Dog left alone(what to do?)

gazzer

Over the weekend I realised that my next door neighbours (who are away) have left their dog out in the back garden. They went away on Friday and when I was cleaning the upstairs windows on Saturday I noticed that the dog was out in the back garden.

Sat night the dog was howling and when I got up on Sunday morning she was still howling so i got a ladder and gave the dog some food from over the fence. i also got the hose and sprayed water into her water bowl.

Now the thing is by Sunday evening I realised that somebody was coming in during the day or night to leave food out for the dog cos when i looked out the window on Sunday evening the dogs food bowl was in a different part of the garden and there was a tiny bit of food in it. However when I was going to bed (around 2am Monday morning) the dog was still outside. I got up on Monday morning at 10 am and the dog was still outside yet her food bowl was full.

I was in the house for most of the weekend (doing a lot of gardening on my days off) but I didnt hear anybody coming or going in the house, however,
last night I was going to bed around 11pm. I was upstairs brushing my teeth when I heard somebody coming out of the house and getting into a car. By the time I got to the window the car was driving off. So obviously the dog is been fed but not been brought out for walks..

Do people here think I should ring the ISPCA or the police? I hate to think of the poor dog lying out the back garden with no company for the last few days. I havnt a clue when the neighbours are back.. I am really surprised at my neighbours cos I cant every remember them doing this before. They know that I love dogs cos I have one of my own and I have offerred in the past to look after their dog if they go away.

fits

ISPCA can do nothing. The dog is being fed, therefore it is being looked after according to our outdated legislation. Sign the Anvil petition if you want things to change

fluffball

I wish I had you living beside me,so few care nowadays.I think you will waste your time ringing anybody.A neighbour across the street left her dog last yr for 2wks.Those 2wks broke everybody's heart ,the dog howled all day and night,yet nobody saw anyone going in or out to feed him.In the end my neighbour who's a nurse on night duty rang RSPCA and was told if the dog was'nt being mal-treated there was nothing to investigate!.so we ended up like peeping tom's taking turns to watch if there was someone going in,there was alright but not everyday.When the family returned a nice neighbour told them how upset the dog was and was told in no uncertain terms where to go,but,but her last words were oh I did I rang RSPCA and told them the dog was 'homealone' and that he doesnt go for walks so they'll be paying you a visit.Now the dog is out everyday,they were away for easter but the next door man went in all the time.

LisaW

The law actually only states that water and shelter must be available at all times.
So if the dog has those things, other than complaining about the noise factor there is not much legally that can be done.

Perhaps discuss this with your neighbours when they get back, you never know maybe they are paying for a dog minding service and believe their dog is being walked and minded properly.

gazzer

Thanks everybody for your advice.

I got home after work yesterday and the dog was still outside and nobody was in the house so i threw some doggie treats over the fence and also gave her some of my dogs easter egg (got it in the pet shop) my dog was none to happy about that :mad:

Went to bed last night at midnight and the poor dog was howling.. I felt terrible. This morning my partner got up around 6.30 and heard somebody putting a key in the front door next door. About 2 minutes later though they got into a car and drove off. So it looks like whoever is coming in is coming in at the most twice a day and just leaving some food there. I dont think they are leaving any water though cos there is only one bowl outside.

Anyway i decided to take the initiative. Our gardens are seperated by slatted fences so i got a huge bowl of water and some bones etc. I lifted up one of the fences (very heavy so thats my exercise for the day), let the dog into my garden for a bit and played with her (her tail was like a fan it was going that fast) , then i left the water etc in her garden and let the fence back down.

On the way to work I left a note in the letterbox (full of mail) to say that if the person who was looking after the dog wanted us to bring her for a walk (hint hint) that I would be more than happy to do it when I was bringing my own dog out.

Hopefully that will get the message across. If they question why the bowl is in the garden I will just explain that the dogs howling was too upsetting to ignore and I had to do something.. I never actually went into their garden so i didnt trespass.

Glowing

Fair play to you Gazzer. I wish there were more dog owners like yourself around.

Thats really no life for a dog. I'd seriously mention something when they get back - taking a 'concerned' tone rather than an agressive one. Do you have much contact with them?

Dr.Bunson

I saw this show on RTE on Tuesday (I think), it looks like a weekly thing. It follows different SPCA employees around and publicly shames abusive pet owners. It is a similar format to the show "Cops" that was on years ago, but without the guns.

Maybe you should get these guys on board. Here's the website:
http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmesales/animalrescue.html

Alternatively, steal the dog and give it to a friend/relative that will give it a good home....

Your in a sticky situation, if you do nothing the dog suffers, if you act you risk falling out with you neighbour.

good luck with your quest.

