East Goshen keeps four-dog limit for most residents

How many dogs are too many dogs?

Five. So says one Chester County town, where officials voted Tuesday to continue limiting most residents to four dogs.

The East Goshen Township Board of Supervisors revisited its canine restriction after dogs mauled a couple last year. Board members learned that they needed to give reasons for the limit, which dates to 1983.

Some members on Tuesday questioned the choice of the number, saying the board had no justification for it. Other members said no resident had ever challenged the four-dog limit.

In front of about a dozen residents, the board voted, 3-2, to keep the limit.

Restricting pet ownership protects "the public health, safety, and welfare," according to the newly updated dog ordinance. East Goshen also restricts the numbers of cats, birds, rabbits, and other small animals to six, depending on property size.

The township will be able to take residents to court for violating the dog restriction. A judge would decide penalties. But the township will not take people's pets, said Solicitor Kristin Camp.

Limiting pets is a common practice among municipalities. Most restrictions in Pennsylvania are on par with East Goshen's four-dog limit, said Nicole Wilson, a humane-law enforcement officer with the Pennsylvania SPCA.

Some municipalities permit residents to keep more pets if they are spayed or neutered.

Philadelphia allows residents to have 12 adult dogs or cats combined, as long as the animals cannot reproduce.

Other municipalities, such as West Chester Borough, do not have dog limits, but restrict the numbers of horses, cows, and hens, and ban pigs and roosters.

Many towns have dog limits that go back decades. The ones that are adopting new laws are usually in places where rural and urban populations are merging, or the laws are in reaction to a problem, Wilson said.

Allowing an unlimited number of pets could lead to accumulation of waste, and damage to public and private property, and excessive noise could annoy neighbors, according to East Goshen's ordinance.

"At the end of the day, we have animal overpopulation issues pervading across the country," said Melanie Kahn, senior director of the Humane Society of the United States' Stop Puppy Mills campaign.

The more pets a person has, the more likely a situation could become animal cruelty, she said.

Uncontrolled animal populations put burdens on local taxpayers, who have to pay to deal with the consequences, she said.

Bill Smith, founder and executive director of Main Line Animal Rescue, said he understands the desire to prevent pet hoarding and dogs roaming neighborhoods. But he said rules such as East Goshen's set arbitrary limits and do not end the bad habits of some pet owners.

"I think they're really unfair," he said.

The number of dogs should not matter as long as people are responsible pet owners, he said.

East Goshen's limit of four dogs age 3 months or older applies to homeowners who have fewer than three acres.

Residents of single-family homes on three or more acres can have another dog for each additional acre.

610-313-8207@MichaelleBond