Kipper, the 15-year-old dog whose constant barking saw a landmark case rule that he had to be removed from his owners’ apartment, is back, and he is still barking!
Público has brought the story, minus whatever follow-up penalty Kipper’s owners will now face.
The pair resisted neighbours’ complaints for years, explains the paper – only conceding ‘defeat’ earlier this year when a judge ordered them to remove Kipper from the building in Paço de Arcos (Oeiras), and allow its other residents some peace and quiet.
They were given until May to sort alternative arrangements for their pet. Now, just three months on, he is somehow back in the apartment, barking – perhaps not as much as before, but still enough to get on everyone’s nerves.
Imagine winning a landmark case in court, only to discover you are back where you started: unable to relax because of a manically barking dog.
According to Público, the owners say they have tried everything (including Reiki and Cannabis oil). They have tried ‘regular training’, as well as ‘irregular’ methods, like ‘electrically-charged collars’. Nothing seems to have cut the mustard, to the point that suspicions are that Kipper may be suffering from a form of canine dementia. He is 15 years old, after all.
What will happen next? It’s looking very much like a new ‘action’ will have to be taken out by residents – which seems ‘highly unfair’ considering they won the first one, and have only had a few weeks’ respite.
Source material: ZAP aeiou citing article in Público
