Cruelty case ...what would you do?

peasant

Met a young Border Collie today who was roaming the lanes with a big block of wood round his neck on a chain !

The block was about 10 x 5 x 4 inches, quite heavy and hung in such a way that it would hit the dog's shins when it moved. Since it had moved quite a distance anyway, it was limping and in pain.

Put the poor thing in the car and with the help of some woman (whom the dog had followed for two miles) brought it back to the place of its owner.

There was nobody home, but in the next house we found the grandson of the owner and handed over the dog. When I made a few negative remarks about the block (mentioniung the word cruelty), grandson said they they had tried to talk to Granpa a few times about it, but he wouldn't listen and this (to Grandpa)was the "only way" to teach the dog some manners as it was always jumping up and running away.

Obviously, I don't want this kind of treatment to continue ...but what should I do?

Grandpa's place is the typical old Irish batchelor type kind of abode and the porch was litterd with shotgun cartridges (??)

So ...I do not want the dog or anybody visiting Grandpa to talk about the dog to get shot either ...:D

What would you do?

- Talk to Grandpa yourself? (note...I'm a "foreigner" ...he might not take kindly to being told what to do)

- Report him to the dog warden? (if necessary I would be prepared to take care of the dog until a new owner is found, should a new owner have to be found ...try to avoid the pound at all cost)

- Or involve the local SPCA ?

Any advice wil be gratefully received ...

Alun

Well, personally I'd like to take "Grandpa", tie a railway sleeper on a chain around his neck, and after a day or two, ask him how he likes it, but I'm guessing I wouldn't last very long at the hands of the law if I did that.

Failing that, I'd get the local SPCA involved, and if they don't do anything, just take the dog and sod him.

Garth

Yeah. I'd agree. Hang around the area and next time, don't return the dog.

Doubt grandpa will miss it anyway.

koneko

Report him, to the SPCA and the guards, don't see much else you can do, talking to him is very very very unlikely to get a good result (ie at best he'll call you obscenities and tell you to leave).

Personally, if I saw the dog out and about again, I would take it, he obviously doesn't care about the dog at all.

peasant

Yeah ...was tempted to just take the dog alright.

But there was the lady, whom the dog had followed (witness to the "theft") ...plus one of our dogs at home is in heat at the moment, that would make "sleepover" arrangements just a tad difficult

doctor evil

Talk to the grandpa in a nice way, don`t go swooping in there causing tension. Give advice to the family get them to do something.

junkyard

I'd take the dog and I'd go out of my way to find him/her. Failing this I'd report the owner to animal cruelty, I honestly don't know why some people get dogs if they treat them like this.:mad:

the boss of me

Report this moron to the spca strightaway, if not he will continue to abuse this animal. This is exactly what spca exist for , let them do their job. nNot only are they good at it they enjoy it.

SuzyS1972

I'd report him Peasant - sadly if you make his dog " disappear " he will just replace it with another poor unfortunate - I've seen this happen- Sadly this type of oul git might only pay attention to an " official "
It may take longer to achieve the end result but I'm afraid he may tell you to go and take a jump if he's ignorant enough to treat his dog in such a manner

tj-music.com

Agree with the option to REPORT him straight away!

MrSinn

If he belives that you have to be cruel to be kind,then you do the same,report him!!!!!!!!

luckat

This is a difficult one, because there are so many different possible scenarios.

1) Kidnap the dog and find it a loving home. But what if Mr Farmer gets another dog and does the same, as he almost certainly will? How many dogs are you going to kidnap before he cops on?

2) Talk to him. As a foreigner in the neighbourhood, you risk turning the whole neighbourhood against you. It also means that if *anyone else* then kidnaps the dog, he's likely to blame you.

3) Report him to the ISPCA. Good idea - but the ISPCA doesn't generally prosecute unless it's very serious cruelty.

4) Report him to the Gardaí. Fine, except that they may be locals, and be of the same culture.

5) - and this might be the one that would work - corrupt his dog; when she comes to visit you, take the gadget off and feed her and make life good for her. She might gradually move house, in which case he's less likely to notice the whole thing.

If you're in sheep country, he's showing that he's "responsible" by putting a stopper around the dog's neck to stop her from wandering and chasing sheep.

