Advice Needed For Council Approval For 3 Dogs

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

Without knowing the specifics of the local laws in place, it's hard to tell why your application was rejected. Did you seek guidance or info from the council before you moved address? Does the council not have a reciprocal registration arrangements with your previous council? In Brisbane, for example, our council recognises rego held in other QLD LGAs and grants rego until expiry date at no charge. I wouldn't move to an area with a dog limit without extensive dialogue with the council first - this helped us decide on which council in the Brisbane area would be most likely to approve our three-dog permit.

I can only wish you all the best...if all else fails, you may need to tell council that you have rehomed one of the dogs to a family member and then make sure you do that. There's no law which says visiting dogs must be registered, as far as I know. ;)

[mish13]

I cant give you advice but I can tell you what happened when I applied

I have four dogs two standard poodles, a toy poodle and a Jack Russell

We have lived at our current address for six years without a complaint but I decided to apply so I could rest easy when I walked them all together.We are on the Gold Coast in Queensland

I paid the money and waited, they contacted me to do a house inspection which they did and they photographed all the dogs one by one.

We live on a quarter acre block backing onto a 2 acre vacant block.

The inspector then dropped a piece of paper in heaps of peoples letter boxes, in my street and in the street behind us. The letter said I had applied to keep four dogs and they had four days to ring with a legitimate complaint. If no phone calls were made which there wasn't I would be able to keep my dogs.

Next I got a laminated certificate in the mail with a photo of my dogs on it stating they were all legal at this address. I cannot replace them with other dogs, it has to be the ones in the photo.

It is such a nice feeling to know the council cant tell me to get rid of any and I truly feel for you in your situation. I would definitely appeal and get your local councilor to help you.

Good luck my fingers are crossed for you.

[mita]

. I will be appealing the decision and it gets reviewed by the state administrative tribunal it has to be appealed in 28 days ..

That was going to be my advice....but you're already on to it. There's been excellent advice from others on how to present your case. Especially the fact that the yard size issue is mitigated by the age & lifestyle of one of your dogs.

I hope you have a good outcome.

[Guest Ams]

The letter stated application had been rejected due to the following :

1. the size of the block at this residence is too small to keep this number of dogs

2. the size of the dogs involved are large (go figure ??? yes che would be considered large but definately not the two staffords )

3. the property is located within a suburban area

4. 2 objections were received raising concerns about the size of the lot where the dogs are being kept .

any advice would be greatly appreciated as i thought i was doing the right thing and i'm terribly upset about this .

If all of your neighbours are saying they made no objections then who were the 2 objections from? I'd also put in a Freedom of Information claim to find out who made the objections and what was the exact basis of their case. Definitely appeal the decision.

[Gilypoo]

The letter stated application had been rejected due to the following :

1. the size of the block at this residence is too small to keep this number of dogs

2. the size of the dogs involved are large (go figure ??? yes che would be considered large but definately not the two staffords )

3. the property is located within a suburban area

4. 2 objections were received raising concerns about the size of the lot where the dogs are being kept .

any advice would be greatly appreciated as i thought i was doing the right thing and i'm terribly upset about this .

If all of your neighbours are saying they made no objections then who were the 2 objections from? I'd also put in a Freedom of Information claim to find out who made the objections and what was the exact basis of their case. Definitely appeal the decision.

From my expereince, this reason is used with everyone unless you are on acreage.. We have had neighbours parents (who dont live in the same suburb) complain, so it could of been some random person wanting to cause trouble..

[W Sibs]

I agree with the appeal and using the old age card...

good luck.

bloody councils.. they are so difficult.

[GRLC]

The two objections were from council members , their was nothing on the letter to state that there was any objections from our neighbors . However this morning when i couldn't sleep i pulled all the letters out from council regarding my application and the first official letter after application states

" before approval can be given a survey of all land owners adjoining your property will be undertaken to determine whether there is any community opposition to your application "

It then says it will be presented to council and signed by some loser .

If you read the letter as it is written it basically says that as long as there is no objections from neighbors it will be granted

So it looks as though they havn't even visited the property at all and if so i was not aware that they were coming , and also they never advised me of when it was going to council for me to be there to state my case in full .

