Neighbours moved, dog left behind!

ncmc

Hi all, I am just looking for a bit of advice as to what to do about my neighbours dog. They moved last weekend, but I have noticed that they have not brought their dog with them. They seem to be calling round and letting him out into the garden in the morning and then letting him into the empty house at night. He doesn’t seem to be getting any exercise or much human contact, although they are feeding him and leaving him water. I feel so bad for him, he is a lovely little fella. He has already broken through part of the fence to their neighbours on the other side, I would imagine out of boredom and frustration. The dog owner was very apologetic to our other neighbour and fixed the fence.

I was hoping that this was only a temporary thing while they settled into the new house, but I have since heard from a friend of a friend (so not sure how reliable this is), that the people they have moved in with don’t want the dog, so I’m not sure what they plan to do with him. I don’t know how to deal with this, I am not good at confrontation, so I don’t really want to approach the owners, I am not sure if the ISPCA would consider it a cruelty case as he is fed, watered and sheltered. I would love to look after him til they get sorted, but that isn’t really feasible as we have a dog ourselves and she’s not particularly good with other dogs and is quite territorial. I offered (via Facebook) to take him for a walk and they replied saying that would be great and asked about leads etc, but didn’t offer any more information about what they plan to do with him! I was hoping that the Facebook message would guilt them into action. I plan to take him for a walk tonight at least and give him plenty of cuddles. But how should I deal with this going forward? Thanks in advance for any advice.

easyeason3

Would you be in a position to look after him?

Graces7

It sounds as if they will no tbe able to take the dog to their new home?

In which case they have a difficult decision to make indeed. But they need to do that and decide what is best in the dog's interest, before someone new moves in?

Great to be caring for him; they probably think you will take him!

morganafay

Could you ask them via facebook why he is left there? Or when they're going to move him to the new place? If you say it in a non-confrontational way so they can't get mad.

If they say they can't take the dog then you could say you could look for a rescue that will take him?

Zapperzy

Do they own this house and are waiting to sell it, or are they renting it? Maybe via facebook you could ask what they plan to do with him, say a friend of a friend is looking for a dog like that and would be willing to take him off their hands, then look for a rescue space if you cannot mind the dog yourself. If they are renting you could get the landlord involved but that could lead to him getting dumped somewhere if the landlord says he wants the dog out now.

anniehoo

Dont jump to conclusions just yet. If theyve moved, their new house mightnt be "dog proof" just yet and could be waiting on fencing or building work to be finished. If hes getting food, water and human interaction during the day by them then he hasnt been abandoned. Id wait a bit longer before you know anything for definite.

Offer to walk him and gradually suss out what the story is first.

ncmc

I think the house beside us was rented from her sister. They told us that she wanted to sell it, but I have since heard from someone else that they can't afford the rent so are moving in with his sister.

Now that I think of it, of course the owner of the house is going to want to get in and clean it, so she's not going to be happy about a dog having the run of the place, so this can't go on long term.

That's a good idea about pretending I know someone looking for a dog, maybe I will see what happens over the weekend and contact them on Monday if he's still there. I'll walk him in the meantime so at least he's getting exercise and company.

I'm very torn, in some ways I feel bad for them as I know they care about the dog, they are obviously in a bad financial place but that said, surely they have a friend that could have taken him for a couple of weeks, there's no excuse for leaving him by himself all day and night.

On a tangent, I was planning to go for a short jog (about 5k) tonight and bring my own dog, and now this dog. Thing is, I'm not sure how much exercise he is used to, he's only about two, but get the impression he isn't walked much. Might this be too much for him? I don't jog really fast, but don't want to give him a heart attack either!