City and county governments set their own animal ordinances. These are not 'Legal" professionals and write their 'laws' to suit themselves. In my previous address I was informed by the 'Dog Catcher' next door that he had three anonymous complaints on file and could come and seize my dogs anytime without notice - even if I wasn't home. I had neighbors who hated dogs and would pound on the fence and shake shirts over it to get the dogs to bark, then call in a complaint. BTW - this was during the daytime. My dogs have always been brought in at night, and these dogs WERE trained to be quiet when I was home. When you have neighbors intent on agitating the dogs into barking so they can get rid if them, training doesn't 'stick'! There are enough cases of dogs siezed under this kind of ordinance that are immediately euthanized that it isn't worth taking a chance. You can try to sue afterwards, but that won't bring your beloved pets back to life! Janice In a message dated 8/7/2006 5:30:42 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time, vomkristallaugen@xxxxxxxxxxx writes: They still need PROOF, time/date stamped recordings of these "barking" sess= ions. Unless these people are completely anal.... I don't think they have a= tape recorder running 24/7 so they can catch the barking. How mant times w= ere the police/animal control called about it? When they came down were the= dogs excessively barking then? Other people to "witness" these barking ra= mpages. Otherwise like I said it's he said/she said. Yes I have 3 dogs and = 4 cats, can my neighbors say my house has "odors" or excessive noise...yes,= but they also need to prove it. Yes if you are unprepared you are going to= loose. You don't NEED a lawyer but prepare yourself so you know what you'r= e talking about in there. Look on the internet for the laws in your state,= do some real searching and find the ordinances for your town/city, and fin= d out what YOUR rights are.....not just the complainers rights. The dog own= ers have rights as well. Most of all be prepared and be knowledgeable. Th= at's all I'm gonna say...... Cathleen I sincerely hope this works out for your friend and her dog. I hop= e she has enough time to prepare herself. Kris Kudel Kamelot Shepherds ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2006. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - URL temporarily deleted due to AOL issues ============================================================================