Straight answer
Scottsdale's barking rule is City Code Sec. 4-17(C): no person may knowingly keep an animal that by frequent or habitual barking annoys a neighborhood or two or more people. There is no fixed minute threshold. The city leads with education and warnings, plus free mediation; HOAs enforce their own CC&Rs separately.
Your neighbor's dog has been barking for an hour. Or the warning letter on your door says your dog is the problem. Either way, the night you want back is the quiet one. You need the real rules for Scottsdale, not the rumor version: what the city code actually says, what your HOA can actually do, and how to fix the barking itself. For the training framework behind the fix, see our methodology.
Who this is for: Scottsdale Pet Parents dealing with a barking complaint (as the neighbor or the dog owner), or anyone in an HOA wondering what the association can legally enforce.
On this page
Scottsdale City Code Sec. 4-17(C) bans keeping an animal that barks frequently or habitually enough to disturb a neighborhood or two or more people.
The exact language: "No person shall knowingly keep or harbor any animal or fowl which by frequent or habitual howling, yelping, barking, crowing or the making of other noises shall annoy or disturb a neighborhood or any two (2) or more persons, one (1) of which may be a police officer or an animal control officer." The city's own nuisance-animal door hanger quotes this section verbatim, so this is the text officers enforce, not a summary.
Two things to notice. It says "knowingly keep or harbor": you cannot violate it for a barking episode you did not know about. And it is a pattern standard, which is the subject of the next item.
No. Scottsdale's code names no minute count, no decibel level, and no quiet hours for barking.
This matters because the myth version of the law ("10 minutes and you're cited") does not exist in the text. The standard is "frequent or habitual." A dog that barks at the mail carrier every day for an hour is a different case from a dog that loses it for five minutes when the doorbell rings.
If you are the complainant, document a pattern: dates, times, and duration over days or weeks. If you are the dog owner, occasional alert barking at real triggers is not what the ordinance targets.
Scottsdale police enforce it, and city policy leads with education and warnings before citations.
Department field orders say it plainly: work with pet owners and complainants through education and warnings first, enforcement when necessary. Repeated calls get follow-up from district community officers.
One practical detail: file a barking complaint online through ScottsdaleEZ and it is routed for office-hours follow-up, not an automatic police dispatch. If you want an officer response, call the non-emergency line at 480-312-5000. Callers who refuse to give their name get the information portal, not a dispatch.
Scottsdale publishes no fixed fine schedule for barking. Anyone quoting you a number is guessing.
We could not verify a barking-specific fine table in the city code or court materials, and we will not invent one. What is verifiable: code violations are adjudicated through Scottsdale City Court, and the city's door-hanger process is a warning ("Nuisance Animal Warning") before anything formal. If you are cited, the citation states the charge and the court process. Treat secondhand fine quotes as guesses until you verify the current code text.
Your first step
Start with a PD360 Assessment: a senior trainer reads the barking through the behavior chain and matches the case to the right route, Behavior Camp for the anxious or reactive barker, Group Classes to proof the quiet settle against staged triggers. Assessment before program, always.
Follow the city's order: talk first, document, then file.
The process that actually works:
File without documentation and you will be routed back to these steps. The log is the engine. A complaint without a log is like an invoice with no line items: there is nothing for anyone to adjudicate.
Maricopa County Ordinance P-6 applies only to unincorporated areas. Inside Scottsdale city limits, the city code governs.
County Ordinance P-6, the Regulation of Barking Dogs (adopted 1992, effective 1993), makes it unlawful to permit a dog to bark excessively, but its text is explicit: unincorporated areas only. On a complaint, the County Enforcement Agent investigates and recommends a mediator.
Parts of the Valley around Cave Creek and North Scottsdale sit in county islands or unincorporated pockets. If your address is not inside a city, the county rule and Maricopa County Animal Care and Control (602-506-7387) are your process. Confirm your street's jurisdiction before you file.
Yes, and the HOA's rules are separate from the city's. What your HOA can do depends entirely on its CC&Rs. If your HOA is running a process in parallel with a city complaint, the two tracks are separate.
