Jack-jack and his three litter mates Willow, Scooter and Gilbert were born August 31st 2006 at our home in Jordan MN. Our female Rat Terrier Windy was a good mom and all four puppies thrived. She was so good that she wouldn't let our male terrier Walker even get near the pups. We didn't want to be irresponsible pet owners so we were careful to have four good homes prearranged for the puppies. As the time came for the puppies to go to one by one they left the house until only Jack remained at our home along with Walker and Windy. At the last minute the family we had arranged to take Jack changed their mind. Two other families that had shown some interest in Jack decided against taking him too. We began to get concerned about ever finding a home for him and started to explore the possibility of keeping him. A neighbor said she thought we could only have two dogs so we went to Jordan City Hall to find out if we could keep him. The person at the desk told us we could have three dogs as long as we were diligent about keeping the yard
clean and made sure they were not a problem to the neighbors. With an O.K. from City Hall to keep him we continued to pursue another home for him to no avail. As the weeks passed we grew more and more attached to him until there was no question that he was meant to be ours. To minimize any negative impact on our neighbors we purchased an anti-bark collar that we began to switch between the dogs, installed a Hidden Fence to keep them in our yard and we have done our best to keep them indoors as much as possible. To our knowledge we have had no complaints to the City about our dogs and have currently confined them to our back yard and have an anti-bark collars on all of them whenever they are outside. All seemed well until the night of the block party. Michelle Guscette (a Jordan police officer) was at our next door neighbor's house wrapping up some details about the block party when she noticed the dogs. Nothing was said at the time. A few days later we received a certified letter from the city stating that we could not have three pets of the same type and that we had twenty days to comply with the ordinance. We were shocked to say the least. How could this be? We had gone to City Hall directly and had been given permission for three dogs! Monday August 11th we were at City Hall at 8:30 am to ask about the letter. The woman at the desk looked very uncomfortable when she told us there had been some policy changes and quickly brought officer Guscette out to speak with us. Officer Guscette also confirmed some change in policy and then challenged us to provide proof that we were given permission from anyone at City Hall to keep three dogs. She stated that the current ordinance was what it was, that her job was to enforce it and that the only way we could keep Jack was to apply for a Kennel Permit which would not be likely to be granted. We went before the Jordan City Council on Monday August 18th to seek approval for a Kennel Permit and were refused. Police Chief Robert Malz recommended we not be granted a permit even though He admitted it was possible that we had been told that we could keep three dogs. Likewise, Mayor Jabs appeared unmoved by our situation and even went so far as to not allow us to speak once the council began to discuss the situation. The four council members in attendance seemed sympathetic to us but one by one three of the four fell in line with Mayor Jab's and Chief Malz's wishes. If the council will not reconsider a kennel license for us we will be forced to get rid of Jack-jack.
Please help us by calling City Hall at 952-492-2535 to voice your disapproval of the City Council's decision, sending an email to us at hiddenfence@frontiernet.net to add your name to our petition to keep Jack-jack or working to vote in a new city council and Mayor in this November's election so a permit can be reconsidered.
Thank you for your help!
The Peterson Family
