Barking Dog Complaint: ‘Just Give Me The Ticket And Tell Me Who I Sue’

Police say a 42-year-old New Canaan woman became “very defensive” when they followed up on a barking dog complaint at home on Spring Water Lane recently, telling an Animal Control officer trying to resolve the problem, “Just give me the ticket and tell me who I sue,” according to an incident report.

The woman, and a man who owns and resides at the house, appear to be breeding and selling English Springer Spaniel puppies, and the New Canaan Police Department’s inquiry into the noise complaints started at about 2 p.m. on July 9 (a Thursday), according to the report.

That’s when a next-door neighbor phoned Animal Control “stating that there are small dogs barking all day long and are brought in about 2 p.m. every day,” according to a police report. The neighbor told Animal Control that the dogs “are left out in a crate and it doesn’t look like it has any covering,” the report said.

The following day, Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt investigated the report, and on that initial visit saw no dogs outside and heard no barking.

“The area was fenced and it was not a crate situation but I was unable to see if any part of the fenced area was covered,” Kleinschmitt wrote in the report. “I checked the licensing list and found two Spring Spaniels licensed to [the man who owns the house].”

About two weeks later, on July 24, a second complaint came in from a man who told police he could hear “yappy little dogs and they had been barking for over an hour,” according to the incident report.

Kleinschmitt said in the report that she could hear the dogs barking in the background while they spoke on the phone. The man–who, according to tax records, lives about 10 houses away, on Indian Waters Drive— gave Kleinschmitt the address from where he thought the noise was emanating, the report said.

Two hours later, Kleinschmitt said she went to Spring Water Lane, to the same address that the first neighbor had complained about, and “found four dogs” and a local woman. The woman initially was defensive, according to Kleinschmitt.

“At that point I told [the woman] that I was not there to argue with her but to help her,” the incident report said. “I then found out that the puppies are five months old and that she is going to sell them. When I suggested that when the puppies start barking to bring them in, [the woman] stated, ‘They bark too much so I put them outside.’ ”

Kleinschmitt said she later discovered that the woman and man who owns the house on Spring Water Lane breed Springer Spaniels and plan to breed the female again.

The Animal Control officer recommended a citronella barking collar for the dog and assured the woman, who gave a local address of Locust Avenue, that she would forward the town’s procedure on barking dog complaints.

Under Section 6-3 of the Town Code: “It shall be unlawful for any person to keep any dog or other animal which habitually makes such noise at night as to disturb persons residing in the neighborhood thereof.”

State law requires police to prove that a dog is barking in order to issue an infraction summons to a dog owner. To meet the standard in New Canaan, a complainant must keep up what New Canaan police call a “14-day barking dog log,” jotting down detailed information on when animals in a nearby home are barking and for how long. Those 14 days of barking do not have to be consecutive.

The woman, receiving the information about barking dogs, told Kleinschmitt in an email that she wanted to know the distance of the house or houses where people complained about the noise, according to the incident report. The woman also said she wanted information on any device that recorded the noise.

Police took no further action. The woman filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the police department, seeking barking dog complaint information. Officials in the police department say they are working to pull together the information requested. Anecdotally, Kleinschmitt said, the town has not had to issue an infraction following complaints of barking dogs in recent years because the owners typically address it swiftly and effectively.