediate city would you be worried that you might be facing a fine very soon? Excessive barking is not a normal part of being a dog.  It’s a habit formed from anxiety, be it from loneliness, boredom, or frustration.  Dogs are very social and they need a lot of exercise, attention, and stimulation.  If you ignore them or confined them all day, with no way to get out their energy, they will become a behavioral nightmare.
Keep in mind, not all barking is bad.  Dogs use barking to communicate with us.  But if your dog has learned that barking is the only way to get attention, then he might abuse the power (because negative attention is better than no attention).  If your dog has an excessive barking problem, look into the options available to help you change your dog’s bad barking habits into good barking habits.

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