Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

dog barking

I have 2 beagles who live inside and

go out in my fenced in yard just to go

to the bathroom and run around for

a short amount of time during the

day. Mostly this happens during the

weekend. My neighbor came over

today (I've never met them) and told

me my dogs are driving them crazy

and that he has children (one with

cancer) that need to take naps. He

said he's a lawyer and that he paid

$400,000 for his house and doesn't

live in a trailer park. LOL! I just

looked at him like he was crazy! My

dogs only bark if they see another

dog or a person running. They are

not barking excessively. They are

house dogs who are at the moment

sleeping on me on the couch as I

type this. He said ''I'll see you in

court...'' What probable evidence

does he have to do this? He's never

even called the police on my dogs. I

tried doing a search on Virginia Law

and couldn't find either a noise

ordinance or a law on dog barking in

my town of Radford. What should I

do?? My dogs may be out for 2

hours at most on the weekends and

when let out to use the bathroom,

they're out for 10 minutes where

they may bark. I've never had to

deal with this in New Jersey... lol!


Asked on 5/04/08, 10:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: dog barking

Your neighbor who claims to be a lawyer might try to file an action in the general district court declaring the dogs to be a private nuisance for which you could be fined, if the court were to agree with him.

However, in the meantime, it would seem that there's nothing much for you to do until(and if) you're served with court papers. If such occurs, you might then wish to consult with an attorney to determine how best to defend against this action

brought against you for harboring a private nuisance--or whatever the charge may be.

Read more
Answered on 5/04/08, 11:45 pm


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