By Olivia Condous
A longstanding Melton dog school has been forced to move from their home of eighteen years by the Melton council.
Brigitte Anders has run her dog training small business, Brigitte’s Dog School, at Willows Historical Park since 2004 but was told last year via an email from the City of Melton that she was no longer permitted to use the grounds as a commercial business.
“After eighteen years, all because I’m commercial, but really I’m a hobby business and I only run on a Saturday morning… I’ve never had a complaint,” Ms Anders said.
The City of Melton offered the alternative location of Cambrian Way Reserve for the dog school, but after trying to use the grounds Ms Anders found it wasn’t safe for dogs.
“There’s rubbish dumped there all the time… one of my instructors found a needle there,
“If you actually go on the ground, it’s never been top-soiled, it’s never been grassed… It was a paddock that they’ve mown and it’s full of burrs.”
Ms Anders said she had already seen a drop in class attendance due to the poor quality of the new location.
“We’re getting dogs going home and owners complaining to us because they’ve spent 15 minutes trying to get the burrs out of the dog’s coat,”
“It’s not appropriate for a professional dog school.”
Ms Anders also runs Melton Assistance Dogs through her dog school, a subsidized program to help train dogs for community members with mental illnesses or disabilities.
As another not-for-profit dog training group is still permitted to run classes at Willows Historical Park, Ms Anders said she won’t be moving the training of her community-focussed program.
“If they want to move me they’re going to have a fight on their hands, because if they move me, they move the under group as well.”
Ms Anders said she was aware that the council changed the policy to prohibit commercial practices that may damage the grounds, such as weekend markets, but argued assessment should be made on a case by case basis.
“There’s a need for this type of thing in Melton, there’s a lot of dogs that need training, I started the whole thing because at the time there were a lot of dogs actually attacking kids,” she said.
“I do it because it’s a passion of mine, I want to see dogs live a happy and healthy life, by people training their dogs so they’re happy and then the dog’s happy.”
City of Melton acting manager of engagement and advocacy Elissa Haley said the council decided last year that it would not endorse future use of the public open space at the Willows Historical Park for any commercial purposes.
“It’s a high profile public open space and the council wants to ensure the Willows is available for everybody to use, and not limited by commercial activities,
“Council officers have been working to help Brigitte’s Dog School transition to its new site at Cambrian Way Reserve in Melton, including undertaking works at the site to reduce burrs and improve the ground surface.”
