Barking is one of the many ways dogs communicate and it's absurd to pretend they don't. However, if the barking is constant or occurs at night, a neighbor may complain about excessive noise. Receiving this type of complaint is, without a doubt, unpleasant for any guardian of one or several dogs, but if the neighbors (or another person) also decide to file a complaint, the situation becomes more complicated.
If this has happened to you and you don't know what to do, in this article on our site we explain everything you need to know about the dog barking laws in Spain and how you should act in these cases. If you have been reported because your dog barks, read on!
Law on dog barking in Spain
No matter how hard we search, we will not find any law that speaks specifically about the level of noise allowed in case we have a dog with a tendency to bark, but there are laws that protect, among other things, the right to rest of the neighbors and that can be applied to the annoyances generated by pet animals.
Law 49/1960, of July 21, on Horizontal Property
This law specifies that the occupant of a property or premises may not carry out any activity that is explicitly prohibited in the statutes of their community, that may damage the property or that is harmful, annoying, unhe althy or dangerous for the neighbors, since it would be violating their rights.
In this case, the barking of one or several dogs would be considered a "nuisance activity" and the neighbors could take advantage of this law at the time of denouncing, alleging that the excess of noise causes them moral damages. Of course, together with said complaint proof will have to be provided and it must be validated by the competent authorities.
Municipal ordinances
Each city council approves municipal ordinances that include, among other things, the pen alties for noise pollution. In each municipality there are regulations regarding the timetables in which more or less noise can be legally made, as well as the number of decibels allowed
If the noise generated by the barking of a dog violates the municipal ordinance, the guardian of the animal could be fined by the city council.
Can I be reported if my dog barks?
Yes, there are currently sufficient regulations so that a person can legally file a complaint if they are bothered by the noise caused by barking of one or more dogs. Now, in order for this complaint to be taken into account, it must be shown that the barking is really a problem and causes moral or physical harm to the plaintiff. This means that you should not worry if your dog occasionally barks, as this is understood to be his natural way of expressing himself and neither the animal nor his guardian should be punished for it.
If the dog constantly barks, over several consecutive days and/or does it during the night, yes can be cause for complaint However, the correct way to proceed by the affected party would be to contact you directly to express their complaints and ask you to do something about it, instead of going directly to the police or suing you in court. Unfortunately, not everyone acts like this, so it's important to know what can happen if you get reported for your dog's barking.
What do I do if I have been reported because my dog barks?
As we mentioned in the previous section, the first step if your dog is a nuisance to a neighbor would be talk directly to the affected personand clarify things face to face.
In most cases, a dog barks, cries or howls when left home alone, either because it suffers from separation anxiety, because it reacts to certain stimuli (people passing by street, for example) or because he is bored, stressed and/or frustrated. On many occasions, the animal's guardian is not even aware of his dog's behavior, so he does nothing about it until he receives complaints from someone else. This type of situation can be solved (we recommend always doing it with professional help), so if you kindly expose the case to your neighbor, it is likely that he will come to his senses and be more patient and empathic.
If he decides to report you anyway, you should know that he can do it in two ways:
- Police report Filing a report by calling the police when the dog's barking is annoying is the most common way to proceed, especially if the dialogue has not been fruitful. In this case, the police can come to your house to measure the decibels that your dog or dogs generate with their barks or to check if they are an obvious nuisance. More often than not, agents will give you a simple notice and ask you to fix the noise problem. However, if the complaints are recurrent, they can end up fining you. The amount of the pen alty will depend on the municipal ordinance of the place where you live, but it is usually around 300 euros.
- Complaint in court The lawsuit is the hardest action that can be taken in this situation and involves holding a trial to clarify the facts, so it is a procedure that can take a long time. In this case, a judge will determine, through evidence and testimony, if the dog's barking is really a problem and will issue a sentence, which, if it is favorable to the complainant, can range from a financial pen alty to deprivation of use. housing or keeping animals in the most serious cases.
In any case, if the complaint of one of your neighbors has helped you to detect a problem in your dog when he is alone, we recommend that you try to solve it for the welfare of the animal. Preventing a dog from barking when he is alone is not always easy, especially when this fact is unknown, but we can always contact a professional to help us solve the problem and thus make our dog calmer. Of course, it's also important to check the number of hours you spend alone, since perhaps the problem is that there are too many of them.
