Tears, frustrations and accusations permeated the trial in the nuisance case against the owner of a Tagish dog rescue.

It concluded Friday with Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower reserving decision on what will happen to Any Domesticated Animal Rescue and Boarding Kennels.

Six Tagish landowners say the rescue doesn’t belong in a residential neighbourhood and are asking that a limit of two animals be imposed on the property.

They claim that since it opened in 2012, loud barking at all hours and the smell of dog poop have kept them from enjoying their properties.

Meanwhile, owner and operator Shelley Cuthbert says she has done her best to mitigate her neighbours’ concerns, and that she is being harassed.

She and her supporters say negative claims about the rescue are not true and that Cuthbert is providing an essential service.

Cpl. Geoffrey Peters, formerly with the Carcross RCMP detachment, testified in Cuthbert’s defence last Thursday. He recounted several calls he received from Cuthbert between 2012 and 2015 alleging mischief and vandalism of her property.

These included threats from a neighbour to remove her fencing, and anonymous online threats to kill her dogs.

Cuthbert’s electric fencing was also cut, her truck was egged and garbage was thrown at her head.

Over the years, she has also complained of vehicles “drag racing” past her property honking their horns. Bear bangers and gun shots agitating the dogs, and neighbours filming her property.

Cuthbert also said two of her dogs have died mysteriously. In 2012, a necropsy revealed one dog had died from anti-freeze poisoning.

Another dog died in 2013 from unknown causes. Cuthbert suspects that urinal cakes from a neighbour’s property near her fence line may have played a role.

Peters also testified that the rescue has not violated any criminal nor territorial laws.

Reba Miller, a supporter of Cuthbert, also testified that what she witnessed at the rescue does not match complaints heard in court.

The yard was kept clean, she said, and the dogs were well-behaved.

“It wasn’t what I’d expected to see based on the things I’d heard about you and the Tagish facility,” she told Cuthbert.

Miller believes negative press about Cuthbert and the rescue has led to a “witch hunt”.

“It’s been really easy I feel to sort of label and target you,” she said.

Cuthbert also testified in her own defence. She believes many of the problems with her neighbours are personal.

“Since the day I moved into the community, I felt unwelcome.”

She said before she bought the property in April 2012, she checked out the neighbourhood and applicable zoning and bylaws. She noted there are other animals and two dog mushers in the area.

“I bought it with the intention of retiring there.”

Cuthbert said she opened the rescue as there is a gap in services in the Yukon.

And she said she has seen first-hand the impact of dog issues as a frontline health worker in all three territories.

“The biggest issue is you have really good dogs that have bad owners,” she said.

At the rescue, Cuthbert works with dogs until they can be adopted into the “right home”.

Dogs are taught crate, house and basic training and are spayed and neutered before they leave the rescue, she said.

As well, she takes calls about loose dogs from the RCMP and has a dog catching contract with the Carcross-Tagish First Nation.

She also takes in dogs from across the Yukon and other territories and provinces.

Cuthbert also fosters and boards dogs and runs a 30-day boot camp program where she works with dogs and their owners.

The rescue is currently home to about 60 dogs and, at its height, housed 80.

Cuthbert said the dogs don’t bark constantly like her neighbours claim, and that her property doesn’t have a problem with smell.

She played a series of short videos for the court that demonstrated her dogs being quiet or exhibiting limited barking over a 30-day period.

“My dogs do bark, there’s no doubt they bark; they’re dogs,” she said.

But they only bark when she comes home, at feeding time or if there is a threat to the property, she claimed. And they normally settle down within five minutes and don’t bark longer than 20 minutes.

Part of the problem, Cuthbert said, is people intentionally agitating her dogs and damaging her property.

“I have lost so much sleep over the years always worrying what’s going to happen? What’s the next thing? I think enough is enough,” she said, breaking into tears.

Cuthbert said she feels she is being “singled out” in the neighbourhood, and if it wasn’t for her love of the dogs, she would have left.

“I do this for the dogs; I don’t do it for myself.”

Cuthbert also said she has done her best to deal with her neighbours’ concerns.

She has invested her retirement savings, $80,000 over the years, renovating her five-acre property and building fencing.

She cleans up the property daily and rotates the dogs that are outside at any given time. Only15 dogs sleep outside at night in the front yard, she said.

In 2012, Cuthbert also participated in mediation with the Selingers, who own a retirement home that shares a boundary with her yard. While they were offered a privacy fence, they refused to have it on their property.

If the rescue is shut down, Cuthbert said, some of the dogs would have to be euthenized and the territory would lose an invaluable service. She wished the issue could have been dealt with through communication rather than through the court.

“I see everyone as the victim, not just me,” she said. “This has been a no-win situation since day one.”

Meawhile, Graham Lang, the lawyer for the residents, said his clients are bearing the burden of the facility without any of the benefits.

The “vacuum of law” in the unincorpated area led to “bad blood,” he said.

While he doesn’t condone what Cuthbert has had to endure, he said, “the back and forth between neighbours in this situation is inevitable.”