exercise her pet more vigorously and keep it indoors for a period each day.

Acting Magistrate the Wor. Paul King found the dog, which belongs to Elaine Furbert, of My Lord's Bay Lane, Hamilton Parish, was making "an unreasonable amount of noise''.

If the situation did not improve, he warned, the court could order the dog be put down. "Obviously the dog is very dear to you. I want to stop this before someone makes an order that would upset you.'' Furbert denied she allowed her dog to bark continuously between June 20 and August 19 last year. But two neighbours testified the dog caused a disturbance from as early as 6 a.m. between those dates.

"This dog has been yapping outside my window ever since it was a puppy,'' said neighbour Joan Ford.

Leon Smith said he was annoyed by the dog's early morning barking on weekends.

But Furbert vigorously denied her dog, an 11-year-old German Shepherd mix called Tommy, ever caused a problem. "My dog is a good dog. He takes care of the house when strangers come, he loves company and he's a good ratter,'' she claimed.

Mr. King further advised Furbert, who received a conditional discharge for the same complaint two years ago, to feed the dog twice a day thereby preventing it from barking before its morning meal.