At least the state administrative tribunal is a Third party and i can now use the above findings from my investigation work as my defense :D

i will be ringing them tomorrow and asking for further details and if a property inspection has been done and ask why wasn't i notified when it was going to voted on .

[Dogsfevr]

If its a land survey of size they actually wouldn't need to visit they could use near map or most likely have details from the flight survey plane

[conztruct]

I agree with the advice to appeal the decision. I can't believe how difficult council's make it for people who are trying to do the right thing.

I would argue that the over-officious attitude of councils' making life hell for responsible dog owners, does absolutely nothing to prevent the problems they purport to and actually cultivates an "underground" culture.

I know our council here is only too happy to make people walk to hell and back for any kind of additional approval for dogs and collect a large fee for rego and applications, yet we have dogs roaming the streets everywhere - I think I'd like their effort directed towards tackling the real problems that are happening.

I strongly support some kind of additional consideration to be given by councils' to members of state canine associations and/or some sort of certification as a responsible dog owner. Something similar to the breeders exam and maybe a signed statement of agreement to terms and conditions being the condition on having any number of dogs at a premises - in other words owners need to be licenced.

Might be wishful thinking.......

[Moselle]

Good advice has already been given; I just want to wish the best of luck and hope that you get to keep all 3 dogs.

[Dame Aussie]

I'd appeal it. If it was still rejected I would tell them I'd rehomed one of the dogs. He just comes to visit lots!

Good luck.

I hate that we have to run these sorts of things past councils, my house, my dogs...bugger off....if only

[hoffpig]

Legislation has gone completely crazy in this country. It is just so over the top. Pal recently returned after many years in Singapore and is shocked by how government here has its frigging finger in every aspect of our lives. It is way too much.

[MsKatie]

Friend of mine has 2 smallish dogs- wanted to get a Mastiff - applied beforehand to the council and was told a straight out "No" - o now she is thinking of rehoming one of her existing dogs so she can get a Mastiff

SOme very good advice - I would go with the elderly reason too

[Gayle.]

It can't be rejected on someones "opinion". This is government, albeit local, who are often nothing more than jumped up wanna-be's. However, all government, even at local level, have to work within the bounds of legislation and they can't reject someones application for anything without a legislated reason.

If it's been rejected because the land size is too small, they have to be working on an actual equation....how much land you'd require per dog etc. They can't just cast an eye over your property and deem it to be too small. They should be able to tell you the equation they're working on.

If it's been rejected because a neighbor objected to the application, they have to say so. And the neighbor has to have a valid reason for objecting. Not liking dogs isn't a valid reason. Proof of dogs nuisance barking is.

And a counciller has to be able to put aside his prejudices and look to the local legislation when making decisions on resdents applications. Not being a dog-lover isn't a good enough reason to deny an application for someone to keep an extra dog.

[Erny]

Legislation has gone completely crazy in this country. It is just so over the top. Pal recently returned after many years in Singapore and is shocked by how government here has its frigging finger in every aspect of our lives. It is way too much.

It's become quite suffocating. But in part, that's because there's so many people who expect someone else or some organisation to fix their problems for them. Australians have got to stop with the whinging so much, and start with taking responsibility and being constructive. We reap what we sow. But admittedly, on some accounts we tend to reap more than we sow, and not necessarily what we want.

But this doesn't help the OP.

Edited August 7, 2010 by Erny

[GRLC]

Good news everybody ,after appealing councils decision to reject my request for permit for 3 dogs the state administrative tribunal recommended that the council reconsider my request for permit for 3 dogs, this went to a council meeting last night and the permit has been approved ................. finally !!!!!

Thanks for all your advice and support everybody :mad ;) :D

[Daisy]

Wonderful news

[Guest Ams]

CONGRATULATIONS.

[Clastic]

Congrats!! Thats fantastic news!

[poodlefan]

Good news everybody ,after appealing councils decision to reject my request for permit for 3 dogs the state administrative tribunal recommended that the council reconsider my request for permit for 3 dogs, this went to a council meeting last night and the permit has been approved ................. finally !!!!!

:D ;)