At this time of year, particularly, if a dog chases sheep it can cause them to abort. He doesn't want to be sued by his neighbours, or to have the dog poisoned by them.

You might try to find out what age the dog is, and if he's done this before, and if the former dogs had the block on as a temporary thing, and if they ever had it taken off.

*If* he's succeeded in turning former dogs into homebodies by this method (unlikely), maybe this is his motivation.

peasant

If you're in sheep country, he's showing that he's "responsible" by putting a stopper around the dog's neck to stop her from wandering and chasing sheep.

At this time of year, particularly, if a dog chases sheep it can cause them to abort. He doesn't want to be sued by his neighbours, or to have the dog poisoned by them.

You might try to find out what age the dog is, and if he's done this before, and if the former dogs had the block on as a temporary thing, and if they ever had it taken off.

Interesting points there ...hadn't thought about that.

Yes, it is sheep country ...the place where the dog lives is surrounded by them
Yes, the block is detachable ...the chain clips on and off the collar
Yes, there is another dog around the place ...a very friendly, rather rotund and slow old fella

Hmmm ...I might have a slightly weaker case than I thought. While the method is certainly cruel ...the motives might just be ok ...in some sort of twisted "country" kind of a way.

I guess I'll hold out on calling the SPCA and have a nice chat with him first.
One could talk about the weather, dogs in general and fences in particular ...for example.

(I do have an unused radio fence lying about ...maybe I could give that to him ...still not ideal, but better than a "stopper")

Shelli

I'd still report him, even if he thinks his motives are justified it's till cruelty.

theanty

quite heavy and hung in such a way that it would hit the dog's shins when it moved....it was limping and in pain.

....grandson said they they had tried to talk to Granpa a few times about it, but he wouldn't listen and this (to Grandpa)was the "only way" to teach the dog some manners as it was always jumping up and running away.

If you haven't already, please report this man to the local SPCA, if the animal was obviously in pain and the cause was most likely due to the block of wood and chain around it's neck, then this is an unacceptable (to put it mildly) form of restraint. This man doesn't listen to members of his own family, why would he listen to you? However, same such people often have a greater respect (or fear) of authority and since what he is doing to the dog is a form of control and less about a form of training, such punishing behaviour will continue. If this man proves to have the animal's welfare at heart (after he has been reported), then he will try to improve circumstances for the dog and I believe the ISPCA would be willing to work with someone genuinely unaware that this is perceived as cruelty, more a matter of re-educating attitudes.

Tabitharose

report to spca, report to guards, and get back on to them to make sure they have followed it up..... other option have a look on irishanimals.com as some of the people on the board have the unfortunate experience of dealing with animal cruelty on a regular basis

good luck

peasant

I have driven past the house in question a few times since then and also have been seen by Grandson and/or Grandfather while doing so

On every occassion I have seen both dogs in the yard and neither of them had anything around their neck but a collar.

Looks to me that the simple fact of getting "caught" by a non-neighbour and stranger seems to have done the trick.

Haven't actually spoken to Grandfather and don't really see a need to ...probably would just end in aggro.

Dog seems fine anyway and that is my main concern.

gypsygirl

I was advised to use this type of restraint (from a friend who lives in the country) on my dog because he legs it every chance he gets n he's a big dog, Couldn't do it to my dog BUT if you live in around sheep etc. you can't risk letting your dog roam free if theres any danger of him hurting/killing other animals, This works (my friend tells me) because the dog learns if he runs/chases his shins get sore. I personally don't agree with this method, but I can understand why its used, in the country if you have a dog thats a danger to other animals you either get it put down or you rehome it OR you can try to retrain him using this method. Chances are if the dog in question is healthy apart from this, he's a rouge who needs to learn that he can't wander too far and the owner is trying the last option available to him, I'd sit back n watch the situation for a bit.

mjffey

peasant wrote:

- Or involve the local SPCA ?

Before you bring an animal to the SPCA, I would check if they ship animals to the UK. I know there are some Animal Welfare Organisation in Ireland who do. It's very stressful for the animals and in the UK they are placed in a shelter and sit there someties for years, and for any Irish animal that comes, an English animal has to be put down.

Here they call that rehoming.... My **** rehoming. that's just to make figures look nice and has nothing to do with animal welfare.