Honestly I think I've heard it all now..... (dog related)

[PirateJelly]

We never walk our dogs because..........

They're house dogs!

Have you ever heard such bullshit? A tiny toy dog perhaps I could understand but a springer spaniel and a Staffy (both under 2)

They have the house and the garden I'm told, house dogs are quite common.

Are they, are they really??

I feel so sorry for those dogs, tiny mid terrace house and garden the size of a postage stamp, honestly can't be more than 12-15ft long at most.

I feel I'm going to have to say something, even if it's just to offer to walk the dogs for them.

AIBU?

They're actually breaking the law. I've just finished reading the animal welfare act 2006 which is based on our responsibilites to animals in our care and one of them is to allow the animal freedom to express natural behaviours.
Incidentally, an old neighbour of mine kept her dog in the house/garden for years. One say it escaped and killed a Labrador which could easily have been a child.
I'd report.

• one day!

Please do report them. My Springer pulls like a train which is why I drive him to places where he can be off lead.

Lazy feckers.

That ridiculous and totally irresponsible
I have 2 year old a springer x lurcher she is walked for at least 2 hours a day ( she's out in the fields for over 8 hours on a Tuesday) and has constant access to my very large garden. I have 3 children the youngest 10 months and am partially paralysed I still walk the dog! Or my brother does.
There really is no excuse. Poor dogs

That's outrageous. I can't believe how cruel and stupid people can be.

Our neighbours do this.

Is an annexe with a teeny garden. Not sure what dog it is. Staffie face but Boxer size (don't know dog breeds except the obvious ones like Dalmatians and Poodles).

The mum moved out and just left her teenage son there.

Dog (who I usually think is lovely) went beserk, ripped my fence apart with his teeth, got into our garden (used by my child, bunny and cats) and fecking went for me when I tried to get him to go back.

Landlady says, 'Yeah, they don't walk it.'

Thanks, very helpful. I now have a house bunny thanks to their 'house dog'.

Hoping to move soon!!

I think you need to offer to walk those dogs.

As you say the RSPCA have been already and done nothing, so it's up to you!

Why don't you ask if you could walk them? Or ask if their kids wanted to walk them, when you walk yours?

Sometimes it's easy to get blood boiling, and angry, etc etc, but really what we need to do is dig deep and do the right thing by the animals.

Unbelievably cruel and lazy, total fuck wits.

I wrote this on another thread

I do recommend a well walked dog, most dogs are really under walked, so are gagging to get out and about,

Dogs that do the same walks all the time, are always desperate to push boundaries, as they need new information, to a dog if you do the same walk all the time, it the human equivalent of being give the same copy of chat magazine every day, it would drive you insane, dog's confidence is built on their knowledge, they need lots of new information, to feel calm and settled.

Build a complete mind smell map, explore every inch of the surrounding area, your dog needs to know where the fox goes after the it crosses the road, it needs to know what going on around the corner you never go round.

Walks and excise are two very different things, dogs need to have at least of three twenty minutes of hard excise a day, that is when they pant hard because they are working hard.

Walks are information gathering, it's their news and TV. They need at least two really good ones a day at the minimum.

These people are incapable of meeting their dog's needs, and are really cruel. I bet they would describe themselves as dog lovers, but they are vile scum, because not only do they not try to, they deny that the dogs need excise and stimulation.

Lock them in a small room no window with a single copy of the people's friend, open the door in a years time and see if they have changed their mind.

I don't think that's particularly right Venus

Personally, I wouldn't want to take an untrained staffie and an untrained springer out for a walk. What if they went for OP's dog, would that be fair to her own pet?

Without wishing to sound controversial here, and believe me I don't agree with their 'house dogs', I would much rather the RSPCA focus their attentions on dogs who are being beaten and neglected than those who are simply not being walked. They have shelter and food. Yes, they should also be having exercise but given how stretched the RSPCA are, as I say I think they have bigger fish to fry.

I sat in the vets earlier this year with my Westie when an inspector brought in a mastiff type dog they had rescued (my vet does independent assessments for court). This poor thing was painfully underweight, caked in blood and bitemarks and yet still had its tail wagging. I was sat by the scales in the waiting room and he sniffed me for a fuss. I had tears as I stroked him, such a gorgeous animal so badly treated yet still loving.

Thats who I'd rather they concentrate on.

As me and dp already walk our dog it wouldn't be too difficult to all go out together and walk their dogs as well. But if they really do pull it could be difficult and I'm guessing their recall will be shite. I'm a bit wary of how their Staffy is with other dogs as he hasn't been properly socialised and goes berserk whenever he see's ours.

Don't know what to do tbh. I'm waiting for dp get back from work to see what he thinks.

Their dc can't walk the dogs as they are preschoolers ( so also couped up in the house with the dogs ). They went out in the car a while ago an all I can hear is their dogs howling and barking in the garden. Poor buggers.

ballinacup I would want to climb over the fence and take the dog. That sounds awful :(

I find these stories so distressing.
I know someone who did the same to her border collie. He was tied up at home, and had only the downstairs loo to drink out of. She even went on holiday and left him there, relying on neighbours to go in and feed him.
The poor dog was never properly socialised, and nipped a couple of people. The owner then decided to put him down, but another neighbour asked if she could take him instead. She had 2 dogs of her own and was very experienced. So, the dog went to live with them and flourished - up to a point. Unfortunately by that time the damage was done, and he was never really properly sociable, despite LOADS of work by his new owners to help him, behaviour classes, animal psychologist etc. A year later he ended up nipping again - a small child this time. Devastated, the new owner had to admit defeat and he was finally put to sleep.
I'd be on the phone to the RSPCA night and day, quoting the Animal Welfare Act at them.

