Tensions over barking dog complaints came to a head on Monday during a Latrobe City Council meeting, as frustrated resident Karen Blomquist lamented the noise coming from her dog breeder neighbour’s property.

“Have you had one barking dog in your neighborhood that has affected you?” Blomquist asked the councillors. “Well, try five.”

Gayle Knowles, who lives next door to Blomquist, is a registered Australian Shepherd breeder. 

Limit on cats and dogs

In Latrobe the total number of cats and dogs must not exceed five within one property in a residential zone. 

Knowles has recently applied for a Domestic Animal Husbandry permit, which would allow her to continue breeding and house more than five dogs at her residential property.

It was this application that led Blomquist to urge the council to deny the permit. A two-week recorded log indicating all of the times that barking had allegedly occurred was also submitted.

“It’s morning and night - it grinds at us,” she said, adding that guests at her home often ask how she tolerates the barking.

While Knowles argued her dogs are part of her social life and only occasionally bark, neighbors disagreed. 

One of them, Mick Werrick, pointed to multiple breaches of council regulations he alleged were occurring on Knowles’ property – outlined by an officer’s report. The officer’s report detailed that Knowles wouldn’t be able to meet the EPA guidelines due to there not being enough distance between the properties.

What’s good for the goose …

Knowles stated in her submission to council that other properties in similar zoning had been granted permits and said complaints made were not accurate.

Latrobe Shire Mayor, Dale Herriman, who has two labradors, told the Gippsland Monitor that complaints about dogs should be judged on a case-by-case basis.

He added that “if you’re going to be looking at breeding dogs, you need to move to a rural or a farmland setting”.