NC as this may get very outing!!! And neighbour has a young child so may well be on here. Sorry this is long want to give background before current concern.
We have only lived here 6 months, the neighbours bought maybe 3 years before us. We haven’t spoken much beyond brief hellos. We both have dogs ; ours is a small rescue, he can be a little reactive/bark when anxious, but we are very dedicated to him. He comes to work with me every day unless DP is home, if he is in the garden we are with him, he sleeps in with us. We have just started to leave him for very short periods of time (started 10 mins, we’re now up to 90 mins) by himself but we have cameras to monitor and he just waits on the stairs for us, no noise or destructiveness.
Neighbours dog is a fairly desirable/expensive breed, and they leave her outside all day and all night. She is always out there - even during the snow when it was below zero. She has thin fur; not designed for being outdoors like that. She has a wooden kennel and their garden is almost entirely hard standing, no plants, just a tiny square of grass at the end. Whenever we go out to our garden, she barks and growls at us, sometimes throws herself against the fence, and at one point started damaging the fence (our fence, btw) biting it trying to get through it - they then moved her wooden kennel to cover the broken bit/hole so she can’t get to it any more. Obviously our dog will react to that - who wouldn’t - but we have placed items to prevent him going next to the fence where her kennel is, to reduce her noticing in the first place, we are with him to help calm him, often take him to toilet on the lead so we can control if he does react, and he is getting better over time. All they ever seem to do is come out and shout at her occasionally when she is barking for a very extended period of time.
This is just to give background - clearly we are very different types of dog owners. I don’t agree with how they keep her and we do not talk at all, I guess both sides probably think the other are ‘wrong’. I wouldn’t want to get in a conversation with them about it to be honest. The man smokes drugs in the garden sometimes and I find him a little intimidating.
Anyway, yesterday we saw they have a new puppy as they were all out in the yard (very unusual) when I was in an upstairs room. It is a mastiff type and was wearing a buster collar - then I saw it has cropped ears. There is no way it is old enough to have been imported, this must have been done in the U.K., so this is illegal and someone has committed an offence. And the poor puppy has had its ears chopped off for fashion.
Obviously a lot of my response is just gobsmacked they would go out and spend thousands on a new puppy when they (to my eyes) don’t seem to care very much about the dog they’ve got. I am also very wary of how this may unfold with now 2 large powerful dogs next door growling and barking, breaking my fence and threatening my dog. I don’t know if the puppy is in the house, I haven’t heard it, just seen them playing with it in the yard yesterday.
But.....the ear cropping. That is awful. I don’t think the neighbours have done anything illegal but the “breeder” almost certainly has. Others have been prosecuted for this crime. The neighbours may not even be aware how horrendous this practice is and that it is illegal.
WWYD? I don’t want this to turn into confrontation about how they keep their dogs. I was thinking of writing a letter to put through their door giving information/links to respected organisations explaining about the issue of ear cropping and asking that they consider the issue, and please think about contacting the RSPCA with details of the person who has done this (I know they are chocolate teapot sometimes but this is an easily prosecutable hot topic issue), making it clear that I don’t think the neighbours have personally done anything illegal, but what has been done to this puppy is wrong. Maybe even links to the prominent social media personalities who have spoken out saying they regret their dogs having docked ears and condemning the practice etc.
Will hold off to see if puppy is still there - DP pointed out it could have been just visiting.
This has really upset me but also very aware these are our neighbours, I want my garden to be my sanctuary, will be doing it up gradually and we plan to live here forever. And trying to separate my judgypants-ness of how they keep their dog vs the importance of the ear cropping issue.