Court orders dog, puppy daycare centre to close due to continuous barking

A pastor from Durbanville in Cape Town will now be able to prepare his sermons in peace and quiet after a court ordered the closure of a puppy and dog daycare centre from his neighbourhood.

Reverend Mark Wayne Christopher had to endure the barking and yelping coming from his neighbours’ business, known as Puppy Town, for years.

His complaints to Puppy Town owners Jolindi and Pieter Verster fell on deaf ears. Not even his complaints to the City of Cape Town that the Versters were, among other things, contravening the by-laws by looking after more than 17 dogs and puppies during the day, yielded any results.

The Versters said that they were within their rights to operate their business and that Christopher could not expect to have peace and quiet all day, especially in a street where there were also other households with dogs.

Besides, the Versters said, they did scale down a bit and were no longer hosting dog birthday parties.

Puppy Town is described as a daycare centre which, among other things, offers constant supervision, structured playtime, potty training, basic training, socialisation with different dogs, and constant feedback to the owners about their dogs.

They drop off their furry babies on their way to work and fetch them at the end of the day – an exercise which Christopher says results in a cacophony of barking all around.

He turned in desperation to the court to prohibit his neighbours from running their puppy and dog daycare from their home. He said the Versters’ business was a distraction to the peace and serenity that he was entitled to as a neighbour, and it was unlawful on several grounds.

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