Well you wouldn't believe this.

I've just heard their front door go. Look outside to see both of them going out with a dog each Staffy has that much equipment on him, anyone would think they were taking a stallion for a walk or something. Dog head collar, choke chain and body harness all on at one with a chain dog lead fed through the whole lot and the Staffy is still managing to pull the man!

Spaniel is bouncing about like a spring lamb (women holding her and pushchair at the same time) and alot of swearing and shouting went on. Quite a funny scence tbh and drew quite abit of curtain twitching from my fellow neighbours

I have to question however why this rare event has suddenly occured? I'm thinking maybe the DP heard our conversation, has had a go at her (not unusual) for telling me and are walking the dogs to prove a point. They certainly didn't do it discreetly.

The paranoid side of me though however, wonders if they or someone who knows them has seen this thread and recognised the details? ((dam penis beaker viral bulltwang, attracting non Mumsnetters here )) I really, really hope that isn't the case as I am not particularly discreet in my posting so it wouldn't be difficult to recognise me from details

Well sod it. If you are reading this- good you should be ashamed of yourselves...walk your bloody animals!! ((runs,hides))

It possible to end up with a house-dog but it doesn't sound like these 2 are. It's more down to the dog than the owner. One of my Westies is a lazy lump house-dog. She hates walking and will only go outside if it's warm and sunny so she can sleep in it. If we walk her to the park at the end of our street and let her off, she turns round and heads straight back home. The other one makes up for it. He thinks he has the right to 20 walks a day at times of his choosing.

Yes PJ if they have read this thread and seen how many people think their behaviour is disgusting, it's been worthwhile :)

However, I suspect if that was the case you'd have got a mouthful rather than a result. As you say, maybe he over heard you or something.

Even teeny tiny dogs need walking. They NEED it.

Well of course these dogs pull and don't walk nicely - they've been cooped up and I would guess they've never been trained. Maybe you could recommend a class to them ... as you've got a dog yourself you might be able to broach it tactfully ('my dog was a handful till we went to xxxx') type thing. Not that they really deserve tact, just that they're more likely to respond positively to sympathetic help rather than nagging or a bollocking.

WestieMamma I have a westie just as you describe....his name is Bob, he's 13 now but from a pup he was the laziest little dog in the world. Walks were great fun, I mentioned on another thread I also had a Scottie who lived life on fast forward so walks were me being dragged by Jack the scottie and dragging Bob the westie (sadly I lost Jack to liver disease last year at just 9).

Bob is one of those dogs that poke his nose out of the door and if its cold/wet/windy he will look at you as if to say 'don't make me do it!'. He'll hold a wee all day rather than venture out in the cold.
Walks are interesting, he see's his lead and slinks off in the hope you probably wont take him and now he's an old man he's actually worse than ever.

Fortunately my garden is huge, 200 feet to go mad in (slowly) so he does rarely go on walks, something I really miss actually. I'd never considered him a house dog until I read this but I guess he is really. There are a couple of pics of Bob in his usual position on my profile He's a lovely old boy, but he may as well be stuffed most days.

someone I know breeds small dogs(havanese), she has 6 of the litttle ones (last one a puppy from last litter) and a springer who is insane, she never walks them, the son used to walk the springer but hasnt done it regularly for the last year or so, and this is an accredited breeder, she says as she has a large garden they dont need walking as they get so much excersize chasing each other round the garden, you should see the crap she puts on facebook about how its not all about the money and how she only breeds to better the lines (utter crap the pups go for about £1200 each) in the meantime the springer is still insane and now she is thinking of drugging him to keep him from destroying the house when shes out (hes about 9yrs old now and still nuts) her male dogs(2 studs) are continually in belly straps to stop peeing and marking everywhere as the breeding bitches (4 of) must be driving them mad as they come in and out of season, she occaisionally takes them all out if she has enough people to help her with them (think thats been maybe 4 times this year so far) she does have a large garden and apart from the non walking does appear to genuinely love them.....

One of our four is a house dog and has been for most of his life. He's a rescue and has always been absolutely terrified of everything outside the boundaries of our house/garden. We tried everything, had numerous professionals in and eventually decided to give it a rest and stop trying for a while. He is far happier pottering about at home, maybe having a run in the garden but mostly just sleeping, relaxing and enjoying the complete lack of any kind of stress in his life.

I'm not for a minute suggesting that it's fine for the people in question not to bother walking their dogs. Just pointing out that there can be valid reasons for having a house dog.

Those poor dogs !! and when they turn on one of their DCs the parents will be responsible for the result,Springers are one of if not the most energetic dogs I have ever known and we have over the years fostered many many dogs prior to rehoming.So true is the saying "there aren't any bad dogs just bad owners" and these owners sound true to form.
Report them at once and give yourself peace of mind.

Our gorgeous springer had 4 homes in 10 months as no-one could cope with his energy, apparently.

Now 2.5 years old, he's the easiest dog ever - just as long as he gets a couple of really good long runs per day.

PIL's dog, on the other hand, is never walked and it makes me absolutely furious. Not allowed to set foot in the house, poor thing stays in the kennel/garden 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. I've often been tempted to ring the RSPCA, but as others have said, I don't think they'd be interested would they? Grr.

Why not call the RSPCA and they can decide whether they're interested or not?

I'd also give SS a ring, or an email mor likely, as there are two small children at risk.

There is no way I would be offering to walk them. I would not put myself, my DC or my non-existent dogs at that sort of risk.

And I did laugh at the update. Walking a stallion indeed :o

why in earth have a dog then? cruel buggers but glad they are seeing the light

.JuiceOrtiz,

Like the sound of the Bob the lazy dog though, my type of animal and why I have cats.