Neighbour on holiday - dog problem!

[loveacupoftea18]

Need advice as DH and I can't decide if we are too caught up in the problem to be objective!! Sorry if it's long, trying not to drip feed!

Live in a quiet cul-de-sac and get along with all neighbours. Our directly next-door neighbour has two enormous dogs who she loves dearly and is very good to. They do bark in the day when left alone in the garden but she is back regularly to let them out and take them for walks.

She is on the trip of a lifetime for two weeks and has a sort of friend staying in her house looking after them, with a dog walker dropping in to do the occasional dog walk.

She's been gone for 3 days. We haven't seen the friend that's staying there since Friday (however we have not been at home every minute) and the dogs are in the garden with the back door to the house wide open, all the time. They are doing absolutely nothing but barking constantly, I cannot describe just how much or how loud. It goes on for hours and hours at a time.

I don't know how regularly they are being checked on (or fed or walked!) and it first irked us when it was impossible to put our DD to bed because of the noise of the dogs barking. Banged on the front door repeatedly however no one in and ended up going around the back of the field to lean over the fence and comfort the dogs. This did cease the barking for an hour but then they're back to it. It's damn annoying but we end up feeling desperately sorry for the poor dogs and don't know what on earth to do.

They've barked every hour that we've been home today. There's still no sign of anyone in the house with them. I've just been to lean over the back fence for 15 minutes to give them a stroke and to quieten them down so DD can fall asleep.

AIBU? Surely this is not ok? What the hell can I do about it?

Or porridge made with water (dogs can't digest milk).

Make sure they have water though - that's the big priority.

Or toast - my older girl adores toast and black tea!

If it was me, I'd be over the back fence just to make sure that nothing has happened inside the house to the person who is supposed to be looking after them.

I’d contact your neighbour now personally. A ‘friend’ did this to me once with my cats, she clearly hadn’t been in the house once, the cats had licked their bowls clean and had visibly lost weight. It still bothers me thinking about it now, your neighbour would want to no

OP, you could give them plain scrambled eggs, or plain chicken mixed with rice or white fish mixed with rice/pasta.

I wouldn’t personally give tuna or corned beef as suggested above as these can be very salty.

I would want to know ASAP if it were my dogs !

If you feed them,before speaking with owner ,don't give them anything with grain ,stick with protein,lots of owners feed grain free so you may upset their stomach

If this was my dogs I’d absolutely want to know-regardless of being on holiday. They’re like my extra two children.

We are super fortunate that they go to be spoiled rotten with my parents when we are away-but the thought of them being lonely and concerned as to what was going on is really upsetting. I’d definitely want to get notified so I could arrange suitable care for my furry babies.

I agree with others saying to message their owner and let her know what you have said here.

I appreciate she is on the holiday of a lifetime but if it was me and I came home to distraught and potentially traumatised dogs it wouldn't be worth it - not if she loves them as much as you say.

I would much rather be contacted while on holiday so that I could spend a day or two trying to sort out some other care for my dogs and come home to happy content dogs!! Please contact the owner she has a right to know.

Water is the biggest thing and you've done that.

You've done the right think contacting the neighbour. I am sure you're right that she will be distressed (I would be) but I would want to know immediately if my dog's welfare was at risk

Sorry cross post with your latest update. Pleased you have contacted the owner.

If the back door is open you may be able to find their actual food in the house. The owner may have left some written instructions as to how much they get and when (equally they may not have done but worth a try).

Hope it all gets sorted.

I hope you get it sorted OP.

Hope the neighbour sees message and responds.

The best option would be for her to arrange a kennel to come and collect the dogs - then they would be cared for for the rest of her trip.

Poor dogs - they deserve to be taken care off. She really should have put in place better arrangements for them. Her housesitter is rubbish.

Poor dogs! And well done you for taking this on and dealing with it

Also, with the back door being left open he insurance will invalidated if anything were to happen.

This is really bad form from the house sitter.

I'd phone the Police.

I say this because someone I knew went out, leaving her back door open and dog in the garden. Neighbour heard the dog barking, contacted the Police who a few hours later found the woman collapsed and unconscious fairly nearby.

I don't want to give too many details about the house sitter as that (and the original post) could be very outing but she is sort of known to another neighbour and I'm not worried about her welfare, I think she just can't be bothered....

Local friends of ours were off on the trip of a lifetime and had a relative staying to look after their extremely badly behaved much adored dogs.

I was shocked to see the relative walking them with no leads on, one was in the road while he attempted to retrieve the other from the river, neither of them have much recall at the best of times.

I agonised over telling her, worrying that I was poking my nose in and potentially ruining her holiday. In the end I did contact her and explained what I had seen. She was horrified and immediately made alternative plans, delaying the start of her holiday by a day to do so.

Every now and then she still brings it up and thanks me profusely for doing so, so in your situation I would definitely message her and explain your concerns. That way she can make her own decision about what (if anything) she does.

You've done the right thing OP. I'd pop round and feed them if the door is open, there is bound to be food there for them.

And if you've not heard back in the morning, I'd phone the RSPCA.

I would 10000000% FILM the dogs barking on your camera phone and then send it the neighbour via messenger.

Your neighbour deserves to know her poor dogs are being mistreated by her so called friend.

I’d be devastated if I’d left someone to care for my dogs and they were treating them this way, not to mention leaving the house insecure.

Please message your neighbour. Don’t leave it to tomorrow, imagine if something happened in the meantime?

You wee right to Facebook message your neighbour. And good idea to film them barking to give her an idea of what it's been like for you. I'd also film the back door open and then you knocking on front door getting no answer to let her know the security risk to her home. She should have paid for kennels as clearly she didn't know this 'minder' well enough to trust her to care for her dogs.

I think you’ve done the right thing and filming the dogs is a good idea.

I would tape a note to the front door saying the dogs have been barking all day and the owner has been notified as well. Especially if it is tricky to catch the person who should be looking after them

I agreed to feed my son's cats every other day as his MIL was doing the same. The lazy cow never turned up so the cats were locked in and had no food for two days. Please get your neighbour to check with her.

I don't know about taping a note. The back door is open and a note will tell everybody there's nobody in the house.