My neighbour's dog

[Ginjanotaninja]

What to do?

My neighbours have during lockdown acquired a puppy and its not going well.

Their front garden is their back garden, if that makes sense. It has a 3ft fence at the front. That was ok to start with dog was too small to jump it, however now it can jump it and has frequently strayed, their solution to the problem is to tie the dog up in a length of rope and then leave it outside for hours every day barking. Their garden is full of objects and the dog gets caught up and tangled, meaning it can't move and then howls, whimpers and barks even more until it's released. They never interact with it, and so it can be trapped and bark for hours.

I have returned the dog to the garden when its been straying and it has cowered away from me. I have seen the male being quite rough with it.

The dog was trapped the other night for an hour and a half. I went over to them knocked the door noticed that the two bowls were empty so it didn't have water and was met with aggressive indifference and the male saying he was fucking fed up with it, meaning the dog.

It is never walked.

They are council tenants.

What can I do about their casual cruelty? it is really upsetting to witness. I know I'm not the only one to notice. There are alot if other dog owners in the immediate area and they can see that other dogs aren't treated that way. Should I report to the council/rspca? Given their stance the other night I'm reluctant to go across again.

Report to the RSPCA if it has no food, water or shelter.

Dog warden might help. Poor dog.

Please, please report to the RSPCA. How disgusting and cruel. What the hell is wrong with some people? Absolute evil scrotes.

This sort of story makes me heartbroken and angry.

Can you obtain evidence of no food/water left? Then RSPCA may do something. I fear they may not help without evidence.

God bless that dog, humans can be evil.

The RSPCA IME are bloody useless - they refused to come out to a cat around here that was very elderly and left out all night in the middle of winter with no shelter whatsoever apart from a doorstep- no sheds, no cosy corners, nothing she could easily get to. (And then the buggers called me a few weeks later asking for a donation - sod that for a lark.)

I'd try the council dog warden. I'd also keep a record of when and where it strays, how often, when it has no water etc.

Poor bloody dog.

I'd be dropping it at the council kennels every time, so they had to pay to get the poor animal back. Hopefully they will soon give up bothering and it will be found a better home.

It doesn't matter if they are council tenants. It does matter that they are neglecting and mistreating the dog. You need to contact RSPCA or PDSA about the situation.

Just take it. I would.

I wouldnt call rspca as they tend to PTS quite quick. Id offer to buy the dog off them

Thanks for the comments. I can’t get proof of no food/water unfortunately as the bowls are next to their front door and their lounge window over looks it. I'll try the dog warden and the housing department. See if the dog warden can educate the cupid stunts and hopefully the Housing Officer will visit/contact as there are animal welfare contract clauses in the tenancy and clearly they're in breach.
I'll also take the dog to the kennels if I see it straying again. Is it wrong to hope this is soon?
I can’t take it in unfortunately as my two dogs are rather grumpy.

If you see it straying again, take it to the local stray kennels - there's always one that's got the "stray contract" with the local council and is contractually obliged to take them in. They'll scan for a chip and call the owner.

The good thing about this course of action is
A) it costs the owners a fee to retrieve the dog
B) it requires some effort to retrieve the dog
C) if the dog isn't microchipped - or the microchip isn't registered to the current owner, which is more common than you'd imagine - the kennels won't be able to call him. He'll then have to track down the dog within 7 days. After 7 days, if not reclaimed, it'll be rehomed.

Once can only hope that being tight / lazy / not updating the microchip will mean the dog is not claimed and is subsequently rehomed.