Just saw neighbour hitting dog with plastic water bottle repeatedly. What to do?

[VanessaWilliams1]

I just witnessed something really disturbing.

A guy moved into our council block about a year or two ago. His dog cries a lot, both during the day and at night. I always just assumed it had separation anxiety.

But tonight, just after 10pm, my mum and I were rushing out of the building because I was taking her to the hospital. As we walked out, we saw one of our upstairs neighbours sitting just outside, completely calm, repeatedly hitting his dog on the head/face with a water bottle repeatedly. Not sure if empty or not. The dog just sat there.

We honestly just froze as we walked past. We kept looking back because we couldn't believe what we'd seen. It was dark, I have really bad eyesight, and was thinking, "Maybe he's hitting something next to the dog?" But my mum is sure she saw him hitting the dog too.

He didn't even try to hide it. He saw us come out and just carried on. He didn't stop or slow down.

I kept thinking, "If he is actually hitting his dog, surely he'd stop when people saw him?" The whole block also could've seen him from the windows.

The dog was also just sitting there taking it, not really moving.

I also seen him before walking the dog loads of times and cuddling it, so it was completely unexpected.

As the driver drove us off, I am now sure he is doing. I tried to grab my phone to record it, but it was too late. I could still hear him the water bottle hitting the dog, and then I heard it growl.

I feel awful that I didn't say anything. I keep thinking I should've shouted at him to stop, but I think my mum and I just went into shock. We both just froze.

Who do I report it to? I don't even know exactly which flat he lives in. And I heard RSPCA is useless

if this is what he is doing out in open so relaxed, what is he doing to it behind doors. Could that be reason it’s crying so much.

any advice?

Well, your options include Police, RSPCA or direct in person intervention. I would go for the third option personally.

Police can pass it to RSPCA if appropriate.
Just give as much information you can.

That's awful. Try the police. Don't be hard on yourself about not intervening directly at the time - he's a violent, cruel thug, and you could have put yourself at risk. You're wise to follow up from safety afterwards.

If the bottle was empty, he was probably just playing. That wouldn’t hurt at all. We’ve all bounced empty bottles off our legs at some point. My dogs like playing with empty bottles and growling could mean playing.

if the bottle was full the dog wouldn’t have been just sitting there - it would have tried to get away.

You class hitting a dog as playing???

Given OP's description of what she saw and given the fact they hear the dog crying she has every right to be concerned about it's welfare.

I think you should report to the police OP.

The op didn't describe it very well tbh. The man was sitting calming hitting the dog with a water bottle. The dog was calm too. Was he just boinking it off the dogs head, that's hitting or was he putting force into it, that's also hitting but wouldn't really fit the description of calm.

My dog is obsessed with bottles, loves them, I'm quite sure I've boinked her on the butt in the past with an empty bottle while playing with her. There is no way that it hurt her, the same way like the poster you quoted said it doesn't hurt when you bounce it off yourself. I'm pretty sure that my dog would sit calmly, while I boinked it off her head, waiting in anticipation for me to give it to her to play with. I suppose you could question whether or not you should tease a dog like that but is it an RSPCA level issue?

What a weird thing to get worked up about. An empty plastic water bottle is light as a feather and wouldn't have done the dog any harm. If he'd been hitting it with a glass bottle yes that would be concerning!

An empty plastic watter bottle just makes a bouncy sound. Maybe dog and owner were listening to music or playing.
If dog were upset it would be moving away, yelping or cowering.

Report to RSPCA but allow them to investigate rather than seeming like you saw the dog writhing in pain or being terribly abused.

My sisters dog plays with plastic water bottles
you wave it around and kind of hit it it grabs it runs off with it chew it then bring it back for more

It depends if there was aggression or if he was hurting the dog. We use plastic bottles to train our dogs and to play with them.

Water bottles are well known fun dog toys. I used to put one in a sock, so DDog could chew it up and get a satisfying crackling noise.

It may have been a ‘bounce bounce bounce get it!’ type game.

As they both seemed calm, I wouldn’t assume this was abuse. I would however have my phone ready to record all the time, in case I saw something else.

I agree with others. I 'hit' my youngest dog with all sorts of things. She loves it. I would 'hit' her with a bottle two or three times, then give it to her. Or bounce one of her toys against her nose before giving it to her. It really doesn't sound like he was being aggressive (described as calm) so I think it would be some sort of game that the dog enjoys.

You need to know if he was beating the dog or playing with the dog. Very different things but in theory both can be done with a water bottle.

Full bottle smacking into the dog beating.

Empty bouncy Bonky bottle likely playing with something the dog likes.

Depends if the water bottle was empty and he was just playing around bouncing it on the figs head my grandma springer loved it when you messed about with empty bottles like that. But if that’s not what it was then I’d report it.

My previous Labrador used to LOVE being whacked, and I mean whacked, on his thighs / hips. He used to lean into my legs and if I dared stop, usually because my hand was bloody hurting, he'd lean on me even more and give me a reproachful look and a little mutter.

I can only assume it was like some kind of deep massage type thing for him. He was an oddball but dearly missed.

Anyone who saw it would probably think I was beating him but I assure you nothing could have been further from the truth. The closest he ever got to physical punishment was having a newspaper crackled at him (he hated the sound of the paper).

I've literally just been playing with my dog and I say 'Who's a picalilly.....who's a picalilly?' then I lift the palm of my hand over the top of her nose and say 'boink, boink, boink' as I boink her nose. I don't know why she likes it, but as soon as I stop, she nudges me with her nose to do it again. Weird dog.

My rabbit literally attacks my husband at night until he plays with him. It looks as though they are locked in a death match attacks times but as soon as DH stops he gets sqeaked at loudly or bounced on. If someone looked in the window they’d probably think he was attacking the furry little menace but if he tries to stroke him gently, loke I do his majesty makes his displeasure clear. He also makes DH click his fingers and wave his arm around for hours, I firmly believe he does it to prevent him from snoozing. Maybe this man was just playing with his dog

Dogs like rough play. Was he beating his dog or bouncing a light plastic water bottle off them?

Was he hitting it hard ? Was the bottle empty? I only ask as I’ve done similar before when playing. I’d expect if the dog was distressed or in pain it would be obvious or even if it was terrified it would be shaking or cowering silently at the very least. Did this appear to be the case ?

just asked my mum and another upstairs neighbour who saw

THEY BOTH SAY for sure WATER BOTTLE WAS NOT EMPTY

It was definitely not light bouncing

even from more far away you could hear the sound

and now two people say they were sure it was not empty

the dog was still not moving but i did hear it growl

i did wonder why it just sat there but i read somewhere some abused dogs can act like this

So, with that update in mind, what have you done about it?

Please intervene on behalf of that dog @VanessaWilliams1 in light of your update. Report it

Then report it to the police and the rspca … anyone you can!!!

Definitely report