BY KEITH LACEY
Connie Metayer just wants to be left alone - with her dogs.
But city officials say they can't leave her alone because she owns two dozen dogs on her 30-acre property in Wanup.
Unless she gets a proper kennel licence, which would include building a kennel and getting proper approval to breed her dogs, the city will have no choice but to take further action, said bylaw enforcement manager Brian Gutjahr.
Several weeks ago, Metayer was charged with operating a kennel without a proper license and was fined $240. She's likely facing further charges in the near future unless she abides by the conditions of the bylaw.
Metayer, who just turned 50, and her 22 dogs live on a piece of property she purchased 15 years ago.
Metayer said the stress caused by her battle with city officials has resulted in her breeding and selling less dogs, so she's fallen behind on her property taxes and dreads the thought of having to sell her property and move, she said.
Many consider her eccentric but Metayer has many supporters.
She has regular customers from all over the province and many other parts of the country.
Metayer "really doesn't care" what people think about her or her living conditions. The only thing that matters to her are her dogs and taking care of them.
"These dogs are my life," said Metayer, who has bred a mix of border collies and shepherds into "one of the best breeds I've ever seen around children."
No one has ever accused her of mistreating her animals or not providing adequate food or shelter.
Before amalgamation in 2000, Metayer said no one from city hall bothered her as there was no bylaw outside Sudbury city limits prohibiting how many dogs she could own or breed.
However, since amalgamation five years ago and the introduction of a bylaw prohibiting anyone from owning more than two dogs without a proper kennel licence, Metayer said she's been hounded by city officials.
Gutjahr said he's sympathetic to Metayer, but said his department has to respond to complaints.
"We have rules, and she has to follow the rules just like anyone else," said Gutjahr. "I really am sympathetic toward this woman and I've tried to help...but we just can't allow these dogs to run free and for her to breed them without any proper certification."
The city has received "numerous complaints" about Metayer's dogs over the years, said Gutjahr.
"The bottom line is you can't operate a community kennel without a proper licence and if you don't operate a kennel, the new bylaw states you can't have more than two dogs," he said.
Gutjahr has visited Metayer numerous times to try to convince her to reduce the number of dogs she owns and breeds, but she's never complied, he said.
"She won't comply," he said. "She's breeding these dogs and selling them and some members of the public have complained to us about the conditions out there," he said. "If she's in the business of breeding and selling dogs, she's operating a community kennel and has to be properly licensed."
Gutjahr realizes Metayer treats her dogs extremely well, but said he has a job to do and, unfortunately, will have to lay further charges if things don't change soon.
"We've been bending over backwards to try to help Connie, but we have rules we have to enforce," he said.
When she first started breeding dogs in the early 1990s, she took out newspaper advertisements and started getting a lot of calls. Eventually didn't need to advertise because she got so many customers through word-of-mouth, she said.
She calls her dogs "great family pets...they would never hurt a child."
She admits she's received some complaints, but only a handful and never from anyone who has ever purchased a dog she's bred.
All the money she's made breeding and selling dogs has gone into feeding them, providing shelter and paying veterinarian bills, said Metayer.
"I don't do this to make money...I do this because I love dogs and I know how much happiness and joy these dogs can bring to children and their families," she said. "Every day in the paper you read about vicious dogs tearing people apart...my dogs would never hurt a human being."
Not only can't she afford to build a kennel, she would never place any of her dogs in cages for any reason, she said.
"These dogs are meant to run free...they love it out here," she said. "It's just really cruel to confine most breeds of dogs and this breed should never be caged."
She acknowledges some of the dogs occasionally leave her property, but simply congregate near the end of her driveway when she leaves the property.
"Everywhere I go, they go," she said. "I know one man out here doesn't like what I do, but I think most people out here know me and my dogs don't cause any problems."
She believes she and other animal owners with a large number of pets "should have been grandfathered" following amalgamation.
"I know I'm not the only one with a large number of animals out here in the country," she said. "Why the city is picking on me I don't know. I've been breeding these dogs without any real trouble for 15 years and I don't believe I should have to stop."
Her dogs remain outside until the weather turns bitterly cold and they all gather inside with her where a woodstove provides more than enough heat during the winter, she said.
She believes the bylaw prohibiting the number of dogs any one owner can have was designed to eliminate puppy mills.
"Anyone who knows me knows I treat these dogs with all the love in the world," she said. "I don't run a puppy mill and you can ask any of my clients what they think about the dogs I sell them."
Metayer believes she will be forced to sell her property because of this dispute.
"I'm just not going anywhere without my dogs," she said. "If I can't take care of my dogs, I might just as well be dead. This is my life."
Friend Libby Dornbush lives near Metayer and has adopted two of her dogs.
Many people believe Metayer is eccentric, but she doesn't bother anyone and her reputation as a breeder who produces loving, friendly animals is beyond reproach, said Dornbush.
"She has a reputation for excellence with her border collies," she said.
The city's bylaw was designed to prevent puppy mills and not to punish animal lovers like Metayer who would never harm an animal, she said.
"Before amalgamation, she was left alone...I don't feel she should be penalized because of some artificial geographic boundary change," she said.
