The owner of a Tagish dog rescue has been given more time to get rid of 53 dogs currently in her care.

Following a four-day trial last October, Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower granted an injunction in the case.

It required Shelly Cuthbert, the owner and operator of Any Domesticated Animal Rescue and Boarding Kennels, to reduce the number of dogs on her property to two by Feb. 11, 2018.

Gower found that the noise from barking dogs is a nuisance to six property owners in the Tagish Estates rural residential neighbourhood.

On Wednesday afternoon, Justice John James Lyon Hunter, representing the Yukon Court of Appeal, granted a partial stay of that injunction.

He noted that in the three months since Gower’s decision, the number of dogs at the rescue has only been reduced to 55.

“On present trajectory, it seems clear that she will not be compliant with the trial order by Feb. 11, 2018,” Hunter said.

He did not, however, grant Cuthbert’s application for a complete stay of the injunction before her appeal can be heard in May.

For the court to order the stay of an injunction, he explained, the applicant must prove their appeal has merit and that they will suffer irreparable harm if it is not granted.

Hunter agreed that Cuthbert’s concern that many of her dogs will have to be euthanized constitutes irreparable harm. However, he found “no merit” in her appeal.

Cuthbert’s grounds for appeal include claims that Gower did not ensure she understood the proceedings against her, nor invite her to make submissions on a remedy.

She also argues there were “serious problems” with his treatment of the evidence.

She says the injunction is “completely out of proportion to what is necessary to ensure that the nuisance is abated.”

Hunter said Wednesday, “It may be that by the time this appeal is perfected, one of these arguments will be seen to have more merit, although without the assistance of counsel, I consider that most unlikely.”

Cuthbert is self-represented on appeal, as she was during trial.

She says she is now being assisted “in the background” by a friend with legal knowledge.

Although Hunter found Cuthbert did not meet the two-part test to grant a stay, he said it was not in the interest of justice to dismiss it completely.

He considered submissions by Graham Lang, the lawyer representing the six neighbours, on conditions for a partial stay.

Lang had told the court his clients aren’t opposed to a partial stay as long as it’s based on a “real effort” by Cuthbert to respond to the nuisance finding and begin reducing the number of dogs on her property.

Hunter found while all of the conditions proposed by Lang may not be acceptable to Cuthbert, they are “reasonable in the circumstances.”

He also noted they are the only basis for which he is prepared to issue a stay. Otherwise, Cuthbert will be in breach of the injunction.

Under the new ruling, beginning Feb. 1, Cuthbert will be required to surrender 10 dogs by the 15th of each month to the Yukon government’s Animal Health Unit, subject to the number of dogs it will accept.

This will continue until the number of dogs on the property has been pared to 10 or until the appeal can be heard.

Cuthbert must also stop accepting dogs into her care.

She must keep all dogs indoors at night between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. to prevent her neighbours from being awakened by barking.

If Cuthbert does not comply with these new conditions, Hunter ruled, her neighbours may apply to rescind the partial stay.

Cuthbert had expressed concern that appropriate homes will not be found for all the dogs she must surrender, and that they will be euthenized.

She also said seven of her dogs stay outside 24/7 as they don’t do well indoors and don’t mix well with her other dogs.

Finally, she was concerned about being prevented from taking animals in, as she has a dog catching contract with the Carcross-Tagish First Nation.