Wellesley approves another breeding kennel in a split decision

council approved a breeding kennel application, Wellesley councillors split again this week in giving the go-ahead to another operation.

In a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, council approved the application of Edwin and Tina Bauman to run a breeding operation at their farm property at 3972 Ament Line, Wallenstein.

As with the previous bid, Coun. Shelley Wagner was opposed, not satisfied with the applicant’s plans for the kennel. When, for instance, she asked Edwin Bauman about best practices for the health of breeding females, he was unable to answer.

She was concerned when he did not know that after breeding for two cycles in a year, most experts say it is good to give the female between six to 12 months off before breeding again.

“If you’re going to breed a bitch twice – so two heats back to back – your best practice is to take one or two heats off. So, if you breed one of your bitches twice in one year, you should give her at least six months or another year off before you breed her again. So, I’m going to put this simply, but I as a female certainly would not want to have had children every nine months for eight years of my life after I was married – it’s a lot of stress on the body. So, it’s no different for a bitch; when you’re breeding her every heat after heat after heat, best practice is to give her one or two heats off in between,” said Wagner.

Mayor Joe Nowak then followed up by asking animal control officer Todd Loveday if such practices were outlined in the township’s kennel bylaw.

Loveday said that was not the case, noting that kennel bylaws in neighbouring municipalities have no such provisions either.

Coun. Peter van der Maas, who joined Wagner in opposing the application, asked about plans for veterinary care, with Bauman noting during the meeting that his veterinarian is located in Burlington, something which gave pause to Wagner who wanted to know what would happen if a puppy needed urgent medical care and had to be taken to Burlington.

The Baumans are looking to breed golden retrievers and cocker spaniels, starting with 10 dogs. With the application approved, they plan to build a new structure on their property to house the animals. The building will include poured concrete flooring with in-floor heating, self draining floors, a supply of fresh water and a new heating system.