GUILDERLAND — Nearly all the residents of Leesome Lane — on a serene country road above Altamont — appeared at last Thursday’s zoning board meeting to oppose a neighbor’s request to have a dog kennel.

Four representatives of Camp Wildwood, a summer camp for disabled children at the end of Leesome Lane, also spoke against the proposal. They worried that, with reports of loose Rottweilers and Doberman pinschers and with constant barking, the children at the camp could be injured or upset.

Tracy McCallum, and her husband, Robert Cedano, said they planned to put a picket fence around their land, at 1150 Leesome Lane. This would keep the dogs secure and control their barking, since they only bark when they see other people, McCallum said.

According to the town’s zoning law, Guilderland has a three-dog limit, in order to keep kennels out of residential neighborhoods. Earlier this month, the zoning board granted a variance to a couple, in Westmere, to have four pet dogs.

This was different, Chairman Bryan Clenahan said last Wednesday, because the Westmere couple didn’t plan on breeding the dogs.

McCallum and Cedano live in an agricultural zone. This means that kennels are allowed, just not within 300 feet of other residences. Since there are neighbors within that distance, a special-use permit is needed.

McCallum has six dogs; three are spayed or neutered and three are able to breed, she said. She wants a permit to keep the dogs, so three of them can breed and she can sell their puppies, McCallum said.

Two of the three breeding dogs are boxers, which will mate together, and the third is a pure-bred, female Doberman pinscher, which will be mated using a stud service, she said.

Clenahan told the board that zoning-enforcement officer Rodger Stone has issued McCallum many warnings about her dogs. He read a recent letter from Stone that said he’s been addressing McCallum’s code violations since July of 2004.
"That’s probably because of the noise," McCallum said. "But, the only time they bark is when other dogs come into their territory."

Every two to three hours, McCallum chains her dogs outside, she said. When she has a fence, she’ll leave them out longer. McCallum plans on installing a picket fence, she said.
"I don’t think the barking is excessive," she said.

Public comment

McCallum’s neighbors had other opinions about her dogs. Eighteen spoke against her proposal and more submitted letters.

Many said her dogs bark all day and night. They said they can’t take leisurely walks down Leesome Lane anymore, because, when the dogs see them, the animals throw themselves at their cages or against their leashes, aggressively barking.

The Enterprise walked in front of McCallum’s house twice on Monday; no dogs were seen or heard.
"It would be a severe detriment to my quality of life if I had to live next to a kennel," said Joseph Burns.

McCallum’s dogs are aggressive, Burns said. If he goes outside or to his kitchen door, they bark wildly at him.
"They are large, powerful dogs that can inflict damage," he said.

The dogs came into his yard twice, Burns said, once chasing his cats and another time charging his porch where his 80-year-old mother-in-law sat.

Some neighbors also said they’re afraid of the dogs hurting them and reported McCallum’s dogs run loose; some said they worried about having young grandchildren outside if the dogs are loose.
Jonathan Cooper said his first 17 years of living on Leesome Lane were pleasant and the past year has been "somewhat hellish."
"Since they moved in last July, the noise has started and hasn’t stopped," Cooper said. "With my windows closed, I could hear the dogs barking....When I walk out onto my front porch, the dogs go ballistic."

He’d prefer to be a welcoming neighbor, Cooper said, adding that, since McCallum and Cedano are dog lovers, their hearts are in the right place.

But, he questioned whether having their dogs outside in 90 degree heat is animal cruelty.

Christine Kerry, the director of Camp Wildwood at the end of Leesome Lane, about half a mile from McCallum’s house, said she was worried about the dogs’ bothering children at the camp.

Camp Wildwood is a not-for-profit organization that serves neurologically impaired, autistic, and severely learning-disabled children.

This July, 160 children will attend the camp, Kerry said. When some of these children hear barking, it upsets them, she said, and they don’t have the ability to calm themselves.
"We do walk on the lane and it sounds like that won’t be possible now," she said. "If animals get loose, our children cannot self-preserve."

Dog-owners’ response

Cedano walked to the podium with his sleeping child, barefoot and in pajamas, over his shoulder. He responded to his neighbors’ comments.
"People have the wrong idea," he said. "We’re not running a kennel like Pine Bush."
The couple plans on breeding two pairs of dogs and then selling their puppies, Cedano said. "These are championship dogs," he said.

McCallum told the board that the dogs stay in the house most of the time.
"None of my dogs are mean," she said. "They’re big teddy bears."

Cedano said the dogs won’t be outside on the loose, because he doesn’t want them to get impregnated by strange dogs. A fence will help contain the dogs, he said. It will also block their view of neighbors, so there will be less barking, he said.
"My sister has cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, and a bunch of other disorders," Cedano said. "She used to pet my dog. He barks, but he’s never bitten anybody."

Another of his Rottweilers, named Dakota, was rescued from an abused home.
"Now I even trust him with my own child," Cedano said. "He lunges at his cage but that’s because he wants to play."

Clenahan then told the crowd that McCallum and Cedano have the right to keep up to three dogs, under the zoning law. If they don’t get the permit, they will have to get rid of three of their dogs, but that might not be the end of the neighbors’ problems with the dogs, he said.

Clenahan then moved to continue the matter until next month’s meeting. The board had to read additional letters from neighbors, submitted at the meeting, and take time to consider everything discussed, he said.