Legal advice taken on muzzling The Dunedin owners of a dog have been unsuccessful in their attempts to have the menacing dog classification imposed on their pet lifted.
A year ago, the Dunedin City Council classified Katie and Mario Tucholski's 5-year-old German shepherd Kaiser as menacing after a second aggressive incident. Kaiser attacked a smaller animal at the Wakari Dunedin dog park on November 9 and in 2007 had bitten a woman on the arm as she walked along the footpath outside the Tucholskis' property.
The classification, under the Dog Control Act, requires Kaiser to be neutered, and muzzled in public unless confined in a cage or vehicle.
The Tucholskis appealed the classification. A council hearings committee first met in January before adjourning to allow time for Kaiser to have obedience training and be assessed by dog training experts. The committee reconvened on October 18.
In a written decision, committee members Crs Colin Weatherall (chairman), Andrew Noone and Paul Hudson said while they recognised the Tucholskis were responsible owners who had "gone to considerable effort" to better train Kaiser and gain greater control over him, two dog behaviour experts had both advised that Kaiser was a dominant dog whose behaviour was instinctive.
"He is not able to be controlled by you at all times. [He] therefore poses a continued risk to the community, in particular to other dogs, and there is every likelihood that he would attack another dog again without the restrictions posed by the menacing dog classification."
During the reconvened hearing, there was a difference of opinion about when Kaiser could be unmuzzled if the classification was upheld.
Dunedin City Council senior animals control officer Jim Pryde said he understood muzzling was required whenever the dog was off the Tucholskis' property, but Mr and Mrs Tucholski said they understood he could be unmuzzled on private properties or farms owned by friends or relatives with the consent of the owners.
In its decision, the committee said it had taken legal advice on the requirements.
The advice was that Kaiser would have to be muzzled in public places unless he was in a cage, confined in a vehicle, inside a dwelling house, inside the Tucholskis' property, or inside another person's fenced property with the consent of that person.
The panel said Kaiser should not be "at large" - off his leash - in a residential garden unless supervised, and should not be allowed to run at large on a farm or unfenced residential property without being muzzled.
