OLDS — Technically, Olds residents who have dogs that bark to the point where neighbours complain about them can be fined and if that doesn’t work, the issue could eventually end up in Court of King’s Bench.
However, it likely won’t get to that point, Brent Williams, the town’s chief administrative officer, says.
During town council’s June 12 meeting, Williams said the town’s Community Standards Bylaw (CSB) now has provisions to deal with barking dogs that weren’t there before.
He said issues regarding barking dogs aren’t likely to go all the way to court, and even if they did, it would be the complainant who would have to go that route, not the town.
However, Williams suggested barking dogs and what to do about them is an issue council should take up later this year; likely in the fall.
Coun. Harvey Walsh raised the issue. He said someone had asked him about the provisions in the CSB and how the process works.
Walsh didn’t know for sure so he asked Williams.
Following are the relevant passages in the CSB.
“6.35 The owner of an animal shall ensure that such animal shall not excessively bark, howl, or otherwise make or cause excessive noise which disturbs any person and unreasonably interferes with that person’s peaceful enjoyment of his property.
“6.36 Whether or not any such barking, howling, or other such noise is excessive and unreasonably interferes with a person’s peaceful enjoyment of his property is a question of fact to be determined by a court hearing a prosecution pursuant to this bylaw.
“6.37 A peace officer may request a person complaining about an animal excessively barking, howling, or engaging in any other activity that causes noise to keep a log of all occurrences for a period specified by a peace officer.
“Any person complaining about an animal excessively barking, howling, or engaging in any other activity that causes noise, when requested shall submit a statement in writing to a peace officer and agree to give testimony in any court proceeding that may arise.”
Williams said the way the process works right now, anyone complaining about a barking dog is asked to keep track on a piece of paper the time and dates the offending dog has barked and about how long the barking lasted, then phone town officials with that information in about two weeks.
“Where it goes from there, that's probably what council needs to talk about at a future date,” he said.
Williams said dealing with vicious dogs is "fairly straightforward,” whereas “a barking dog is in fact not a criminal offence.”
He indicated that in the end, the issue boils down to the best way for community peace officers (CPOs) to serve the public most efficiently.
“I think for service level, we need to really decide, is it something that’s worth spending CPO time on? And if so, to what extent are we going to enforce it and then which level?”
"We would never take someone civilly to court for a nuisance dog. We would leave that up to the adjacent property owner if they wanted to do that,” Williams said.
"Right now, it’s a fee structure that would be escalated to a provincial ticket and then fought as needed in the courts. But it rarely escalates to that point, to be honest with you.”
Coun. Heather Ryan said the haziness around matters like barking dogs is one of the reasons she brought up the issue of dogs at large earlier.
But that’s not the only CSB issue that requires some discussion, Ryan indicated.
"There are a few others in the bylaw that are very difficult to enforce, and why have something in writing if it’s not enforceable? So certainly something we can have conversations (about) in the future,” she said.
