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A woman with 18 dogs, some of which belonged to her two sons who have died, has reacted angrily to suggestions her pets keep villagers up at all hours of the night.

The woman, who lives near Drefach, Felindre, in Carmarthenshire , has been the subject of complaints from local residents because of an “incredible” level of noise alleged to be coming from her property.

One neighbour claimed that loud barking from the dogs had woken his family on many occasions.

The resident, who did not want to be named, alleged earlier this month: “Every night we can be woken up between eleven in the evening to seven in the morning. The children are being disturbed in the night, and can’t get off to sleep properly.”

The neighbour even argued that housing prices in the area were being affected due to the noise pollution.

The owner of the dogs has now hit back, however.

(Image: Adrian White)

She also did not want to be named but claimed to WalesOnline that her 18 dogs - nine German Shepherds and nine Jack Russells - did not make noise during the night.

“One of the complainants said the dogs have been barking in the nights since February; well, we didn’t move here until May, so whatever people heard before then, it can’t have been our dogs,” said the woman, who has erected her own kennels for her pets to live in.

“The only reason they do bark is if we have trespassers on the land, and we’ve been forced to contact police about that in the past.

“One neighbour came over once at around 4am and even brought his kids with him. He was shouting and telling the dogs to be quiet, but that just made the dogs bark even more.

“If it’s so bad then why does my nearest neighbour not seem to have a problem with it?”

One neighbour had such an issue with the noise that he had environmental health officers sat in his bedroom at night to try to measure the sound levels.

He said: “It is quite intrusive and uncomfortable having two people sat in your bedroom late at night.

“With kids in the house it’s hard, but you have to go above and beyond to make a change.

“They (the dog owners) seem in complete disregard of us. The noise hasn’t changed, despite letters being sent," he claimed.

“So many people have complained; it's a village issue.”

(Image: Google)

But the owner of the dogs said she and her husband had no issue with neighbours around their previous home in Hereford, where they lived before they moved to west Wales in May.

She also explained why she had 18 dogs.

“Some of them belonged to my two sons who have both died. One of my sons drowned and the other was killed in a car accident."

Carmarthenshire Council has served a noise abatement notice on her, but she stressed that her beloved pets were not a nuisance to anyone.

“I know that people are now monitoring the noise levels in the night," she added. "But, there are dogs all over this area. It’s not my dogs that are making the noise.”