Dog owner found with 35 toy poodles on her property was “not running a puppy farm”: lawyer
A court has heard that a toy poodle lover caught with more than 30 petite pooches on her premises was not running a puppy farm.
South East
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A Eumemmerring dog lover caught with 35 toy poodles on her property was not running a puppy farm, her lawyer says.
He said she was just an avid fan of the pooch genre, and a former breeder who didn’t understand planning permit conditions had changed.
Seventy-six-year-old Valda May Roberts pleaded guilty at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court last week to local law violations.
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The court heard Casey Council received a public complaint in late November 2017 about the woman having so many dogs on her property.
When council inspectors visited they found 35 toy poodles, none of which had been desexed, of which 23 were fertile females.
Only 16 had been registered.
Complicating things was an old 1995 planning permit which allowed her to have 20 dogs on her land, but that had since changed and she was now only allowed to have two.
The council checked several times last year, each time asking her to reduce the number, but she continually failed to do so.
In court her defence lawyer said Roberts had spent over 50 years showing and breeding toy poodles, and was a respected member of Dogs Victoria.
He said Robert’s husband’s and her own health complications meant the number of dogs had “gotten away from her” and this was in no way a puppy farm situation.
He said she now had five toy poodles, which she has a current permit for, and the rest had been lovingly rehomed.
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Magistrate Jack Vandersteen agreed that this was more of an accidental local law violation than a concerted effort to do the wrong thing, and she was unlikely to do anything similar again.
“I accept she had difficulty in her ability to keep up with what was happening at home,” he said.
“There is no suggestion these dogs were in any way malnourished or not looked after.”
Roberts was placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond, and ordered to pay council costs of $1638.
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