9 week old puppy left alone min 8 hours

[Peony15]

A young co-worker was watching their 9 week old Frenchie puppy crying at home via a webcam.
Puppy is left alone ! crated with food/drink/toys/puppy pads for around 8 hours shift time inc commute.
I told her that you can't leave a puppy especially at that age for more than 1 hour max , let alone caged.
The poor animal must be super anxious, it's making me ill thinking about it.
No one else can watch it, I asked.
I'm sure no responsible breeder hands over a puppy at 9 weeks to a working single person without proper careplan/background checks.
We work shifts so it's left at different times.
I don't know where co-worker lives.
Think co-worker expected me to coo over new puppy and not voice my concern at what is going on.
Had a sleepless night, what can one do , think RSPCA won't come out until pet left alone over 24 hours ?
Co-worker is "influencer" type iykwim..
Should I accept many animals suffer like this as owners buy them without thinking how much care a puppy needs ? You wouldn't leave a human baby home alone either ?

That is awful. Can they not get someone to pop in like a dog walker?

Please report to the RSPCA, that's horrific.

You can't do anything unfortunately - it's not illegal to leave a puppy home alone.

Of course I'm not saying it's even remotely acceptable (before I inevitably get jumped on by someone) but nobody is going to be interested in a dog that's left in a safe space with food, water and puppy pads,

The RSPCA won't be remotely interested in this.

I only found this out yesterday, co-worker is in later, I want to do/say something again but not sure if this will go down well. It's not a case for RSPCA for reasons above poster listed.

The RSPCA won’t care. As long as they get water and food occasionally that’s all they care about.
Most people who own and breed French bulldogs don’t give a shit about dog welfare, so it doesn’t surprise me that the breeder was happy to hand one over sadly.

That's so upsetting :( I've spoken to people that work at the rescue center I got my pup from, and they said this happens a lot and leaves dogs traumatised :'( tbh some people openly admit to it on sites like pets4homes when trying to rehome a dog. Part of why I strongly dislike the normalisation of crates is that this is the outcome, a woman with zero shame showing off her frankly tortured puppy. I know crates can be used humanely, but I'd much rather live in a culture that considers them unacceptable in a home setting so there was less abuse via crates. And then maybe people who care about their skirting boards getting chewed while they work all day won't get the poor dog in the first place...

There were two dogs near us who were severely neglected - to the point that one of them died from neglect.

They were kept outside in a shed - no heating, no access to fresh water and barely any food. Both emaciated, riddled with fleas and with various infections (eyes, ears and skin).

All the RSPCA did was advise the owner to take the dogs to see a vet. One died (the owner wasn't charged) and the other still lives in the same shed in the same conditions.

Don't be fooled by the nice fluffy adverts and TV shows - they are useless and won't do anything if the cameras aren't rolling.

Unfortunately it's not unusual.

I know plenty of people who have a puppy and book a week off work and then go back as if nothing has happened 🤷🏻‍♀️

I work from home and I'm going to have to start going in one day a week and I'm putting all sorts of plans in place for my boys but sadly others don't. It's a privilege to have a pet but unfortunately a lot of people see it as a right.

I think that's a bit unfair.

A good bit of reading is Animal Rights and Human Wrongs by Sid Owen which explains the limitations of our legal system when it comes to the welfare charities.

They are a charity and have extremely limited powers. I have had direct dealings with them. I had three hard to home animals from them, including our last dog who they put hours and hours of work into and our current cat who was a cruelty and neglect case who they put a huge amount of effort into rescuing then trying to prosecute his owners for it. I've also seen the welfare side.

Unfortunately what your colleague is doing isn't actually uncommon. Good luck achieving the instagrammable dog she wants as it will have significant psychological damage if it is being raised in that situation.

Crates should be banned, they are terribly misused.
I would tell cruel selfishness dog owner she's an absolute disgrace.

That's awful. I wouldn't even leave our very content adult dog for that long. Max 5 hours and after a really good walk.

Absolutely disgusting. Agree RSPCA won’t do anything. I don’t understand why people get dogs if they are just going to leave them home alone for so long. Mine would be distraught if they were left for that long. The most they are left is an hour and that is unusual as there is normally someone home with them.

That's appalling.

I'm another one with poor experience of the RSPCA.

If you want to donate to the rspca in your will or buy some Christmas cards they are super helpful, if you want them to actually help an animal it’s much more difficult…… I’m assuming there’s a CEO with a nice big salary there 🙄

@Newpeep I don't feel it's unfair at all.

They make themselves out to be this wonderful charity who are just a phone call away if a dog is so much as barking too much, but in reality they do shit all.