Glowing

Just out of interest, what breed is the dog?

gazzer

@Glowing.

Thats the thing.. we get on really well with the neighbours. They have invited us to birthday parties and bar-b-qs etc.. So the only thing I can think off is that they had arranged for somebody to look after the dog in the house but they are not doing it.

The dog is a cocker-spaniel .. lovely dog..

Glowing

They're crazy dogs, full of energy - he must be doing his nut in sitting there alone for the best part of a week!

Sad.

anniehoo

I think im the only one who doesnt understand what the big deal is here! Rather than blame the owners, who obviously took the time to make sure someone would call in twice a day and feed the dog, blame the person who was put in charge. I was on holiday for a week last year and got my friend to do the same thing. Yes the dog was out the back for the whole week, but she was fed, watered and had adequate shelter. I would rather that than a dingy boarding kennel where theyre stuck in unfamiliar surroundings and practically ignored for alot of the day (first hand experience of this). The person who was put in charge should be reprimanded for not exercising the dog not the owners in my opinion!

gazzer

@anniehoo

Do you not think that the dog should be walked everyday?? Did your friend walk the dog each time she knocked in?

peasant

anniehoo wrote:

I think im the only one who doesnt understand what the big deal is here! Rather than blame the owners, who obviously took the time to make sure someone would call in twice a day and feed the dog, blame the person who was put in charge. I was on holiday for a week last year and got my friend to do the same thing. Yes the dog was out the back for the whole week, but she was fed, watered and had adequate shelter. I would rather that than a dingy boarding kennel where theyre stuck in unfamiliar surroundings and practically ignored for alot of the day (first hand experience of this). The person who was put in charge should be reprimanded for not exercising the dog not the owners in my opinion!

anniehoo

I take it you are the same anniehoo that posted this in another thread a few days ago:

02-04-2007, 11:47 #6
anniehoo
Registered User

I run a pet sitting co. in Dublin. If you would like details please send me a private message. Cheers

What exactly do YOU do when "sitting" pets in your pet sitting company?

Do you take them into your home?
Do you take them into your back garden?
Or are you feeding and watering them in their back garden?

anniehoo

gazzer wrote:

@anniehoo

Do you not think that the dog should be walked everyday?? Did your friend walk the dog each time she knocked in?

@gazzer
Yes i certainly hope so!

@peasant
Pet sitting depends on what each person wants. Some people never let their animals in the house, so when calling the animal is walked, fed and given water along with spending some time playing etc Other people give their animals the run of the house! All im saying is dont criticise the neighbour. For all they knew,they had left their pet in the hands of another person to look after! The animal was visited twice a day by somebody, the only downfall was seemingly not exercising the dog which was completely wrong, but other than that i dont see the problem. Many of pet owners do the same !!

peasant

...other than that i dont see the problem. Many of pet owners do the same !!

To quote my grandmother;
"Just because everybody else jumps off a cliff, would you jump too?"

No matter how many people do it, I still maintain that it is cruelty of the highest degree to leave a dog on its own all day (and night) with no interaction, no contact and no supervision.

Feeding and watering it is just prolonging the agony, really.

I certainly couldn't bring myself to turning that into a business.

fits

Hmm, I can see both sides of the story here. When I go away for say, less than four days, I'd much rather leave my dogs at home and have a friend call over to walk them/feed them, but I have a friend I can trust to do this.
Having had one of them come home sick from kennels before I think this option is less stressful for him. Any length of time over that though, and I'd be looking at putting them in a kennels or staying in a friends house.
This poor dog is obviously suffering though, and I feel awfully sorry for him. The owners should have made sure that someone could interact with him while they were gone, ultimately it is the owners who are at fault.
Wish my vet ran a boarding service actually, they love it there... weirdos!

spurious

I would think a pack animal like a dog would suffer more from no company for a prolonged period than no food. Two weeks is a long time - if the dog is normally a house dog while its owners are home, it must be quite distressed now.

If it were me, I'm the sort of eejit would take the poor thing into my back yard, but I appreciate not everyone can do that.

It's quite possible as others have said that the owners believe someone is properly minding the dog, so best have a word with them when they get back.

Glowing

Yeah, I wouldn't consider it okay to just throw the dog a bite to eat at 6.30 in the morning and then again at 11pm. Thats not caring for a dog to be honest - thats just keeping him/her alive (as you said Peasant.)

