Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to report my neighbours about leaving their dog?

78 replies

griprequired · 12/10/2011 13:04

Neighbours have bought a pedigree puppy, looks about 6 months.

They are out at work all day and whenever I drive past it is sitting forlornly in the window.

Is that grounds for reporting them or just a bit mean?

OP posts:
Hammy02 · 12/10/2011 13:52

YANBU but I don't think anything will be done. I don't think it is right that people can leave their animal for up to 10 hours and think it is acceptable Shock Your neighbours are idiots if they got a dog knowing this would be the case.

worraliberty · 12/10/2011 13:55

At least it's able to sit in the window

Some people crate their dogs while they're at work all day Sad

DooinMeCleanin · 12/10/2011 13:58

Just because lots of people do it, does not mean it's right. Lots of people smack their children, it doesn't mean it is the right thing to do. Dogs need company and interaction throughout the day, particularly young dogs.

My Greyhound will happily snooze all day, listening to me pottering about, but she'd eat her way out of my house if I left her home alone. She can cope with being left with my other two dogs for short times, but the level of destruction they can create in just three hours shows me that they've been bored and upto no good.

Ormirian · 12/10/2011 13:58

My dog could take Looking Forlorn to the level of an Olympic sport. It is one of his greatest talents. Along with nicking biscuits from a plate in the kitchen and farting.

Ormirian · 12/10/2011 14:03

However if I left him for 10 hrs a day 5 days a week he'd have good reason to look forlorn Sad

fourkids · 12/10/2011 14:08

Just because one person's greyhound would eat its way out of the house if left home alone, doesn't mean another person's labrador would do the same (delete labrador and insert whatever breed you will).

And to be fair (though it is a different debate and not one in which I am hugely interested), that is quite right DooinMeCleanin - 'Lots of people smack their children, it doesn't mean it is the right thing to do'. Also lots of people don't smack their children, it doesn't mean they are right either.

Lots of people keep cats indoors with a litter tray, and lots let them out to catch mice and poo in the garden. Doesn't mean either party is right...however, what is right for one cat might not be right for another. Likewise one dog and another.

Some dogs suffer from seperation anxiety, and some can't manage without a wee all day. but some are perfectly well-adjusted and go to sleep on the sofa until their owner gets home.

CaptainNancy · 12/10/2011 14:20

Art- this dog is never walked. It is let out into the garden (well, yard really) daily, except when they go on holiday, when it is inside the whole time Sad

That can't be okay for an animal surely?

fourkids · 12/10/2011 14:27

CaptainNancy

your question about holidays is hard, but still not clear cut. A dog stuck in kennels is often basically in the situiation you describe - but it is also out of its home environment which can be stressful for many dogs. Often dogs return from (even very good) kennels with seperation problems, wetting inside, and a little traumatised. It may be that the owners have made a calculated decision based upon the temperament/needs of their individual dog. Maybe they have tried different arrangemnets and realised that this one suits their dog best.
Or maybe not...but I don't suppose it will kill it to be left every now and then.

Tanif · 12/10/2011 14:29

My dog sits forlornly in my bedroom window.

Well, you might interpret it as 'forlornly', actually I'm sat downstairs being ignored between walkies whilst she presides as lady of all she surveys...

DooinMeCleanin · 12/10/2011 14:33

fourkids, have you had much experience with dogs?

If I found out the kennels I use were not walking my dogs twice a day at least I'd shoot the fucking owner, before reporting him to every welfare organisation I could think of, most boarding kennels walk the dogs daily at least.

Captain Nancy, no it is not right to keep an animal like that. Unfortunately there is not much that can be done about it. The RSPCA states that although walking the dog is ideal, so long as they have regular access to food, water and shelter they are not being neglected. This needs changing imo. If you suspect the dog is being left without food and water when they go on holiday I would not hesitate to report them.

fourkids · 12/10/2011 14:50

DooinMeCleanin, yep, professional. hundreds of them.

And, kennel staff walking a dog twice a day then popping it back into a concrete-floored kennel with a basket, blanket and food and water is little different to a dog-walker /neighbour walking and visiting someone's dog several times a day and leaving it between times in the comfort of its own home (except that it won't be traumatised, as some are, by a dozen other dogs yipping at/around it all day).

the point is that all dogs are different and have different comfort zones, just like people. And what suits one may not suit another.

I'd be the first to report a neglectful/cruel dog (or other animal) owner. In fact I have done so on more than one occasion, and yes "If you suspect the dog is being left without food and water when they go on holiday I would not hesitate to report them", quite right too, but how you would be in a position to suspect this, I'm not too sure.

But I don't think that people judging others and ringing the RSPCA when they don't/can't know all the facts is very helpful, particularly when this thread is about someone feeling upset that a dog's owners go out to work.

CaptainNancy · 12/10/2011 14:51

Well- as I said, someone goes in to feed/water once a day. But the poor dog is so lonely- we hear her keening.

ArtVandelay · 12/10/2011 14:53

Dooin is right - this issue is like spanking. Spanking is not illegal (in the UK), but I and a lot of people don't have the stomach for it. If you can get a dog and just lock it up all the time and not feel bad about it then you are a much tougher person than me. You can shut your dog up all day and as long as its fed and not in its own faeces then you won't get in trouble.

New research and findings are coming out all the time though that show animals have a much, much higher emotional function that we previously thought and that they crave family and friendships and get hurt feelings and experience joy etc. Maybe at some point in the future being unkind in this way will be outlawed.

