Dog drama in West Hartford, CT

(West Hartford-WTNH (www.wtnh.com) _ A West Hartford woman has filed a lawsuit against the town of West Hartford to keep her precious pups in her home.

Faith Kilburn lives in West Hartford with her 21-Shih Tzu dogs. But a complaint from a neighbor has led to a 3-year battle with the town. A town ordinance says that residents may only have 2-dogs in a home.

"I'm hoping that the zoning board will realize that this isn't really a problem, they are making it a problem," said Kilburn.

Back in 2004, the town gave her a special use permit providing she reduce the number of dogs in her home. In that time, only one of the dogs has died and she does not want to get rid of the others. Now that the permit has expired, the case will go to court next month. Kilburn is planning to hold a rally in the center of town on Saturday to raise support for her case.

"Don't try and stop me from loving my dogs. I will not stop," said Kilburn.

The dog warden says her house is immaculate and all the dogs are well cared for but she is still 19-dogs over the limit.

"I only want a temporary permit until my dogs die. In fact, one died last week, my youngest one. I never expected it and you don't know what it has done to me," said Kilburn.

----------My take on this....21 dogs are a bit much, but at the same time, she's living in a clean environment and the dogs are all healthy. It's a lot more then others who abuse and neglect their dogs. At least this person is caring for them and treating them well. Here's hoping the town will let her keep her pups.