I know all about the legal restrictions and I'm not for one minute saying they're deliberately neglecting dogs but people always come on these threads and say "just phone the RSPCA" because they think they'll actually do something. They won't - because they can't.

Unfortunately on TV you see them taking dogs off people for having long nails, or for being shut in crates all day howling, but in reality they can't do that and it gives people completely the wrong idea.

As an "influencer" type I'm going to say she's probably going to end up talking about this dog less and less until the response is "what dog?" and it's been signed over to rescue with severe separation anxiety and exhibiting a whole load destructive behaviour. You can't fix stupid :(

If your sure its what happens daily, though I'm sure she'd have mentioned if one off as she's been let down last minute/partner emergency and felt had no choice. Id probably opt to work on educating her about signs of separation anxiety/ stress as the lady probably does care about her pups well-being but wrongly led to believe it just needs time to adapt Julie Naismith has a puppy specific book to ease/avoid SA and are free resources/FB support group from that site. The Dog training advice and support guides will likely also be useful as she sounds like she is clueless.

It's likely she's not really considered risks

• injury trying to escape crate or obstruction from chewing pee pad/toys while bored
• Will be difficult to house train as is currently learning to go on soft things indoors and that nobody comes when asks to go out.
• Neighbour noise complaints
• High risk pup will develop full blown SA and for rest of its lifetime may struggle being left a few seconds and limits that will put on life.
• Stressed dogs are more likely to get ill or have IBS
• Little spare time for the intensive training and gentle socialisation puppies need so will become a handful and possibly reactive to dogs/people as will already be going round with high cortisol from SA stress.

Like most tools are open to abuse but majority of people don't shut their dog in a crate all day and before they became popular people just left the dog outside all day with a shelter (if lucky) or contained it in kitchen, cupboard, small utility to minimise damage, they were still left long periods with same risks though possibly worse if ate many home items or plants. You could tell where our previous home owner had left her dog/dogs from the chewed through door frames, skirting etc.
Crates are really useful for safety aspect of eating dangerous things while can't be supervised for short periods or when have young kids or visitors and can reduce a dog's anxiety having its own bedroom where feels safe, also makes easier too if inpatient at vets or traveling.

I’m starting to think most people don’t care for their dogs properly.

I’m a dog walker and I take a 6 month out for 30 minutes a day. Rest of the day she is alone.

She’s a doodle but they’ve admitted they don’t brush her.
Her fur is matted onto her legs in massive clumps and on her chest. Her food is just dumped from the tin into the bowl - not even mashed down with a fork to make it easier to eat.

The amount of people who have reactive dogs but don’t bother to train them or adapt their walking routes to help them feel happier is beyond me……

Dreadful , poor puppy , what a selfish owner , he / she needs socialising etc . She needs to send pup to regular daily crèche and if she can't afford it she should never have bought the puppy

The RSPCA are a charity. The organisation that can deal with animal welfare is a flipping charity. Your anger is directed at the wrong people.

They are so underfunded that their call centre can now only be funded from 8-5. There is NO provision for any animal emergency outside of this time.
There is currently ONE inspector covering the whole of my county.
It took them 6 days to find any kind of kennel space for a welfare dog.
The law for animal welfare offices in woeful that often prosecutions are done at a severe cost to the charity.

When the RSPCA inevitably collapses, it will be a disaster for animals in this country.

This is why I hated those crates , people are using them like cages.. that poor baby has just left his mum and is frightened . So bloody cruel .
Idiot people buying puppies they don't know how to care for !

I would tell her what I think of her disgusting cruelty never speak to her again unless it was work related and I would ask at work to be moved well away from her so I wouldn't have to speak to her at all.

Many years ago I had a discussion with a woman who had the tails of her two Dobermans docked and I never spoke to her again.

Crates can serve a useful purpose, I am currently using a crate for one of mine who has had a major op and doesn’t realise that she has! The crate stops her flinging herself around, but of course she is not left alone in it for hours and hours and I never use them as a rule.
Re: your colleague op, not much you can do. RSPCA won’t care, to them it isn’t a welfare issue and as for “responsible breeder”? I don’t know any breeders who do an in person homecheck before selling a puppy, so literally anybody can buy a dog. You could suggest doggy day care, but it’s expensive and lots of owners will not invest that much, because it’s “just a dog”. If it was me, I would tell her in no uncertain terms that her dog was not being properly looked after, she was being entirely irresponsible and she needs to sort it asap. Most people wouldn’t listen though….

I'm not angry with anyone - just making the point that they can't/won't do anything about this. They don't do anything about severe abuse cases - this won't even come onto their radar.