Neighbours on holiday and left dog in house

Why the fuck is the 'someone popping in' not giving more of a shit about this poor, poor dog???? I would have that Dog out of there and staying with me pronto. Or I would stay with the Dog all day, any which way I could. I could not leave the little one there alone like that, my conscience wouldn't allow it. Evil fuckers doing this to their pet.

Jesus this has made my blood boil and my heart break for that poor dog. I can't even imagine leaving my dogs for a full day, never mind going on holiday!!!

We have two dogs and one has severe separation anxiety so he doesn't ever really get left on his own apart from maybe a couple of hours from time to time. Even then I have the camera on him and ready to go home if I see he's not settling! I also tell the neighbours (on both sides) if we're going out so they can text me if they hear him barking / howling as it's not fair to subject them to that either.

I would ring the RSPCA, the local council and the police. One of them will have to do something.

Our neighbours did this regularly - buggered off overseas for 3 weeks at a time, and were too tight to pay for proper dog boarding. I ended up making arrangements for the dog, because they would dump this on me the evening before they left (& because I couldn't bear to see the dog suffer).
I took it to the vets once because it was getting lots of bald patches & the vet told me the dog had a pet passport so there was no reason they couldn't have taken it away with them. The bald patches were due to stress, unsurprisingly. This contributed to the break down of any friendship we had with the neighbours.

That dog died a few years ago, and I hoped they wouldn't get another dog as they are bad owners in other ways - walks only at weekends, inconsistent training, but they did a year ago. And this summer they have buggered off again leaving the new dog at home. There is someone going into the house daily and walking the dog - so at least it is getting walks - but it's far from ideal. I don't live close enough to know if the dog is crying. Some people should not be allowed to own pets.

Sorry, from my experience and conversations I had with the vet at the time, I don't think the RSPCA will be any help in this situation. But because the dog is crying, it may be worth trying the council dog warden.

In a situation like this you start to think: am I the weird one for finding the dog’s distress distressing if nobody else seemingly gives a shit?

Unless you’re also shouting this post out loud, as far as all your neighbours are concerned you also don’t appear to give a shit.

WTF?! I thought those "pet feeder" people who come on holiday were for cats or small animals?! You can't leave a dog on it's own all day and night with just someone popping in to feed them and let them into the garden?!?! Surely that's illegal?!

Oh me too. I'm livid. Please do what you can and must OP.

This is EXACTLY what I would do. ASAP.

Someone I know adopted a beagle. He was telling me how the previous owners had also got this dog as a rescue, then promptly went away for a holiday and left it alone in the house. He had access to a large bag of food. No idea how they sorted the water situation. Anyway, when they got home they took him back to the rescue centre, because they were angry that he had shit all over the house. Even though he had been locked inside the house for the duration of their holiday. Some people really shouldn't be allowed to have pets.

Anyway, back to the Op, I would speak to the feeder at the next visit, get contact details for the neighbour and send them a message about how distressed the dog is. Ask a family member to collect it.

They are all bonkers but brilliantly so. Some appeared on Facebook on a do you know these people post, they were accused of stealing a pet but locals knew how it was kept and updated the post and no one dobbed them in which I think proves our general dislike of pet poor treatment.

This has made me so sad and angry. Please OP follow up all avenues of help that you can. These ‘people’ don’t deserve to have a dog. The poor mite. My blood is boiling.
Thank goodness you care.

They sound like an amazing group of people!

@PrimaryBufferPanel just making sure you’ve seen @HoneyLimesBlossom ‘s post

I feel like I’ve stumbled into an alternative universe.

The laws around pet ownership and responsibilities are extremely low bar. The law around noise disturbance might be easier to get somewhere.
Id be extremely tempted to find a way to get the dog out via the community, as i think everyone will be feeling similarly

PM the person above. It might be someone like my old dog walker who was forever pinching neglected dogs and rehoming them. The old Alsatian that lived chained in a yard now is found lounging on luxury cushions and is partial to rotisserie chicken. The cockerpoo that was a matted mess who was regularly left over night in the garden with a few manky bowls put down has had quite the glow up and looks like it should be titled. There is a bit of a group of like minded people and there is a horse division too. They buy neglected pets where possible but where it isn’t…

Phone the council- noise pollution.

This is so sad. My mum’s neighbour ended up in hospital and even though he had arranged feeders to pop in, poor Charleydog was howling and miserable. Thankfully my mum is a soft touch and soon Charley was happily playing fetch with my nephews, had stewed steak treats and spent his days being petted under his own special blanket.
The neighbour is totally recovered but Charley knows a good thing when he sees it and howls the house down when he sees my mum’s car, so has to come in nightly “for a little bedtime story” or he won’t settle…

RSPCA are REALLY hard to get hold of . We had an issue recently where an animal needed assistance and couldn’t get hold of them till I contacted them saying I wanted to leave a large gift in my will 😂😂😂 managed to speak to an actual person then !!!! Who I told that I needed an issue sorted that day then I’d consider adding them to my will 😂 They did actually attend the same day then.

That poor dog.

Clearly the dog sitter doesn't care much about the animal either, else they'd not be complicit in this. 20 mins a day is nothing.

I'm not saying it's the feeders job to have the dog in their home, but they've agreed with the owners it was ok to only see the dog once a day for 20 mins.

Cheapskate wankers. Find a proper bloody kennel, get a mate to dog sit. I could no way just dump mine. RSPCA and replace the tape as needed.

We sourced a kennels with very few others, run by the treasurer of the gundog club, huge indoor space with big run outdoors and 2 acres which was stockfenced. Expensive but we considered it part of the holiday cost.

I've never found the RSPCA to be of much use, and that's putting it mildly.

If the dog is being visited, fed and watered, even once a day, the RSPCA can’t and won’t do a thing.

Call the RSPCA. There was a horrific story they put on their social media a few months ago where a family left their dog alone when they went to centre parcs, RSPCA were called by a neighbour and the police broke the door down, but the dog was so unwell and couldn't be saved, she'd eaten loads of rubbish from the bin and was severely emaciated. Not saying that would be the same in this case because someone is going in, but 20 minutes is nothing. Fuck people who don't care for their animals properly.

OMG. Definitely call the RSCPA.

I am so upset for this unknown dog hat this has made me well up (my last dog had separation anxiety and cried when I did so much as went to the corner shop). Going to snuggle with my two spaniels now (got two so they were never alone) and be grateful we found a lovely in-home boarding service for them so that they were very cared for when we went away recently.

The rspca can only check if any one is visiting, and if the dog is getting food and water. Unless its in very bad condition skinny or unable to move they cannot do much else by law. I would speak to the person who visits, and offer to look after the dog. Explain the dog is stressed and not settling.