Tauranga woman loses bid to have three-year dog ownership ban lifted

A Tauranga dog owner has lost her bid to have her three-year ban from owning any dogs quashed.

A woman has lost her bid to have her three-year ban from owning any dogs quashed after multiple complaints and infringement notices about her pets roaming and rushing people.

The Tauranga City Council issued Britney Eagle with a three-year ownership disqualification on February 9 this year.

A tearful Eagle made an impassioned plea to four independent members of the Tauranga City Council’s Regulatory Hearings Panel on July 12 to have the ban lifted, saying she felt her second dog Polo was “being punished” for a previous pet dog’s actions. That dog, called Saydee, has since been euthanised.

Panel chairwoman Mary Dillon and independent members Puhirake Ihaka, Terry Molloy and Alan Tate heard evidence from Eagle and Brent Lincoln, the council’s team leader of animal services, who detailed the offences which led to the three-year ownership disqualification.

Lincoln said in the short time Eagle had owned Polo, a Neapolitan Mastiff, and Saydee, an American Pit Bull Terrier cross, there had been a dozen complaints about the dogs roaming or rushing people.

This included a complaint in July 2021 about Saydee roaming and acting “aggressively” towards a pedestrian.

Saydee was classified as a menacing dog on September 29, 2021, meaning it had to be muzzled in public.

A month later, there were three more complaints about Saydee and Polo roaming, and on January 24 this year, a further complaint that Polo had rushed at a person.

Lincoln said Eagle was given verbal and written warnings and then received six infringement notices between November 19, 2021 and October 18, 2022.

Primarily those were for failing to control her dogs in public, not muzzling her menacing dog and having unregistered dogs, he said.

Saydee was impounded twice and was then euthanised after being deemed “unsuitable for adoption”.

Eagle was issued with her three-year ownership disqualification notice on February 9 this year and Polo was seized on May 10.

A family friend took over temporary ownership of Polo on May 26.

Lincoln said it was “normal practice” to disqualify an owner for up to five years after they incurred three or more infringement notices in two years.

He told Eagle that from the council’s point of view, this was “the end of the road”.

“We don’t like to find ourselves in this situation either and prefer owners to take control of their dogs and limit their ability to roam or to act aggressively towards the public. The more a dog is allowed to roam, generally, they become defensive of the territory around their house, and offences of this nature then occur.”

An emotional Eagle said she believed Polo was “being punished” for Saydee’s actions and pleaded with the panel to lift the ban.

“Saydee was a super-intelligent dog and I did everything possible I could do to keep her contained. I even had her on a chain for 23 hours a day and only allowed her off to go to the toilet.

“I’ve spent money on multiple leases, multiple fences and multiple chicken wires, and multiple everything to contain the most super-intelligent dog I’ve ever come across. Saydee was beautiful and a really good family member, and my dogs were constantly around children and other people all the time.”

Eagle claimed she had only been aware of one rushing incident involving Saydee and “apologised” to her neighbour at the time.

She said these alleged rushing incidents would not have been done in an “aggressive” way.

“Obviously, Polo is like a family member to us... I have had him since he was 24 hours old and hand-fed him. He has never really been in anyone else’s presence, apart from me and my kids... Polo has been on a chain for six months without him escaping.”

Eagle wept as she described the impacts of the disqualification on her and children.

“I believe I’m a good dog owner. I’ve worked so hard with the council and done everything they asked me to do, including watching Polo like a hawk so he didn’t escape.”

If the disqualification was lifted, Polo would continue to be housed in a “four by four metre”, fully-fenced commercial kennel and on a chain in a fenced property.

“I can give you my 110 per cent guarantee that unless I am supervising him, Polo will be locked inside the kennel. I have two padlocks for my peace of mind so he cannot get out. This has caused a lot of emotional distress for me and my kids.”

In a written decision, the panel said it had upheld the three-year disqualification after taking into account the “recidivist nature” of offending of both dogs and steps taken by Eagle to prevent further offences and mitigate the risk posed by the Polo roaming.

The panel was “not satisfied” those measures had prevented Polo from escaping, nor would they guarantee it not happening in the future.

The council had “a duty of care” to ensure Polo did not pose a threat to people, but acknowledged that Polo was a “beloved family pet and the hurt Eagle was experiencing” due to being separated from the dog.

Eagle is able to file an appeal with the Tauranga District Court against the panel’s decision within 14 days and also reapply to have the disqualification lifted within 12 months of the July 12 hearing,

Eagle, who is due to have her third child next month, told the Bay of Plenty Times she felt “extremely emotional” about the outcome of the hearing and was considering lodging an appeal.

“The hearing was a lot more emotional and stressful than I expected. I definitely wasn’t prepared for how hard this was going to be for me. And Polo was also emotional and quite confused when I visited him over the weekend.”