On Wednesday, June 12, 2024, at 1:00pm, the Delaware House Appropriations Committee will be considering a bill seeking to regulate barking dogs in the state.
Delaware residents are encouraged to contact the committee and express your concerns with House Bill 124. Scroll down for more information.
Bill Summary:
House Bill 124 would prohibit dogs from barking continuously for more than 15 minutes, or more than 30 minutes total in a day. In its original version, the bill provided very few exceptions to the prohibition. Although AKC was successful in working with the sponsor to include a number of exemptions to protect all dogs and their responsible owners, concerns remain.
While we greatly appreciate the exemptions, the bill continues to ignore the fact that dogs bark for many reasons not covered by the bill, which has the potential of making any dog owner in the state of Delaware subject to a complaint even if their dog is only barking outside for a limited time (for example, a dog barking outside for 10 minutes, 3 times a day would be in violation).
It also has the real potential of tying up Animal Control on trivial matters because someone is annoyed that their neighbor’s dog barks for 15 minutes instead of pursing real animal abuse. In addition it punishes responsible dog owners whose dogs may bark up to 30 minutes over the course of 24 hours.
Given the diversity of Delaware’s urban, suburban, and rural areas, this issue is best left up to individual jurisdictions to decide what, if any, law relative to barking dogs is needed for their community and how it should be enforced. We continue to express our believe that this bill seeks to make barking dogs, a nuisance issue, a state matter and does little to protect dogs.
What you can do:
Contact the members of the House Appropriations Committee (click on members’ names for contact information) and ask that that they opposes the bill it should not be advanced to the full House. Respectfully let them know that you agree no one should be subjected to extended periods of continuous barking; however, this legislation in its current form does not protect dogs nor their responsible owners, including those engaged in lawful activities nor individual situations.
Submit Public Committee to the Committee: Accepted in advance of the committee meeting and by 4:00 pm Thursday, June 13, 2024, via email to HouseCommitteeComment@delaware.gov
Provide Oral Testimony: Attend the hearing in-person, or via Zoom by registering here. The hearing will be held in the Joint Finance Hearing Room, Ground floor, south side of Legislative Hall across the hall from the Division of Research Legislative Library at 1:00pm on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.
Information on the hearing can be found here.
AKC Government Relations continues to monitor legislation in Delaware impacting dog owners. For questions or more information, contact AKC GR at doglaw@akc.org.