Captain that sounds like a very sad life for a dog :(

fourkids · 12/10/2011 14:54

CaptainNancy,

TBH I don't think popping in to let a dog out and feed it once a day is enough. Do you really mean once in each 24 hour period?

fourkids · 12/10/2011 14:59

The trouble is, it is easy to judge other people. One of my dogs is currently lying upside down asleep by my feet with a ball wedged in his mouth. Later on though, he will come to bed with me - shock horror - some would judge me for letting him sleep in bed, or sit on the settee. they would say he wasn't being properly trained to know his place as a dog and, as such, he might suffer from some mental anguish due to not understanding that he is actually a dog.

DooinMeCleanin · 12/10/2011 15:06

I don't worry about dogs being on the sofa fourkids, mine are currently comandeering the whole sofa between them, although there is a staffy sized gap between Whippy and the grey. I keep pointing this out to DH but he's not having any of it Sad

I still firmly believe that it is cruel to regularly leave a dog alone for more than four hours. This belief is one that is shared by very many welfare and rescue organisations. Dogs are very sociable and need company, yes some might seem happy enough to be left for longer, but in all fairness how can you tell the difference between happy and resigned?

fourkids · 12/10/2011 15:18

DooinMeCleanin,

I don't necessarily disagree with you about regularly leaving dogs...except that many dogs are regularly left, and do appear (in all judgeable ways) to be happy.

A lot of dogs sleep, or even kind of mentally shut down a little till their owners come home. While one would rather they were being stimulated, they aren't actually suffering. Some do get distraught. Some get distraught if left for ten munutes!

So, I'm not disagreeing with you. But I am disagreeing with those who get their knickers in a twist and call the RSPCA because in their opinion a dog is being left alone too much (and it's actually fine), or call SS because in their opinion someone's house is too grubby to properly raise a child (and yes, I agree that we should all be great parents, but unfortunately not everyne is, but most aren't bad enough to need intervention either), or call the RSPCA because they think a donkey is too thin (when it may actually be very, very old, under the care of a vet and quite contented). I could go on...but I won't.

I'm not saying that sometimes intervening isn't the correct thing to do. Sometimes it is. But IMHO a dog that stays at home when its owners go to work isn't. If the RSPCA spent their time dealing with things like that, they'd have even less time/funds/resources to deal with real cruelty.

CaptainNancy · 12/10/2011 15:29

Yes- I believe it to be once in a 24 hour period. But RSPCA won't be interested?

Nancy66 · 12/10/2011 15:34

RSPCA and Dog Trust both told me that the animals need to be regularly left for periods of 24 hours or more for them to do anything

DooinMeCleanin · 12/10/2011 16:06

I should probably envy people who are able to leave their dogs. I have just left mine for no longer than 20 minutes. I made sure they went to the toilet prior to me going. I left the backdoor open despite it being freezing, I returned home to no less than 3 pools of piss and two piles of shite, one pile was greyhound sized (not nice), all because it is raining and only the terrier is dumb enough to venture out in the rain for the toilet. The other two will wait until I am not looking and piss somewhere warm and dry Hmm.

I just love coming home to aroma de dog shit.

diddl · 12/10/2011 16:16

Why would they do that, Dooin?

I assume that they don´t need to?

Is it protest at being left?

fourkids · 12/10/2011 16:19

CaptainNancy,
"this dog is never walked. It is let out into the garden (well, yard really) daily, except when they go on holiday, when it is inside the whole time"

So this dog...they don't live there with it? They aren't there in the evenings and night with it. It lives alone 24hrs a day and just gets let out once each 24hr period?

And they go away for a week/fortnight and no-one sees to it at all?

Am I being a bit dim? or is that right? (or, obviously, both are right!)

DooinMeCleanin · 12/10/2011 16:26

I have no idea diddl. They only ever do it when it's raining and I'm not home. They might have needed to go, they didn't go to the loo when I let them out before I went out, they just huddled under the window sill together and whimpered pathetically at me until I opened the door again, it's only spitting ffs. It's not like there's thunder and lightening.

CaptainNancy · 12/10/2011 16:29

Fourkids- this is just when they're on holiday (one week annually) someone comes once daily to feed/water but then leaves, but the other 51 weeks it isn't walked (it is quite elderly I think, but still) and just let in the garden. Has company in eve/night time though.

fourkids · 12/10/2011 16:41

CaptainNancy,

Ah ok :)

You know, it might not be everyone's idea of an ideal scenario, but the dog really isn't coming to a great deal of harm by not getting a walk. It sounds like it goes out and potters in the garden etc. FWIW IME quite a lot (not all - so no-one need bother to tell me THEY don't do this :) ) of people who live in the countryside don't walk their dogs - the dogs often just walk themselves round their gardens/fields etc, often accompanied by the owners as they garden/see to horses/etc.

In fact, I hold my hands up - I rarely 'walk' my dogs, as such (certainly not every day), but they get as much stimulation and outdoor exercise as a town/surburban-dog that gets 'walked' round the streets or in the park for an hour twice a day.

I have fit, happy dogs of the correct weight, that are well-adjusted, well behaved, well trained, well smelly sometimes Grin

FWIW, I don't think your neighbour's holiday arrangements are ideal. I wouldn't really be alarmed if the dog was being seen to several times a day though. But I'm not sure what you can practically do about it. If you hear the dog howling, could you tell the owner that - he may think someone is coming in more often, and he may not know the dog cries?

Swipe left for the next trending thread