Three minutes of a dog barking at night is enough to land Darwin pet owners in the crosshairs of a formal investigation, under a new rule passed this week.

Key points: Owners of barking dogs will face stricter regulations under new City of Darwin Council rules

Owners of barking dogs will face stricter regulations under new City of Darwin Council rules No more than four dogs will be allowed to be registered on a single Darwin property under the new rules

No more than four dogs will be allowed to be registered on a single Darwin property under the new rules The decision has sparked debate on social media

In a bid to clamp down on nuisance barking, the City of Darwin Council has set the limit to three minutes at night or six during the day.

After that, residents can call on the council to investigate the noise.

But at the meeting last night, the council also set out certain exemptions to the stricter rules — if there are uninvited persons on the premises, emergency sirens, storms, mail delivery, during times of peak foot traffic like school drop-off or home time and, in good news for Territory Day revellers, fireworks.

The council has been contacted for further information — such as what penalties may apply for dog owners under the new rule — but it has not yet responded.

Under previous rules, after attempting to work through the matter with dog owners, rangers could impound problem dogs and euthanase them under certain circumstances.

The City of Darwin Council has also moved to reduce the number of animals a resident can have on their property.

Previously, people could register up to five dogs and an unspecified number of cats.

Under the new plan, the total number of animals on one property will be capped at four.

Dog owners will also be officially allowed to exercise their dogs off-leash on council ovals, which council said many were doing anyway.

But that will not extend to Gardens Oval and Nightcliff Oval, which are regularly used for organised sports.

'Why are the dogs barking?'

Lisa Hansen from animal welfare organisation PAWS told ABC Radio Darwin if a dog was barking consistently, it was usually an indicator that something was wrong.

"Most of our dogs come from the pound," she said.

"I think there are plenty of people out there who have a teenage dog who is a barker or a nuisance [with] no training, so they just get left behind when they get to the pound.

"We have successfully run barking seminars.

"We work through the causes first — why are the dogs barking, when are the dogs barking, what are the things we can do to prevent [it]?

"I think we feel that if our dogs are not allowed to bark, [they] … won't bark if somebody comes over the fence. But that's not actually the truth because most dogs know when something is wrong, and so if they know that something's wrong, they're going to bark.

"I think three minutes is a long time. I've had a fair bit to do with the council and nobody wants to take away anybody's dogs. But what they do want to do is make sure those complaints and things are dealt with amicably."

'Try being a shift worker'

The new plan has fired up social media, with hundreds of people reacting the day after council passed the plan.

"It is always a tricky area, but hopefully it will make people a bit more responsible for their dogs. No-one should have their peace broken by a continuous barking dog." — Carol Phayer

"I'm happy for a dog to bark for intruders or people loitering, but continuously barking at neighbours is not on!" — Andrea Friend

"Dogs barking all day while the owners are at work … try being a shift worker who needs to sleep." — Janet Elson

"Maybe easy revenue raising?? How about they do something to stop the antisocial behaviour that leads to dogs barking instead?" — Jenny Young

"Stop the locals walking up the street in the middle of the night and the dogs will not bark! My dog will protect my property, however much barking that takes!" — Sarah Acornley