I don't know why they didn't ask you Gazzer, since it would make sense you living next door, and having to walk your own lad anyway.

anniehoo

Peasant since your so good at dissecting everyones quotes, heres one of your own "So please, don't overhype this.....Lets be reasonable here,ok?" from the dog bite thread! Seriously, be reasonable with this! Yes, the dog was left on his own for a period of time,yes he obviously is used to more attention than what he got and yes the owner should of insisted the animal was exercised, but get a grip and understand that 2 weeks is not a lifetime. The neighbour didnt mention that the owners made a habit of this and obviously the minder could of spent a bit more time with the dog! My business is very successful and i take great care of the animals im in charge of! The pets i mind come from loving homes and the owners are very responsible. Any deviation from an animals normal routine is confusing for them, but a fortnight is not going to do irreversible damage here!!

Gillie

anniehoo. You are going on the assumption that the owners did tell the minder to walk the dog.

I think it would have been much better for the dog to be in boarding kennels if the minder could not/was not instructed to walk the dog.
Boarding Kennels are exciting places for dogs from what I can see. Theres all that territorial búll**** to start with but I think in general the dogs are alert and happy for their stay (depending on the kennels of course!)

I certainly would not ask anybody to take care of my dogs if I was going away for any period of time. The dog is my responsibility - no one elses!

peasant

annihoo

As I don't know how you run your business, I'd rather not discuss that, as I don't want to wrongly accuse of anything.

So, just in principle (and not about you or your busines in particular):

I wholeheartedly disagree with your above statement.

In my opinion,

A home where a dog is left for hours on end without contact, is NOT a "loving home". A home where they leave the dog alone for two weeks just with food and water most definetly isn't.

A home, where a dog is not allowed into the house (and thus participate in day to day life) isn't a "loving home" either.

A "minder" who does nothing more than quickly fill bowls once or twice a day is anything but.

Two weeks of utter abandonement are not going to affect the dog? Youbetya they are. That dog will take a long time to trust you and feel relaxed in its environment again, if ever. But then again, if it's usually just stashed away out there anyway it probably never did in the first place ...so no real harm done, right?

There is nothing here to be "reasonable" about.
Dogs are highly social creatures. For their physical and mental wellbeing they absolutely need to be part of a group and interact with that group regularly.
Be that a group of other dogs or a human family.
Leaving a dog in "solitary confinement" regularly and for hours, days or even weeks on end is sheer and utter cruelty ...nothing else.

The mere fact that is convenient for us humans to do so, still doesn't make it reasonable ...or acceptable, for that matter.

The fact that a lot of people are doing it also makes it neither reasonable nor acceptable ...just commonplace.

Cruelty is cruelty, no matter how many people think its socially acceptable.


That's were I stand, anyway

iguana

anniehoo wrote:

to but get a grip and understand that 2 weeks is not a lifetime.

I'm not trying to be funny here but when my husband was away working for two weeks I was pretty unhappy. And I was fully aware of where he was, why he was away and when he would be coming back. A dog wont know any of these things. All it will know is that it's family is gone. It won't know why they are gone, or if they are ever coming back. You can't tell a dog not to be sad as it is only 2 weeks.

Obviously dog-owners are entitled to go on holidays, but anyone who will do go away without being aware that the dog will feel lost and abandoned shouldn't own dogs.

peasant wrote:

A home, where a dog is not allowed into the house (and thus participate in day to day life) isn't a "loving home" either.

In fairness I know a few people who have actual working dogs, who the own for working purposes such as herding on working farms and hunting. And in some cases the dogs don't always come into the house. That doesn't mean that the dogs aren't loved, but sometimes it means there are too many dogs. They still particpate in the lives of their owners, but they aren't pets.

peasant

iguana wrote:

In fairness I know a few people who have actual working dogs, who the own for working purposes such as herding on working farms and hunting. And in some cases the dogs don't always come into the house. That doesn't mean that the dogs aren't loved, but sometimes it means there are too many dogs. They still particpate in the lives of their owners, but they aren't pets.

The key word here would be that "there are too many dogs"

They're fine anyway, they have their own social interaction and don't need ersatz human company

iguana

peasant wrote:

The key word here would be that "there are too many dogs"

They're fine anyway, they have their own social interaction and don't need ersatz human company

Indeed, but they do also spend lots of time with their owners as they spend a working day with them. Though I don't know why anyone would want a dog as a pet and not want to allow them in the house. (Actually that's not true, my two had a swim this evening and the whole room stinks of wet dog, so I could see why people might not always want dogs in the house).

People will always have different rules or ways of raising their dogs, mine aren't allowed on the furniture as my husband is allergic to their hair if exposed to a lot of it. But leaving your dog alone with nothing but food and water for even a weekend is inexcusable. I can't understand how anyone could do it.

artieanna

It's definitly the person who's coming in feeding the dog thats at fault...surely he/she could spend twenty minutes kicking a ball around for the dog or bringing him for a run if only a short one....

jus couldn't be bothered probably.:mad: