Barking dog fines up

You’ve likely at some point been annoyed by incessant dog barking, maybe a neighbour’s persistent pooch barking up a storm. The City of Hamilton is trying to come up with a better way to deal with the hundreds of dog barking complaints it receives each year. Repeat offenders can now be fined up to $25 000.

Last year the city received almost 600 dog barking complaints but laid no charges. They are trying to reduce the number of calls. An animal control officer, rather than a noise by law officer, will now be the first to pay the dog owner a visit, which means complaints are dealt with more quickly.

The officers will first try to educate owners and offer tips on how to get their pets to behave. If the owner doesn’t want to heed to the warnings then they will move forward with a charge. A first offense is a $75 fine but if that doesn’t solve the problem then noise bylaw kicks in and fines go up substantially.

Under this new system the fines will be issued in a way similar to a parking ticket. The officer will also check for a valid dog license and if the owner doesn’t have one there is a fine for that too.