A dog owner who has forked out more than $100,000 defending his two Jack Russells in an astonishing five-year long legal fight insists his pets haven’t done anything wrong.
Glenn Tong was charged by the Boroondara Council in October 2020 for allowing his dogs, Marco and Mia, to bark excessively at his Hawthorn home in the eastern Melbourne suburbs.
The dog owner was subsequently found guilty and told Daily Mail he risks losing his home if he doesn’t appeal the verdict.
Mr Tong has already spent more than $100,000 defending Marco and Mia, and estimates he’ll pay at least $60,000 more.
The original complaint accused Mr Tong of allowing the dogs to bark excessively, particularly early in the mornings and late at night.
It was alleged the barking was a nuisance to his neighbours.
Mr Tong, who is the chief executive of biotech company VGI Health, objected to the complaint and is adamant his dogs are not to blame.
‘When the council asked me, ‘Are they your dogs barking?’ I said no because these dogs sleep in the bed with me and my wife,’ he said.
‘If the dogs barked we would know, they sleep under the duvet between us. But, the council didn’t listen.’
Mr Tong insisted he had a ‘good relationship’ with most neighbours in his apartment building and that the small minority who complained were ‘mostly old people’.
Four years after being charged, Mr Tong appeared in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last year hoping to make his case with his legal team but claimed he was given a ‘truncated hearing’.
Mr Tong and his dogs are represented by ‘s only dog lawyer Brett Melke and criminal barrister Tass Antos.
‘The magistrate was adamant she wanted to finish the hearing on a certain date, even though we told her with that timeframe, there is no way we can present our evidence properly,’ Mr Tong said.
‘My lawyer, my barrister and I decided if we’re not going to be able to present our evidence properly let’s make sure we don’t present any evidence.
Mr Tong was found guilty, fined $2300, and ordered to engage a professional trainer for his dogs.
His legal team immediately filed an appeal, which he said was ‘all part of our strategy’.
Explaining why this matter is so important to him, Mr Tong said he ‘would never plead guilty for charges where I’m not guilty’.
‘The dogs clearly don’t bark excessively, they bark, every single dog barks,’ he said.
‘The allegation of dogs barking early in the morning, late at night, every day and that they react to every single stimuli is completely rubbish.’
‘I’m not guilty and neither are the dogs.’
Mr Tong faces a fine of up to $198 for each dog, $396 in total.
Mr Tong will return to court in November for a 10 day hearing, where 23 witnesses are set to give evidence.
He insisted that he ‘doesn’t care about the money.
‘I’m fighting for my home and my dogs,’ he said.
The businessman feared the complaining neighbours could take the guilty verdict to a tribunal and declare his dogs a nuisance.
‘They could give a removal order, so I would be ordered to remove the dogs within 28 days and that’s not going to happen,’ he said.
‘Our dogs are our lives. They go everywhere with us. If we’re ordered to remove them from our home, we would have to move and find another home.’
Mr Tong has set up a GoFundMe page in Marco and Mia’s name to help fund the court case.
Daily Mail has contacted Boroondara Council for comment.