LEWISTON — The city has no business telling residents how many dogs they can keep as pets as long as they are well cared for, according to one city councilor.

“If you are a responsible dog owner and you are (on) private property, I am very wary of ordinances that tell you what to do,” Councilor Tim Lajoie said Tuesday during a City Council workshop. “I perceive this as a scratch in need of an itch.”

Lajoie argued for the city to drop its current limit of three dogs based on discussions with Trina Bolduc of 196 Pettingill St.

Bolduc said she learned of the city’s three-dog limit when she tried to register her four Siberian huskies at the city clerk’s office last month.

“She looked at me and said, ‘You can’t. You can only have three,'” Bolduc said. “I asked if there was a form I could fill out or a license I could get. And she said, ‘No, you’ll have to get rid of one.'”

Bolduc said she’s had two female huskies, Isis and Cloie, for six years. She added two pups, Max and Sadie, to her brood last summer.

They are important to her, she said.

“They may not technically be service dogs, but they are to me,” she said. “I sleep better at night because they are in the room with me. I feel more comfortable in the house because they are there. And they let me know when someone is coming.”

She started investigating the city’s code and contacted Lajoie, worried that the city’s animal control officer would come onto her property and take away one of her dogs.

Mayor Robert Macdonald said that would not happen.

“There is no problem here, except with the code,” Macdonald said. “The police will not come in and seize your dogs unless there is a complaint and they have probable cause. So you should be all set. In the meantime, we can look at this.”

Lewiston’s code of ordinances currently allow multiple dogs at kennels, veterinarians and pet hospitals, pet stores and dog boarding houses.

But city codes do not allow residents to keep more than three dogs older than 4 months, whether they are kept in a barn or a dwelling.

The limit is similar to other Maine communities, City Administrator Ed Barrett said. Bangor, Biddeford, South Portland, Waterville and Westbrook all enforce a three-dog limit, while Auburn allows four in single-family homes and three in multi-family dwellings. Brunswick, Sanford and Scarborough have no limit, he said.

Most councilors Tuesday said they were fine easing the restrictions, and Barrett said he would draft an ordinance that changed the restriction from three to four dogs in the next few weeks.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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