Is the dog next door barking through the night, transforming you 'woof' by incessant 'woof' into a caffeine-starved insomniac with a bedroom sporting more sound-proofing than an LA recording studio?

Or are you the classic dog-lover, spending more time dressing up your pet(s) than you do catching up with family and friends?

Either way — or indeed if you fall somewhere in between — you will no doubt have an opinion on the City of Cape Town's 'Draft Animal By-Law'.

Amongst other things, this final version proposes that nobody may keep any dog which barks "more than six minutes in any hour or more than three minutes in any half hour", causing disturbance to neighbours (This ratio is said to be based on the laws used by the Brisbane City Council).

The burning question

The first question on the minds of dog owners and dog detesters alike is likely to be this: exactly how will this rule be enforced?

According to Councillor JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety & Security, this question can only be answered after taking a look at the "completely ludicrous" methods currently in place for dealing with complaints of this nature.

Smith says that the current process is "subjective" and "wastes hours of time" in the courts, often getting out of hand and snowballing into full-on wars between neighbours. He reveals that it can sometimes take years for a dispute to be settled, with some residents eventually resorting to selling their houses to put an end to the wrangle.

According to Smith, however, the new approach "introduces a measurable barometer" which will allow for speedier settlements and the freeing up of valuable court time.

So, back to the original question: how will the law be enforced? Well, Smith says that there will be three potential routes for annoyed residents to take.

The first would see a complaint directed to the city, after which an officer would be sent to sit in a vehicle outside the property to monitor (and time) the barking. Secondly, the complainant could provide a recording of the barking. Lastly, an affidavit stating that the amount of barking exceeds the prescribed maximum could be provided by the complainant.

The issue of resources

You're probably now questioning the thinking behind the deployment of officers in such cases, with the plethora of problems facing the city in potentially more serious areas. Surely they could be used elsewhere? To fight actual crime?

"I must emphasise that this is a complaints driven mechanism," Smith explains. "Law enforcement officers would never, ever, ever drive around actively looking for barking dogs."

And if you believe this problem is trivial, with far too much time and money being invested, Smith would probably urge you to think again. The councillor reports that at any one time as much as a quarter of complaints made to the City if Cape Town relate to dogs and nuisance behaviour.

Once the complaint has been verified, the dog owner will receive a warning. Should the problem persist, the officer is entitled to issue spot fines, which the owner can choose to contest in court. But with an objective measure in place and evidence of contravention, time spent in court would be substantially reduced. Ultimately, the city has the power to remove the dog from the property.

The fact remains that dogs bark for a reason. That reason could be negligent owners or indeed genuine threats to the property (raising the alarm, so to speak). Smith's point is that normal, happy dogs will not spend more than ten percent of their lives (six minutes being ten percent of an hour) barking.

So, if you've got a pooch in the back yard, perhaps you should dig up that old stopwatch and see how Fido fares on the proposed yapping scale… before your neighbour does.

Is this element of the Draft Animal By-law unfair on dog owners? Or is it high time something was done to make the complaints process more balanced? Comment below!
RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook
The beggar gauntlet Rebekah Kendal reckons that begging is bad for SA because it fosters a culture of dependency.
Visit our politics page SA President Jacob Zuma Need the latest political news, features, interviews and profiles? Visit our dedicated page...
Behind closed doors Percy Montgomery and his wife Rebekah Kendal reckons that the real losers in the Percy saga are victims of domestic abuse.