Oh come on! These are five small dogs. The way the Prosser’s dote on these furbabies I bet is the Prosser’s yard is cleaner than many of their neighbor’s.
Are there any groups in Muncie who could help this couple get some non-bark training or a device to help train the dogs to bark a little less?
Thanks to IndyStar.com for this article.
Muncie couple fights to keep 5 dogs
By SETH SLABAUGH
Muncie Star PressMUNCIE — Shari Prosser didn’t know there was a limit on the number of dogs she could keep until a neighbor complained to the city, which issued her a notice of violation.
Allen and Shari Prosser share their couch with five miniature dachshunds at their home in Muncie. The Prossers are fighting a city ordinance allowing a maximum of three dogs per house in a residential zone. – Adam Alexander / Star Press
Prosser and her husband, Allen, of 813 E. Dunn Ave., own five mini-dachshunds — a mother, father and three offspring.
The city’s kennel license ordinance defines the maximum number of dogs — three — that may be kept on a property at one time.
The Prossers are seeking a variance from the Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday to allow them to keep all five dogs.
“These are my babies,” Shari Prosser said in an interview. “They’re all we have. They’re my kids. They make a house a home. They greet me when I come home from work. I bathe them. They sleep with us.”
The city says it doesn’t enforce the ordinance unless a neighbor complains, usually because of animals barking, running loose or making waste.
“If people don’t complain, we don’t go out,” said Karen Gibson of the city animal shelter.
“Somebody said they were barking,” Prosser said. “Which dog doesn’t? But they don’t bite.”
And they don’t run loose, because the Prossers have a fenced-in yard.
Helen Ashley, one of the couple’s neighbors, says she wasn’t the one who made the complaint.
“I myself have no objections,” Ashley said. “Those dogs mean a lot to these people for the simple reason that some time ago, they lost a grandchild who died in their home. These little doggies fill up an empty hole. That’s the way I feel about it.”
Three years ago next week, Trenton J. Prosser, 2, died during a fire at 813 E. Dunn Ave.
“We’ve had the dogs since 2004 when we had a fire in our home and lost our grandson,” Prosser said. “They’re all we’ve got.”
Asked whether the dogs made noise, Ashley said: “For a while, they let them out in the driveway, and they did yip and yap like all little doggies. I had neighbors say they were a nuisance at times, but since the complaint was made I have not seen the dogs out once. But the neighbors could’ve handled it more diplomatically by telling them they were noisy instead of making a big to-do about it.”
