Code Enforcement Corner

It’s Time to Talk About Dog Poop

While the herbivorous cows’ manure is a good fertilizer, dog feces is not as innocent as its counterpart often containing harmful bacteria like: ringworms, E. coli, and parvovirus. When we don’t pick up after our pets, it leaves neighboring pups, cats, and even humans, atrisk to illness from the festering pet poo. While the problem of not “Picking up after your pet,” is often associated to cities, our animal’s droppings can cause even further-reaching damage to surrounding farmlands.

One study conducted in 2022 over an 18-month period in Belgium, found that animal excrement and urine beside walking paths created levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, “[…] levels that could be illegal on farmlands,” ultimately reducing biodiversity, and polluting crops, plants, and wildlife. In the study, once owners removed their pet’s feces, the negative effects of phosphorous were nearly gone – however – on sensitive-soil like farmland and nature reserves, unless pets were completely banned, the damage of nitrogen (from animal urine) remained within the soil, even after a temporary, site-specific, “pet-ban,” for almost three years, continuing to harm surrounding wildlife (birds, insects) and plants/crops long after the pet potty was first discharged.

What about Dayton? City Municipal Code, Section 5.2.6.C states: that any person who keeps, possesses, or otherwise maintains an animal shall not allow the accumulation of raw or untreated animal waste which creates an offensive odor to occur upon any property, whether public or private, or attracts insects or vermin to such property. Violations of this section of the code are a Class C Violation and are subject to a fine of $100.00 per day.

Barking Dog ‘Ruff’ on the Ears?

Banishing your barking pet to the backyard may make you feel better, but it’s not the best long-term solution for your dog, neighbors, or self. Typically, our furry friends bark for any multitude of reasons, including categories like: territorial, social-anxiety, alarm, greeting, attention-seeking, and even illness/injury barking. The first step in resolving your pet’s excessive noisiness is to understand why your pooch is yapping. According to ASPCA and VCA, several techniques owners should consider are, “Quiet Training” which teaches the pup to bark on command, rewarding the dog with a hush/quiet command, and ignoring the barking (yelling at your dog when it’s barking only increases the dog’s anxiety and confusion). Dogs bark less with sufficient enrichment toys, schedule/routine in their day, and rewards for positive behaviors.

But what if the barking doesn’t stop? Dependent on the underlying cause of their barking, some training or alterations may remedy, like: crate training ‘positive-confinement,’ keeping the pup indoors with its trigger stimuli (like cars, other dogs, lights, etc.) out of sight and soft music or television playing (with ample toys to stay occupied), keeping the dog on a looser tether outdoors, installing a doggy-door, socializing it with other hounds, Desensitizing and Counterconditioning (gradual exposure to stimuli paired with rewards), and more. Never: reward barking (an owner’s eye contact, petting, or even yelling can be internalized by their dog as a ‘reward’), use punishment techniques without first speaking with a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist or Vet (even bark-activated collars are frequently ineffective unless utilized with instructions from a specialist, and only when the owner is nearby), muzzle your pet (it does not allow them to drink water or pant to cool themselves down).

If you are not a pet-owner, or have your own pack of four-legged friends but are frequently bothered by a nearby neighbor’s furry companion, and a direct, respectful discussion with your neighbor is unsuccessful, then understanding local and state laws is the next step when settling animalrelated disputes. The City of Dayton can provide a brochure for you and two other neighbors to fill out, and the Code Enforcement Officer or a Yamhill County Deputy will issue a citation to the owner of the dog. The dog’s owner will be required to appear in Court to enter a plea. If the barking dog’s owner fails to appear on his or her appointed date, the Court can impose the maximum fine.

The Dayton Municipal Code defines “Excessive Noise” in regards to animals as “the keeping of any bird or animal which by causing frequent or long-continued noise shall disturb the comfort and repose of any person in the vicinity.”

The Dayton Municipal Code also states in section 5.2.6:

1. No animal shall run at large within the city limits upon any public street, right-of-way or other public place, or trespass upon private property not owned or controlled by the owner or keeper of such animal. A dog, or dogs, under the control of a law enforcement agency or its authorized representative or agent may be exercised or utilized in the performance of their duties as police dogs without being on a leash, tether, or any other restrictive device and shall not be considered as running at large.

2. No domestic animal shall: a) Make excessive or unreasonable noise in such a manner as to disturb or annoy any person or deprive any person of peace and quiet, other than the owner or keeper of such animal; b) Cause injury to a person, animal, or property, or show a propensity to cause injury to persons, animals, or property; c) Chase persons or vehicles; d) Chase, injure or kill an animal belonging to a person other than the owner or keeper of the offending animal; e) Damage property belonging to a person other than the animal's owner or keeper.

Please feel free to reach out to me at jshirley@daytonoregon.gov if you have any questions regarding this information. Code enforcement complaints can be submitted on the city’s website or smart phone app.

Jason Shirley, Code Enforcement Officer

Journal of Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 2022 The Guardian Reed, Betsy “Deluge of dog pee and poo harming nature reserves, study suggests,” 2022

VCA Animal Hospitals Debra Horwitz, DVM, DACVB & Gary Landsberg, DVM, DACVB, DECAWBM “Barking in Dogs,” n.d.

ASPCA Common Dog Behavior Issues “Barking,” 2023