Debate Erupts Over Delaware's Excessive Dog Barking Regulations

(KHLA - Lake Charles, Louisiana) - A new state law in Delaware will start fining dog owners if their pet excessively barks. Is Louisiana next?

Photo by Lukasz Szramuk on Unsplash

In fact, they're considering "excessive barking" to be 15 minutes of continuous noise. Is that really excessive or is it that this law is being excessive?

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The new law even says that an owner can be fined if their dog barks, howls, or whines intermittently for 30 minutes or more. How many minutes between noises can be considered "intermittently"? As a dog owner, this really has me fired up.

Dogs are great companions, but they're also great protectors. Dogs have a sense when something isn't right and they will alert their pack (their human family) that something needs to be investigated. Maybe it's a sketchy person walking back and forth in front of the house, maybe it's another animal that could mean harm to your family, etc... Most people have dogs not only for the pets and the licks, but they have them to be alerted when something could be seen as a threat being announced with barking.

What does this mean for Louisiana? A lot of times when a state is the first to pass a different kind of law, other states will copycat the law. However, I don't believe Louisiana will be one of those states. Dogs are too important to our culture.

Louisiana residents not only use dogs on their farms to protect and guide livestock, but we also own them to help us hunt, and protect our families. Dogs are a valued member of society here in the Bayou State.

Photo by Chewy on Unsplash

The majority of people in Louisiana don't mind hearing their neighbor's dogs bark, because they know their dogs will too. They know that their neighbor's dog is doing the exact same as their dog, protecting their family and alerting their pack to things they believe pose a risk to their pack.

There are several exemptions to the law which you can hear in the video below.