How many dogs are too many

DINGMAN - “He says my dogs stare at him,” said Erin Sharpe talking about her complaining neighbor, Jeff White. Sharpe has been living in Pocono Woodland Lakes for with husband Keith, two children, Chelsea, 16, and Zach, 11, along with her family pets. She has three Jack Russell terrier, ages three, two, one, and a Lab mix that is nine years old. She appeared before Dingman Supervisors last week to tell her story after one of her neighbors filed a complaint. “We have an ordinance against having more than three dogs since 1979,” Chris Wood, town enforcement officer, told Tom Mincer, town supervisors chair. “If you have more than three, we consider it a kennel. I have gotten a complaint from one of her neighbors. I like having a limit; otherwise, who determines what is reasonable?” “We’ve always had four dogs; I love animals, and I wasn’t aware of the three dog limit,” Sharpe countered. Sharpe asked the supervisors if they could grant her some time till her oldest dog passes away and then she’ll abide by the ordinance. Sharpe said neighbor, Jeff White has been on an anti-dog campaign since he moved here. “He does nothing but complain. My dogs don’t bark. I’m home all day with them. They don’t get off our property because I have an invisible electric fence and they have battery operated collars that prevents this.” John Klemeyer, town solicitor, advised her to appeal to the zoning board. “We can’t do this, because it would make our decision a global one which will affect everyone,” he said. “He called my 16-year-old daughter Chelsea some awful names when she was out walking one of the dogs past his house,” she said. White said, “Her dogs bark all day and she has had as many as eight dogs. She’s been breeding them for the last three years and I have a copy of the newspaper ad in which she was selling the puppies for $450 each. Milford has five adult dog licenses on file in her name. She lets them out as early as 6 a.m. and this past July 3 they were out at 4:20 a.m. with no supervision because she has an ‘electric fence’ that is supposed to contain them.” He denied the name calling. “Do I look like that kind of a guy?” “One of the dogs bit my son on the leg and drew blood when it got out of her electric fence,” said Kim White. “My daughter has to walk the long way around to go to the school bus stop because her husband Keith tells the dogs ‘get her, get her’. Allison is terrified of the dogs.” Another retired neighbor, John Weiss, has resided behind the Sharpe home for over 13 years. He told a similar story, “They have a high pitched yelp that goes on for hours and hours, sometimes as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m.” Weiss claimed he told Sharpe to send the dogs to obedience school and that she replied that she tried twice and it didn’t work. “I had to drive to her house one day and blow my horn to get her attention,” said Weiss. “When she came out she asked if anything was wrong and I told her one of her dogs had me cornered by my garage, she told me the battery in its electric neck collar must have died.” White and Weiss agreed that she can a have as many dogs as she wants if she would just keep them quiet.