Arizona community-association law firm Mulcahy Law Firm describes the sequence: if the documents contain a nuisance provision, the HOA sends a warning letter. If the owner ignores it, the association can impose a reasonable fine, but only after notice and an opportunity to be heard.
The honest version, in three lines:
We do not publish example HOA rules. Scottsdale has hundreds of associations with wildly different pet rules. Pull your CC&Rs, the rules and regulations, and any fine schedule, and read the nuisance and pet sections. That document is your actual rulebook.
The city says nothing about breed or weight. Those restrictions come only from your HOA's documents.
Sec. 4-17(C) targets noise behavior, not breeds. No breed list, no weight cap, no size threshold in the barking section. If your HOA restricts breeds or sets a weight limit, that rule lives in your CC&Rs or community rules, and it varies association by association.
A neighbor can dislike your dog's breed all day; neither the city nor your HOA can act on dislike alone. The city acts on the barking pattern. Your HOA acts on its governing documents. Check both, separately.
The law sets the floor. Your CC&Rs set the ceiling. Read both before you argue about either.
Fix the cause, not the noise. Barking is an output; the plan targets what produces it.
Barking that violates an ordinance is a pattern the dog has rehearsed for weeks or months. The fix runs the same framework we use for every behavior case:
Definition: the four phases. Teach > Reinforce > Proof > Maintain. We teach the dog, then we teach you. Every targeted behavior is tracked across the phases in the PD360.
For the deep version of this protocol, our companion piece on fixing excessive barking walks the full method. If the barking has a reactive or aggressive edge, start with our reactive dog training guide.
| Myth | Fact |
|---|---|
| "Scottsdale has a 10-minute barking rule." | No minute threshold exists in Sec. 4-17(C). The standard is "frequent or habitual." |
| "My HOA can fine me on the first complaint." | Arizona HOA practice requires a nuisance provision, a warning letter, and notice plus an opportunity to be heard before a fine. |
| "The city seizes dogs on the first complaint." | City policy leads with education and warnings; the door-hanger process is literally called a "Nuisance Animal Warning." |
| "County animal control handles Scottsdale barking." | Maricopa County's P-6 covers unincorporated areas only. Inside city limits, Scottsdale PD and the city process apply. |
| "Bark collars fix it fastest." | Suppression without an alternative leaves the trigger, the chemicals, and the pattern intact. Train the alternative first. |
Key takeaways
Scottsdale City Code Sec. 4-17(C) says no person may knowingly keep an animal that by frequent or habitual barking, howling, or other noise annoys a neighborhood or two or more people. It is a pattern standard, not a one-time-event rule, and the city leads with education and warnings, plus free mediation, before enforcement.
There is no minute count in the code. "Frequent or habitual" is the test, so a log showing dates, times, and durations over days or weeks is what matters. Occasional alert barking at real triggers is not what Sec. 4-17(C) targets.
Talk to your neighbor first, then keep a written log of dates and times. File online through ScottsdaleEZ for office-hours follow-up, or call Scottsdale Police non-emergency at 480-312-5000 for an officer response. The city also offers free mediation at 480-312-2835.
Only if your CC&Rs give it that power. Arizona HOA practice requires a nuisance provision in the documents, a warning letter, and notice plus an opportunity to be heard before any fine. Read your CC&Rs and fine schedule; no two associations are alike.
Start with a PD360 Assessment at Partners Dogs. A senior trainer evaluates your dog across nine dimensions, screens for medic factors, reads the behavior chain behind the barking, and builds a phased plan. Book at either the Scottsdale or Cave Creek campus.
The ordinance tells you where the legal line is. Your CC&Rs tell you where your HOA's line is. Training keeps your dog on the right side of both. If the barking has already drawn a complaint or a warning, the fastest move is the assessment: a senior trainer reads your dog and gives you a plan with a timeline.
Route by fit
Start with a PD360 Assessment: a senior trainer reads the barking through the behavior chain and matches the case to the right route, Behavior Camp for the anxious or reactive barker, Group Classes to proof the quiet settle against staged triggers. Assessment before program, always.
Scottsdale: 8642 E Shea Blvd, 85260. Cave Creek: 4640 E Forest Pleasant Pl, 85331. Serving the Phoenix Valley.