Because a city resident is harboring 10 dogs and the city’s animal control ordinance has some holes in it that might not hold up in court, Challis Mayor Mark Lupher plans to discuss changing the definition of a dog kennel at the council’s August 10 meeting.

City code defines a kennel as “an establishment wherein any person engages in the business of boarding, breeding, buying, letting for hire, training for a fee or selling dogs. The harboring of more than two (2) dogs over the age of three (3) months shall be presumed to be operating a kennel for the purposes of this article.”

There is no provision allowing people to obtain a kennel license in Challis, so with the puppy exception, people are limited to two canines.

In his July report to the mayor and council, Ordinance Enforcement Officer Levi Maydole said City Attorney Curt Thomsen sees a problem with the word “presumed” in the ordinance and believes a judge might throw any case out of court unless the word is removed and the code rewritten to explicitly define more than two dogs as a kennel, which is prohibited.

“We are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” Maydole said. “This ordinance makes you prove yourself innocent.”

“We tell people ‘you can’t move to Challis if you have more than two dogs,’” Lupher said.

“We need to put the [animal control] ordinance on the next meeting agenda,” said Lupher.

“Right. Let’s do that,” Councilman Terry Hamilton said.

Maydole can charge the woman harboring 10 dogs under the city’s nuisance ordinance if he witnesses constantly barking dogs or neighbors sign a complaint, Lupher told The Challis Messenger after the meeting. But although they’ve complained verbally, neighbors have been hesitant to get involved and press charges. None has been willing to sign a complaint.

Absent a signed complaint, the city can’t act unless Maydole sees the dogs being a nuisance. As it applies to dogs, a nuisance is defined as: “Any dog or dogs which: A. Molest passersby or passing vehicles; B. Attack persons or other animals; C. Are repeatedly unrestrained; D. Damage private or public property; E. Bark, whine or howl in an excessive, continuous or untimely fashion.”

And since the city is unlikely to prevail in court given the hole in the animal control ordinance, it can’t press charges unless the ordinance is changed. That will require notice and a public hearing before the council can vote on any changes.

By the way, Three Dog Night, the classic American rock band, decided on that name after vocalist Danny Hutton‘s then-girlfriend June Fairchild read a magazine article about indigenous Australians. On cold nights they would sleep in a hole in the ground while embracing a dingo, a native species of wild dog, according to Wikipedia. On colder nights the Aborigines would sleep with two dogs and if a night was especially cold, it was a “three dog night.”