KENILWORTH – The maximum number of dogs that can be housed on agricultural land in Wellington North without registration has been reduced to five from the 10 previously allowed.
The change follows two July reports from township clerk Karren Wallace.
She wrote on July 10 that the township’s animal control officer opined agriculturally-zoned properties over 25 acres should have fewer dogs allowed.
“Owning 10 dogs that are family pets is excessive and leads to misinterpretation as to whether a kennel is in operation, or just ‘pets’ that continue to get pregnant and their litters are ‘given away,’” Wallace wrote.
Councillors raised concerns over how a new limit would affect farmers using livestock guardian dogs, which are bred to protect livestock such as sheep from predators.
Another report from Wallace, presented on July 24, recommended an exception for up to 10 registered livestock guardian dogs, so long as each condition on a list of 10 criteria, such as having a farm business registration number and allowing an annual inspection, can be met to register the canines.
“Our animal control officer would do the inspection to ensure there are only the number of dogs on the premises to which the exemption applies, that there are livestock present,” Wallace wrote in an email to the Community News.
Anyone wanting more than 10 dogs must apply for a kennel license, which requires that council grant a zoning bylaw amendment to permit a kennel.
Kennels are only permitted in Wellington North on at least 25 acres of rural property.
According to Wallace’s July 10 report, one person in Wellington North has licensed 10 dogs, another has nine, another has eight, and two people have six licensed dogs each.
Those owners will be “grandfathered in” despite the rules, a provision in the new bylaw states.
The number of dogs for everyone else in the township without a kennel license and not living on rural property is limited to three, according to Wallace.
At last week’s council meeting, councillor Lisa Hern proposed removing a $20 licensing fee when it came to livestock guardian dogs, but council voted the proposed amendment down and it did not pass.
In addition to the new limit of dogs on rural properties, dangerous/potentially dangerous dog designations have been removed from township’s canine control bylaw and separated into a separate bylaw, also passed last week.
The new dangerous dog bylaw gives more leeway to the township’s animal control officer in determining whether a dog is deemed dangerous and subject to conditions.
“Previously the dog licensing and dangerous dog bylaw was contained in one document, making it unwieldy,” Wallace explained of the change in an email.
