The Select Board declared a Briarwood Beach man’s two pit bull puppies to be a nuisance at its meeting on Tuesday, April 4.

Briarwood Beach residents and Department of Natural Resources officers testified that the dogs, belonging to Kenneth Andrews, have exhibited a pattern of aggressive behavior. 

Officer Devin Cloutier described the situation as “an ongoing loose dog issue.” 

“I have issued several citations to the dog owner with no resolution,” Cloutier said.

Cloutier said that she has responded to 12 calls to Andrews’s house for loose dogs, issuing three citations. 

Andrews told the Select Board that he has already surrendered two dogs in the past because he couldn’t contain them. 

He acknowledged that he was responsible for his dogs’ behavior, but said that other residents of the neighborhood are harassing him and falsely accusing his dogs.

Andrews claimed that people have come to his house to harass his dogs, with one bringing a baseball bat onto his property.

Briarwood Beach resident Pam Silver testified that several neighborhood dog owners have had issues with Andrews’ dogs, and claimed that Andrews’ pit bulls have attacked other dogs.

“We all feel very afraid as dog owners,” Silver said. “We walk [our dogs] on leash on Briarwood Drive, but make every attempt not to walk by [Andrews’] house because we’re all afraid.”

Andrews said he’d like Silver to prove her allegations. 

Briarwood Beach resident Edward Pacewicz told the Select Board that Andrews’ dogs have aggressively barked at him multiple times while he went to get his mail. 

Andrews said he recalled this happening only once, and claimed to have security camera footage proving that the other incidents did not happen. 

He added that he has been keeping his dogs indoors recently.

Department of Natural Resources officers confirmed that they have not received a loose dog call to Andrews’s house since February 15. 

Now that the dogs are officially a nuisance, Andrews must follow the Department of Natural Resources’s guidelines for nuisance dogs. He must keep the dogs within a secure enclosure, microchip them and hold them on a short leash while walking them. 

Andrews agreed to the requirements. If no other complaints are made within two years, the dogs will no longer be labeled a nuisance.