A prize-winning grandmother has been given an ASBO and ordered to get rid of two of her Crufts winning Pointer dogs following neighbour’s complaints about their barking.
64 year old Trisha Eldridge of Anstey, Leicester has bred Pointer dogs for over twenty years from her home, but following complaints from her neighbours about her dogs barking, the part time secondary school teacher has been taken to court and ordered to find new home for two of her Crufts winning dogs.
Mrs Eldridge said she is devastated over having to re-home prize-winning 18 month old Beryl and four year old Song, but if she doesn’t comply she could be jailed. Her dogs have won prizes all over the country and Mrs Eldridge commented:
“I’m absolutely furious, especially as I have done everything I can to deal with the problem. The dogs very rarely bark and my next-door neighbour says they don’t disturb him.”
Mrs Eldridge was given an abatement notice in March of last year from the Charnwood Borough Council’s environmental health team and this was followed with a more serious acceptable behaviour contract two months later. The number of dogs was reduced to just five and they were given anti barking collars, but the complaints continued and this resulted in a prosecution for breaching the abatement notice in February this year. The council then applied for an ASBO, which was granted last week by Loughborough Magistrates Court.
The ASBO states that Mrs Eldridge is now allowed to keep just two dogs in the back garden and a third dog in the house for the next two years. A further breach of this ABSO could mean an unlimited fine or even a custodial sentence.
Alan Twells, Charnwood Borough Council’s Head of Environmental Health, said: “It is good news for the residents of the neighbouring properties, who can hopefully at last have some peace and quiet.”
Barking dogs can be a real nuisance for neighbours and if puppies or young dogs are allowed to bark freely or left outside unattended then it is much more difficult to correct this behaviour when they are older.
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