CLIFFORD ‒ A local woman dubbed the 'Lab mom' will remain with her furry, four-legged family thanks to a decision from Minto council.
While the purpose of a public meeting Tuesday evening was to rezone a property to permit a dog kennel, Chelsey Peterson’s situation is a little different.
The owner of eight chocolate Labrador retrievers, rezoning the property would allow for Peterson to remain with her “family,” in addition to seven puppies. She does not run a kennel at the property.
“My dogs are my life and they’re my family, my family just happens to be a little different because they have paws,” said Peterson, during the meeting. “Essentially my life with dogs is maybe a little unconventional to some because it’s different but it makes us happy.”
Unlike a traditional kennel, at Peterson’s home, all eight dogs sleep with her in two king beds pushed together every night and they even get birthday parties at the kitchen table.
In Minto, a kennel is defined as “an establishment where more than three and fewer than 25 dogs are housed, groomed, bred, boarded, trained, or sold.”
“I pride myself on the fact that people know my fur family,” said Peterson, in her letter to council. “They know how much I love these dogs and pups, and I receive many comments that people appreciate getting their puppy from a family-type setting.”
In one of 11 letters of support written to the township, Chris, Carey, and Zackary Brubacher said that it’s “a shame” that Peterson is being forced to jump through hoops to stay with “her family.”
“Chelsey is doing what is right and applying for this rezoning. It’s very expensive and time-consuming, but she is taking the appropriate actions as she should,” said the Brubachers, in their letter. “We ask that you give her approval for rezoning and let this family stay together in a loving home.”
It will cost Peterson $10,000 to rezone her property.
“Her dogs are her life. Please do not make this even more difficult by imposing township restrictions on her and her family,” said Cheryl Speiran, one of Peterson’s former customers, in a letter. “You know from visiting her that her children are so well treated, loved, and looked after - we could only wish that all human children would be treated the same way.”
However, Coun. Ron Elliott’s main concern was how Peterson was able to separate from the puppies when they move on to their new homes.
After a litter of puppies is born, they stay in Peterson’s care for an average of eight weeks before moving in with their new families.
“There’s always one in every litter that I want to keep,” said Peterson. “But the reality is I can’t keep them all, otherwise I would really be a crazy dog lady.”
Deputy Mayor Jean Anderson was curious about the maximum number of dogs on the property at one time.
She also asked why Peterson hadn’t applied for the licence before, considering she’s lived on the property for seven years.
“I guess my assumption was living out in the county, it didn’t really matter,” said Peterson. “I mean, the way I look at it, people can have 10 goats and that’s not a problem.”
Coun. Geoff Gunson was more concerned about how an inspection can occur when the kennel is within someone’s private home but according to Terry Kuipers, director of building and planning services, this is not the first kennel that Minto has seen like this.
“If it was a traditional kennel, we’re looking at kennel sizes to ensure it’s adequate for the dogs that are being housed there,” said Gunson. “But this is definitely different, it’s more ‘let’s make sure the bed sheets are washed.’”
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
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