Neighbours never walk their dogs

[DashRiprock]

I might be overstepping the mark a little here, but as a pet owner myself this is really starting to bother me.

Our neighbours have 2 fairly small mongrel dogs, one about 3/4 years old and the other about 6 months old. I have NEVER seen them walk either of them. Normally I wouldn't give it a second thought, but they've recently been coming through a hole in the fence into our garden and trying to intimidate our cats. I also worry about when our daughter gets a little older and will want to play in the garden, a lack of exercise and stimulation for a dog can cause a lot of aggression.

Is there anything I can do? If I complained to the RSPCA, would they do anything or even care? I just don't understand why you'd get a pet in the first place if you had no intention of looking after it properly?

rspca will do nothing

As long as they have food and water the RSPCA won’t be interested.
What a shame. I can never understand people who don’t walk their dogs, surely they must be a nightmare with all that pent up energy.

Just make sure your boundary is secure and they can't get into your garden.

RSPCA won't want to know assuming the dogs have food and shelter. It's so irritating. Next door to us they have three dogs including a young working cocker. I've never seen them walk any of them ever at all. I feel bad if our working cocker gets fewer than two long off-lead walks every day. I wouldn't mind so much but the dogs are often out in the garden barking and whining so they are obviously not overly content with the status quo.

The RSPCA won't care - their boundaries for neglect are incredibly low. As long as the dogs have food, water and shelter, they'll not be fussed.

I know lots of owners who, sadly, never bother to walk their dogs.

Just because you don't see them walk them though doesn't mean they don't? One of my neighbours had a go at me once for not walking our labrador, I walk her first thing on a morning and last thing on a night and my husband usually puts her in the car to go to the beach but because she never actually sees it she didn't think we bothered, but unless she's sat in her window 24/7 looking at our house she wouldn't see 🤷‍♀️ don't get me wrong I'm sure there's loads of owners that don't bother but unless you're glued to your window you don't know what others are or aren't doing

I agree. It's really awful dog ownership. I know someone who never walks theirs and talks about how much they love them etc. Just really cruel.

Unless you are watching your neighbours 24/7. How would you know they not walking the dog's.

Unless you are spying on them all day every day, how do you know they are never walked?

My neighbour thought we no longer had our dog. I asked why and she said that she never saw us walk it and never hears it.

I walk the (now) 2 dogs at 6am-7am or even earlier. And dp walks them at about midday (in winter) or later in the evening in summer.

The fact that she has missed me out in the garden with the dog trying to get her in or out there most of the day in summer, is explicable. Or constantly telling her to 'drop it' all the time 🤣

The fact that you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen and is unlikely to prevent them coming through the hole in your fence.

There's at least two of my neighbours I've never seen walk their dogs ( unless they walk them when I'm in bed). I think it's more common than people think unfortunately.

Are you sure they aren't being walked? I have reactive dogs that are only walked late at night and very early in the morning.

Also, if your bothered about them coming in you garden, fix the damn hole.

Whose fence is it? If its yours fix it if its there's and they are unapproachable put a mesh fence to keep the dogs out

I used to walk my ddog after 10 pm as she hated other ddogs. She had a lovely hour off lead on our local beach every night... Neighbours never saw her.

My neighbour thought our dog wasn't being walked too. He actually had the cheek to say to me one day as I was leaving the house with her "first time I've seen you walk the dog".

Cheeky fucker, the dog is walked at 4.30am for an hour every single day. He has cctv that pints towards our house and he's made comments a few times like "saw you struggling with the bin" so dh sticks his finger at his camera everyday now when he's walking the dog.

I never see my neighbour walking her dog, it's a Dalmatian and they only have a small garden 😢

I hope that maybe they do walk her early/late but sadly I don't think so.

Most of the houses in our street have dogs.
I wfh, and so see a lot of what happens in the street.
I can count on the fongers of one hand the dogs who are walked regularly.
And then maybe another few who are walked at the weekend, or jsut round the block on pavements.

I am shocked at how little most dogs are walked really.

But then I have a springer, who needs a really good walk or he'd been an absolute pain.

If they won't sort out the fence, you need to do it. We don't walk our dogs much but it's a big garden and they love to chase a ball, chase each other, or race to the gate when someone goes past.

It's hard to say. They may walk them v early or v late. They may be out in the garden playing ball etc. They may be a breed that doesn't require a lot of walking. Not all dogs are the same.

Really sad to read on here that some dogs aren't being walked regularly. I'm genuinely shocked.

Our mini dachs gets one long off lead walk every day, plus a short morning walk, and a late night trip around the block.

On the rare days where's it's literally raining non-stop then ddog can go without and I don't feel guilty but that's only because he's a small breed. I'd never not walk a big dog!

Sorry to highjack the thread.

Your neighbour might be like me and walk them early in the morning.

My dogs are walked at 6am because one of them is a complete arsehole around other dogs and one of them only has short walks due to a bad hip.

They're also taken on a quick walk again at night and let out countless times during the day.

Fix the hole in the fence and mind your own business about the walks. Unless you are spying on their movements 24/7 you have no idea.

I sometimes worry our neighbours think this because the dog comes in the car to the school run and walked from there beforehand because it's nicer. But to people watching, they'd never see us leave with the dog.

So you can't always tell.

I haven't been able to "walk" my dogs for two years. Ever since I got out of the hospital, but am still using a wheelchair. However my Shih Tzu and Pomeranian dogs (ages 12,7, 5, and 1) are all under 10 pounds. They have the total run of the house 24/7 and a dog door leading into the back yard (surrounded by a 6-foot locked privacy fence and available 24/7). Dog door only closed during fireworks or snowfall. We do a lot of play activities inside. They are picked up to go to the groomer regularly.

If your neighbor has small dogs, maybe the house and garden are enough. If you are concerned - fix the hole in the fence.