Barking Mad: Neighbors On Upper West Side Upset By Constant Barking From Pet Store's Back Yard
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Some Upper West Side residents are furious after being forced to listen to dozens of barking dogs during a doggy daycare renovation project.
Some neighbors say the dogs are being verbally abused too.
Video posted to YouTube by the West Side Rag captures the scene.
Residents near 72nd Street have been listening to dogs barking all day long for weeks.
"Probably ten, 12 hours a day," Gio Rakaj told CBS2's Marc Liverman. Rakaj is a superintendent and neighbor.
"It's very annoying," said resident Laura Deponte.
Residents who live next door tell Liverman it started getting really noisy when Spot Canine Club started doing renovations. More and more dogs started being brought out into a courtyard.
"To see everyone frustrated. A lot of people work their apartments and it's very, very said," Rakaj told Liverman.
Another neighbor told Liverman he filed a 311 complaint, and it didn't help.
Mixed in with all that barking, people started noticing something else: What sounds like an employee yelling at the animals.
"They shouldn't be yelling at their dogs," Rakaj said.
Liverman brought the concerns to Spot Canine Club.
"That's not how our staff is trained. This I guess is an outlying event and that person in question will be retrained," said general manager Nicole Patterson.
Patterson told Liverman the employee could face termination. As for the recent spike in loud barking?
"No comment," she said, and shut the door on Liverman.
She did say renovations were ongoing, but didn't say when they'd be complete. That's bad news for neighbors next door.
The city's Planning Commission told CBS2 the building is zoned for pet stores, but not kennels.
