Shih Tzu crosses, Ruby and Simba, have been the subject of more than 20 complaints about barking from neighbours. Photo: Supplied / Nuzia Scaranci
A Napier woman whose barking dogs have been driving her neighbours mad maintains they are not a nuisance - despite fresh council orders to get them under control.
A pair of Shih Tzu crosses, Ruby and Simba, have been the subject of more than 20 complaints from neighbours who say they bark and howl incessantly, sometimes for hours at a time.
After three years of warnings from Napier City Council, the dogs' owner Nuzia Scaranci was issued with a compliance notice in September, which she fought in front of a council hearings committee last month.
The committee has since published its decision, amending the original notice to give Scaranci three instructions to adhere to.
It ordered Scaranci to keep Ruby and Simba inside while no one is home, have them wear citronella spray anti-barking collars, and actively discourage "barking at inappropriate times and for inappropriate reasons".
Scaranci told RNZ she was following the rules, but she did not think they were necessary - and she still "100 percent" believed her dogs were not a nuisance.
"Nothing's changed," Scaranci said.
"Their behaviour now, and the behaviour before, is the same."
She was "not happy, but not unhappy" with the council's decision.
"Its complicated, because it's my words versus somebody else ['s], you know.
"I don't see the dogs making noises."
In December she told the hearings committee the complaints were unfair because they came from neighbours she did not get on with.
In its decision, the committee noted an "obvious breakdown in neighbour relationships" contributed to Scaranci feeling the complaints were illegitimate.
But it said council officers were justified in issuing the original notice, and had themselves proven the dogs' barking was an issue.
In the hearing, Scaranci had offered to give the council access to a camera system she had installed to prove the barking was not an issue - and she was disappointed that was not accepted.
"I thought that that camera would be just enough for the council to see that [the dogs weren't] barking enough to annoy somebody."
But the committee disagreed.
"It would be unreasonable in our view, not to provide a behavioural change solution to this barking nuisance at this stage of the process with the number of complaints documented over the number of years, and the full hearing process now complete," the decision document read.
It seemed Ruby may have been caught in the crossfire during the debacle.
The committee considered keeping her exempt from the rules, as it thought the barking may have only been coming from Simba.
"However this was discounted as there was no way to confirm that it was one dog only causing the nuisance, and it would be reasonable in our view for both dogs to be treated equally to mitigate the risk of ongoing nuisance barking."
