How to respond to my neighbours snotty letter?

[Cloudygreydaysahead]

They got a puppy at the start of lockdown. The poor thing is out in the garden alone in all weathers with only a towel and some water until recently when they made a small kennel. It cries all hours of the day from 6-7am onwards. Our main concern is the puppies welfare as it’s clearly distressed. My husband went round the other morning as we wanted to be upfront and just asked to make sure they didn’t leave the dog out for extended periods of time and it is waking us and our children up. They apologised then this morning we received this. They clearly like letters as they also wrote us an anonymous letter about some of our recycling blowing onto the street but we have ring doorbell and saw it was them!
What do I do from here? Leave it? Reply via a letter seen as that’s the way he likes to speak clearly?

Poor, poor puppy basically abandoned in the garden with assholes for owners. I don't know what the answer is, but I don't get the mentality of someone who'd get a pet and then not tend to it's basic needs.

I think they are concerned but its a bloody long around the houses way to go about it with a letter like that!

I suspecy that they think they risk loosing the puppy if it causes a nusicance or the like. Pup obvioulsy has a big signifiance to them perhaops poor pup is a child substuite seen that before more than the once!

Suppose it it wer eme I'd go and talk to them prolly offer top take pup for a walk being dog friendly and of a kind nature buit I thik this isnt quite the situation it appears to be.

Wouldnt be a bad idea to ask the local dogs home, RSPCA or vet to make sure poor pup isn't being maltreated being left out most of the day but as others have said he/she has food water and shelter etc but pup thing needs some contact:(

I wonder if they posted on MN for advice? This is the kind of faux-legalese letters that MNers love to write on AIBU.

I don't think the RSPCA can do much here but if your council has a dog warden they can perhaps approach your neighbour to have a chat about looking after the puppy properly.

After that, noise complaint is your best bet though I worry they'll find other ways to neglect the poor thing.

I found it difficult to read but the tone was decidedly pompous and superior and written in a “we know our rights” style as writer mentioned noise legislation a couple of times.

What a pity that they seem to care far more about the council’s noise tolerance limits than they do about their puppy. The letter writer is clearly an “utter twat”.

Unfortunately if the dog has food/water/shelter the RSPCA probably won't be interested. You could report to the council as a noise nuisance. I don't understand why people bother getting dogs if they can't actually be bothered to spend time with them/arrange care for them if they're out at work. Makes me so angry and sad for the poor little pup.

they are trying to fob you off with sophistry, dont get drawn into all that smoke and mirrors
cut to the chase shame the c*s on social media

Wow. They're complete twats.
Please report them to Dog's Trust or RSPCA or whoever takes care of animal welfare.
Our little precious princess (that was sarcastic) just spent 30 seconds crying at the garden door because I was a cruel sadist who expected her to go for a wee in the rain. Now she's sitting tight on her butt because she really has to go for a poo but she knows we will spot her trying to sneak somewhere into a dark corner of the house and get her outside.
The looks she gave me made me feel very low and like a bad pet owner. Btw, I was standing in the rain too, because, you know, solidarity. She still didn't appreciate it.

If we received a letter like that we would take our time to respond, include the evidence of the puppy crying and quote council legislation on nuisance noise which includes barking dogs.

On a side note how would they possibly know that it was your cat that pooped in their garden? Most cats are free to roam and it could have been any cat. So I would defintely add something around cats....sounds like complete turds btw

That’s an hugely wordy way of trying to sound superior and to get the upper hand. It doesn’t mean they are though, no matter how many times they keep saying they know all about ‘legislation’.

And why did they get a dog at all just to keep the poor thing outside for hours on end?

Poor bloody puppy. Your neighbours are clearly insufferable bellends.

Rather than complaining about the noise I would focus on the fact that you are very concerned for the mental wellbeing of a young pup who is being subjected to hours of isolation every day. I would also quote the Animal Welfare Act (2006) seeing as they are clearly into their legislations!

Please do whatever you can to help this poor animal.

Your neighbours need to spend the same amount of time and effort they put into writing letters as they do to looking after their dog. They sound like absolute morons.

Bless them though, I bet they spent hours composing that to sound official 😂

Let them know about the footage from the ring doorbell and hopefully their embarrassment will shut them up.

How secure is their garden? Just wondering if there are any of the slightly more radical of the animal welfare groups that might take it upon themselves to 'liberate' the poor pup.

My friend had an awful neighbour that left her lovely staffie outside all the time, she had made a pathetic attempt of an outside shelter from an old cupboard !, we could see the dog and its situation from the bedroom window .Friend would lift fence panel and have dog in her house when she was left for a long time. A few neighbours inc friend anonymously contacted rspca, they actually came ! and dogs life greatly improved, they also made follow up calls.
I know rspca dont get much respect from the public but on this occasion they did a good job.
May be something to think about when a little time passes if no improvement .

Report them to rspca and Council noise complaints if they are leaving the poor thing out all day crying

Definitlely phone the RSPCA too and see if this is something they are interested in. Humans bred dogs to crave human company, to satisfy our needs for devotion, so to leave them outside alone is just bloody cruel. I see you have recordings so definitely do this. Its cruel. Speak up for the poor thing!

I once had a friend who kept 2 golden retrievers outside all day. I thought it was bad at the time. The neighbour complained because they barked a lot (unsurprisingly). The council wrote to them about the noise (and maybe the animal welfare) and they had to rehome them.

I think somewhere in the letter the pompous asshole talks about the dog “only” barking for 5 mins an our. That would really grate on my nerves.

I feel so sorry for the poor dog.

I’d report to council environmental health person
Or rspca

Why get a dog if your at work all day, ludicrous
They sent letter because, they thought about it later and haven’t the bottle to say it to your face because they know your right.

Contact environmental health noise nuisance line about dog barking if it really is prolonged and send them copies of your evidence.
RSPCA will not be concerned about a dog living outdoors from experience but might if it's a young puppy and has not been left amply catered for in the very hot weather. Try asking though.
After you've spoken to the council and got their take, if hes out of ordern send him back a note thanking him for his communication and inform him the evidence gas been passed to the council who will be contacting him shortly😁.
There nothing he can then say to you!

Their misuse of quotation marks has bothered me on a deep, visceral level

@GrimSisters How secure is their garden? Just wondering if there are any of the slightly more radical of the animal welfare groups that might take it upon themselves to 'liberate' the poor pup

Now that is a sterling suggestion! It might be that they trespass when the op is out to get to the garden too! Needless to say the Ring doorbell would have malfunctioned/run out of battery that day/night as well, so it's all just a great big mystery. And a poor little puppy has a loving happy home.

I look at my little dog curled up here at work and I can't imagine what kind of disgusting human being would do this. That and their shitty pompous nasty letter.

Any suggestions for groups that might stumble across this poor dog?

Whoever this is, writes emails just like this to work colleagues and they have my sympathy man.

Your neighbours are pompous twats.
I’d right back, not addressing any of their points, but to simply say, your puppy should not be left outside all day on it’s own. Then report them