To think about reporting this? Dog owners advice needed please

[Lambzig]

Hi, I moved into a new house recently and have noticed that the dog that lives in one of the houses diagonally over the road barks all day for hours at a time, so not isolated incidents triggered by someone walking past. The houses back onto the road, so it's obvious the dog is left in the back garden. I can't see him, but can hear him.

He barks from around 9am till after dark, so is possibly left all day while someone works, but it happens all weekend too.

Not being a dog owner, or knowing anyone who owns dogs I don't know if this is normal dog behaviour or cruel. It seems cruel to me though, it can't be happy.

I am not bothered by the noise (too far away for it to be annoying), but concerned about welfare here.

I am not a dog owner but that sounds poor. Some people do prefer to keep dogs outside but they should still have access to food and water and need stimulation.

Can you see the dog if you walk past? Have you mentioned this to other residents to see if this has been going on for a long time?

I would wonder if it is free or tethered? Given the time of year I would be doubly shocked if the dog has no shelter.

Ring your council dog warden and let them investigate.

I don't see the big deal with reporting suspicions about anything. They can then be reported and if there's no problem then no action is taken. Not a big deal to be wrong and to raise concerns.

OP, these are not the actions of a responsible dog owner, and it sounds very cruel

But Joysmum, it is really not as simple as reporting any old suspicion and hoping sense will prevail.

There have been plenty of stories on here of people who have been wrongly suspected of mistreating animals after malicious or well-intentioned calls from neighbours
One lady who lives near me had her elderly cat taken away from her garden and then put down by the RSPCA who had wrongly assumed it was being mistreated but was in fact being treated by a vet for kidney disease

I'm new here, it's a small community, I know nothing about dogs.

No I can't see the dog as it's a close boarded fence 2.5 metres high, but gardens are big enough to know which one. I think it might be tethered as it doesn't run to the fence IYSWIM.

I would call the PDSA or RSPCA or similar. Better safe than sorry but I agree that its not normal.

I am a dog owner and it sounds like piss poor care by the owners. Dogs should not be left alone all day and it only takes a small amount of training to stop the barking. I would call the council or RSPCA.

You need to speak to the owners. The RSPCA won't do a single thing about this if you reported it to them.

Ring the rspca just to check but if the dog has shelter out there i doubt theyll do anything.You could report the noise pollution and hope something good comes of that for the dog

I don't want to speak to the owners, I haven't met them, and to be honest, no matter how politely I put it, they are going to think I should mind my own business aren't they?

Have been in all day today and the poor thing has barked and whined all day. I will have to try and do some spying to see if it is tethered or has shelter.

I'm going through exactly the same thing. I reported it to the council and i am now writing out a diary whenever the dog barks
It doesn't help that my neighbour is a bit weird and accuses everyone of racism if they dare complain lol.

Maybe report it incase.

Alrhough just to add another possibility:

We used to have a dog (before ds when I worked) that had a large shelter in the garden. The gardwn was totally secure. He had a huge kennel plus a twelve doot square tent and run of the garden. He was much happier outside...but if it was bad weather he would have to stay in the house. I did go home every lunchtime to walk him though.

Not saying this is the case but like I said just adding another possibility.

Report it to environmental health and the RSPCA. Don't worry about pissing them off... Only absolute arseholes leave their dog outside all day barking its head off.

Yrue about the barking though. He cant be happy if hes barking all day. Also seems like a very long time to leave it out.

RSPCA are rubbish. I reported my neighbours once, when RSPCA came round no one was home so they peered through the letter box, saw the dog who at the time seemed quite happy and left it at that.
After that I continuously got marketing/fundraising calls from them for months.
Council is best bet. Yes you do have to record every noise you hear for 2 weeks but they do also offer advice to owners.

Five days a week and then over the weekend sounds a lot to me. Try the council, it's a nuisance. Elderly owners too frail to take him out, divorced couple hanging onto the family pet but unable to devote time to it, baby in the house and parents exercising extreme caution. It's not always a yob who doesn't care but the result's the same.

That is not a happy dog. That is bored and lonely dog.

The RSPCA will do nothing.

You could try reporting it to the council as excessive/nuisance noise but from the cruel to the dog angle you stand no chance.

Ok have just made myself "the new loony neighbour" by going over and kneeling down to peer through a knot hole in the fence. It looks like a big scrawny dog, like those dogs they race only perhaps bigger.

It is tethered on a chain,couldn't see what it was attached to. The garden is a lawn with flower beds, very well kept, but couldn't see a kennel or shelter, shed is closed. Poor thing went mad so now I feel I have made it worse.

I am surprised their closer neighbours aren't fed up with this.

That's the thing Donkeys, it could be an elderly person not coping. I think I will try mentioning it to my neighbours. I would offer to help with walking or something, but DD is terrified of dogs and I don't know what I am doing.

Do you mean a greyhound? If it is a greyhound it is extremely cruel to keep it outside in the cold as they feel the cold very keenly.

If you can't see any shelter outside for the dog then you could try the RSPCA or similar. That is one of their 'five freedoms' - that dogs must have access to shelter.

for Lambzig you might have felt a bit of a wally but your heart is in the right place.

I see that you have now seen the dog, OP. I did wonder if it was a recording to put burglars off but obviously not! It doesn't sound like a happy dog to me but I have no idea what I would do about it.

Report, poor dog

Yes, report it.

The person most likely to check it out and take appropriate action would probably be your local Animal Warden. Try the RSPCA too, but from what I hear they don't always do anything.

It sounds as if it is left alone outside all day. Proper shelter and water should be provided at the very least. If it has no proper shelter then that is against the Animal Welfare Act.

By scrawny, I guess it was hard for you to tell. Some dogs such as whippets and greyhounds are very slender obviously, but if it is too thin then its food needs may not be being properly met.

It is worth getting someone to go in and check, and that is where the Animal Warden and possibly the RSPCA come in.

I would go round and say "hello, I live at number xxx, are you aware that your dog barks when you go out?"

I had issue with one of my dogs who barked when I went out and my neighbour's reaction to it. She did come round once, I apologised, but after that she said nothing, I left recording devices in the house when I went out on numerous occasions but the barking seemed to have stopped. But unfortunately he would bark sporadically when I was out, triggered by the neighbour's own dogs I think, but there was very little I could do apart from go out less (and I was rarely out for more than a couple of hours at a time).

She ended up reporting me to RSPCA, environmental health and guide dogs and making up an absolute pack of lies to substantiate her story, including that I go out every night, have been out for seven hours leaving the dog outside in the heat with no water or shelter, and that the neighbours on the other side sold their house because of my dog. I eventually threatened to report her for harassment (we're talking a couple of instances of barking not every day) and she appears to have gone quiet.

Unfortunately I have now rehomed the dog (two dogs harder for me to manage as a single parent and he wasn't happy in smaller house etc, he is living with my sister though) but I must confess that I inwardly gloat every time her dogs bark (and they do, regularly).