Anyone had any experience of reporting that you believe a dog is being mistreated?

[MaureenMLove]

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be very useful! It's for a colleague.

Since the beginning of summer holidays, so at least 7 or 8 weeks now, a neighbour has had a dog permanently in the garden. All it does is bark and whimper from morning till night.

From where my colleague lives, it's about 4 doors up, but due to the lay out of the houses, she can see pretty much all of their garden from her upstairs window. She's got lots of photos of the mess of the garden and sound bites of the dog barking and crying.

She's also seen and heard the family shouting at the dog to shut up and the young daughter yelling instructions at him from inside the house.

She's phoned RSPCA a number of times and they keep telling her that they can't just go round there, unless she has evidence that the dog is being mistreated. (The pictures of the garden from a distance aren't enough).

They also say that it's a council problem, because of the noise. Council say they can't go round there, but has she tried RSPCA

Anyone got any ideas where she could try? It is a noise issue she says. It's constant, all day, every day. Equally though, although she can't be 100% certain, the dog is being mistreated, so where do you go from there?

If it was a child, you'd make a call, so why are the RSPCA so reluctant to do the same?

What do you think? Any ideas?

Been there.

Our neighbour was a backyard breeder who was beating his puppies with a stick, leaving them outside in mess, screaming at them etc. He even chucked a dead puppy in the wheelie bin.

RSPCA were useless. I don't know what the answer is.

An mner not so long ago sent her dh over the wall on a rescue mission....
We all backed her.

you could try battersea, maybe they would come round and check on the dog, or at least advise what to do next? phone number: 0800 001 4444.

you could also try homes4dogs : 07709036103 (near Peterborough)

Could you offer to rehome it for her?
Maybe ££££ would be an incentive if you could afford it?

Thanks for replies. Unfortunately, my friend is definitely someone who doesn't want to get involved with the family at all. They are not pleasant types and it's highly unlikely that they'll respond positively.

I don't think making any sort of contact is very wise.

Such a difficult situation. She's text me just now and told me she's contacted the out of hours noise team at the council. Not sure if they'll come out, I'll find out in the morning I guess.

I'll give her that number for Homes4dogs. We're in South London though, so not sure if they can help. Battersea couldn't help either.

Seriously, it's ridiculous. All summer we hear, 'you wouldn't leave a child in a hot car, so why do it to a dog', but when it comes to what goes on behind closed doors it's OK? I'm not an animal lover I have to confess, but I can see how much it's upsetting my friend, knowing that she's trying to potentially save a dog and she's getting nowhere fast!

I reported someone who regularly left their dog in the car all day outside work. Rspca turned up.

Also my Mum reported someone who was mistreating their dog. She had no proof as it were because it only happened in front of her briefly and the RSPCA did a welfare check.

Ring the rspca again, tell them you think it has an untreated injury - much more chance of them attending than a dog that’s ‘just’ left outside, as unfortunately loads of dogs are

...and once they attend, they can advise. Or perhaps the owners will sign the dog over