Thinking a distressed dog in a garden shed overnight is cruel.

[HellsBells67]

My next door neighbour has taken to locking her westie in the garden outbuilding/shed that adjoins her bungalow, overnight. I've no idea why as it's a fairly old little dog and no bother. Does bark a bit at cars when in the garden but so what? Neighbour must be late 70s at least and lives alone. The dog is trying to get out by repeatedly pounding on the door. I looked over the fence a minute ago as the racket made me fearful the neighbour had perhaps had an accident and was banging on the window but no, it's the dog trying to get attention. This has been going on for over an hour and shows no sign of abating. Is this even legal? And I really would have thought an elderly woman living alone would have wanted her dogs companionship overnight, not locking it up in a shed. AIBU to think this is cruel?

You’re rehearsing intimidating things to say to this vulnerable old neighbour aren’t you?

Mention calling RSPCA, as ‘utterly cruel’ ✔️
Mention the police might be round to do a well check ✔️
Mention the council and potential noise nuisance fines as you can’t sleep ✔️

Sandwich it with some faux concern about her health.

Newsflash, it’s not animal abuse. The OP looked it up and saw it is 100% legal and not considered abuse or cruelty.

And rape is still iegal in 32 countries. Laws mean shit, have a fucking heart.

Wow.

Oh yes the two are totally comparable. A dog sleeping in a different building to the main house is 100% just as bad as rape.

@BrightTealExpert

And in other news, dogs locked in sheds don't usually have acess to a light switch.

Not my point, my point is legal doesn’t mean moral or justifiable, but you can’t argue with stupid. If your ok with animal abuse just say… weirdo

I would go round and have a word before calling RSPCA etc. tell her it’s cruel & the dog is distressed. Poor thing.

I'm just realising that the fact she's brought the dog in may mean she's been kept awake by it too so maybe she won't be keen on this as a solution in the future. I hope.

I'd go round now if it's keeping you awake. This is not acceptable.

Or op, you could have care & compassion (like you have shown) for the dog & go round & have a chat with her. It’s cruel.

Legal or not, it’s cruel.

If the dog has always been a pet it's cruel to shove it in a shed at night. Maybe try and have a chat with her and ask if everything is ok, or if you see a family member.

Sorry, just seen your update. I would talk to her tomorrow and let her know you were disturbed. Hopefully she will treat it better from now on.

@BrightTealExpert

No, he can see what he's doing from the light as he opens the fridge door.

You argument may hold some weight if the dog wasn't clearly extremely distressed to be locked in there, that is what makes it cruel.

Sadly the RSPCA will do fuck all. Someone was keeping a great dane in a tiny concrete yard in the depths of a snowy winter, they didn't give a fuck.
It is cruel. It is used to living in the house. It's old. It's suddenly being shut up alone in the dark outside. I'd ask her if she needs help with her dog as it is causing a disturbance being shut outside at night. If the poor thing is incontinent perhaps she could have a pen lined with newspapers for it instead? Or rehome. God, the disloyalty to an old pet. I hope someone treats her with the same amount of care when she's past it.
NB. Keeping a dog outside alone s not okay. Wolves or wild dogs would not be alone in a plastic kennel or cage but would be snuggled up for warmth with others in their pack and underground in a dry, windproof den.

Good grief🤣 don’t be so theatrical.

Glad she has taken the dog in. But this isn't the first time I have seen utter distain for the RSPCA - are they failing in their duty?

For the record I don’t agree with this at all.

However, for some perspective our westie was obsessed with foxes being in the garden. She would want to sleep looking out and start barking in the middle of the night when she could hear them. We ended up in a routine where we shut her in the living room at night (opposite side of house to garden). But she does still sometimes scratch at the door etc. Before that she was barely sleeping at night though and just in the day. I suspect it will be a similar reason she’s trying the shed.

Hi OP, could you knock and just act concerned and ask her if everything is OK and if the dog is playing up?

She may be struggling taking the dog out for walks which might be effecting it's toilet habits or behaviour. There are charities that help with this.

Poor dog, glad you realised what the noise was and hopefully a chat can be helpful to you, your neighbour and the dog.

But why should an elderly dog 'have to get used' to be locked in a cold damp shed overnight, it is cruel to lock a dog up outside if it has never been trained for outdoor living. At the very least it's worth going round and asking what the problem is in case there's something you can do to help her and the dog, not everything has to be 'judgemental' or 'picking on' or 'telling people what to do', and there could be all manner of reasons why she has chosen to do that.

A 70+ years old woman who lives alone locking her elderly dog up outside in the shed when she has never done that before is weird and if it was my neighbour doing that I'd be straight round to find out what was going on all of a sudden. It could be that the woman needs help and doesn't know what to do, or the dog has got a problem which needs to be addressed, I honestly couldn't sleep at night if I didn't at least try to help the woman or dog in some way.

Dogs love unconditionally and don't deserve to be treated so badly, especially when they get old.

Keeping animals outside is not cruel. Many dogs live outside. Working dogs, farm dogs, breeding dogs, show dogs.

Keeping dogs that aren't used to being outside might be cruel, in certain circumstances. Are you sure the neighbour doesn't have a good reason? It sounds like it happens fairly infrequently. What if she has a grandchild visiting who is horribly allergic to dog? What if she has somebody in the house doing repairs and little dog is an ankle biter? In both those situations the kindest option is to move him outside for a few hours.

If you're so concerned ho round and ask her about it. Everybody on these types of thread always jumps to some hyperbolic morally superior nonsense where op lives next door to cruella deville and they themselves would certainly go round swoop in and liberate ratty ill tempered… oh sorry I mean sweet victim dog, from this imagined danger and horrible act of cruelty.

The reality is it's probably just because she's got something going on that she needs to move the dog away from for an hour or two. And the dog probably spends 99.9 percent of its time on the sofa being some old woman's lap dog.

How do you know she's peacefully asleep while the dog is making all this noise? I'd agree it's horrible to shut the dog out there if it was night after night but you've said you've only noticed it a few times and she's now taken the dog back in? Maybe the dog has messed in the house or something and she puts the dog out of the way while she cleans it up? Noise from neighbours dogs is annoying I know (my neighbours three dogs bark and howl every bloody evening until she bothers to get up and tell them to be quiet) but you don't know why she's putting the dog out there, maybe ask her if everything is ok she maybe struggling to care for the dog at her age?

I would honestly steal the dog