Something Very Weird Happened Tonight.

Realtine

We have three dogs, all Cavaliers.
Tonight just now I let them out into our back garden to do their business before bed, normally it just takes a moment for them as they know it's time for their treat before bed, so I left the back door opened as I tidied up the kitchen.
I turned around to see one of the boys settling down on the floor with a huge lump of meat in his mouth, no clue as to where it came from. I called OH who promptly removed it from him and dumped in the bin outside, at that precise moment our girl, Cyn came lumbering up the yard with another lump of meat in her mouth which we also very quickly removed.
We found our third lad under the table with the same type of meat.

I was shaking at this point, the meat had obviously been thrown into our garden at some point this evening by one of our neighbours. We have no issue with any of them.
Who in their right mind would fling their unwanted meat into someone else's garden?

On closer inspection by himself, it appears to be some kind of cooked roast beef, the lumps were fairly large.
It's late now and the dogs are fairly subdued in their beds and himself took a walk around, as much as he could see with the back light on and found another lump. These weren't there earlier I know because I did a little bit of gardening today as it was so nice out.

I'm worried though, what if????
I'll have to speak to the neighbours, it's totally unacceptable in my view - no one feeds my dogs but me and certainly not scraps of unknown meat, never mind the hygiene aspect of throwing unwanted meat into someone else's garden.

Our garden in walled in on all sides so it had to be deliberately thrown in.

I'm keeping a close eye on the dogs just in case,
I'm worried even though none of them came close to actually eating any of it.
And what if it keeps happening?
You'd think the safest place for them is their own back yard.
I'm actually a bit shell shocked.am I over-reacting or what?

SingItOut

If it was one of your neighbours I agree they should have asked first but they may have done it just as a nice gesture? Our neighbour a few years ago used to throw raw bones into our dog at the time that he had gotten in the butchers along with his own meat. I'm sure if it was your neighbours they meant no harm, still have a chat with them though

kylith

Unfortunately some people see dogs as living waste bins, when I was a kid one of our neighbours used to tip all his leftovers into our garden 'for the dog' (not just a couple of spuds, but sliced pans, and mountains of whatever was in his fridge), until my dad went and had a word with him.

If I were you I'd drop round to the people on either side and ask did they see something, and that you're worried because of poison, and what with one dog's terrible reaction to (insert whatever here), and so on. It might make them think again if they've been using your garden instead of their bin

TooManyDogs

I had the same, mysterious bits of meat flying over our fence. My huge problem was that they'd throw over a few bits of meat, between 6 dogs :eek: The only time my dogs fight is over food and I needn't tell you it gets nasty. Hubby went spare and went around the neighbours. Everyone denied it but we then copped on that the man next door has some sort of early onset alzheimers (sp?) and we think it was him. We spoke to his wife and I think she clears out any leftover meat now so it hasn't happened in ages thankfully.

irisheddie85

I Actually have a neighbour who likes my dogs and asked if it was okay to give them a bit of left over meat when he is passing. I said it was and now they love to see him coming near the gate. He almost gets as big a welcome as me

lorebringer

If there was nothing obviously wrong with them meat, not gone off or anything, it's probably someone thinking they are being nice giving the dogs some left overs. Good intentions that were not very well executed. Having a friendly word is the best way to stop this. Tell them you think it is very nice of them but you don't like it (or you could say something like "I'm trying to watch their weight" "one of them has a sensitive stomach" etc.) and would appreciate it if they didn't do that, or give the meat to you directly so you could control how much/when they get it.

anniehoo

Realtine wrote: »

.am I over-reacting or what?

Nope you're not over reacting. Unfortunately in this day and age we have to be on our guard for "animal haters" and while a neighbour might think they're doing no harm, it could also be the other extreme and meat is purposely meant to do the dogs damage. Dont freak out at your neighbours, just politely ask them was it them. If they deny it, then just mention about the "Sensitive stomach or diet etc" above. If it continues to happen id be properly freaking out though and would get the meat tested for poison in one of the Regional Vet Labs and call the guards (last resort though).

MarthaMyDear

I've heard of people trying to rob houses throwing meat into the garden first to distract the dog or keep it from barking. I know this more than likely wasn't the case here but just a thought, not trying to scare you or anything!

It more than likely was just a neighbour who had some leftover meat and thought it would be a nice treat for the dogs!

MaryK666

There has been an increase in the number of pure breed dogs being stolen - even in broad daylight - from peoples back gardens. Even if your garden is surrounded by other gardens there's a good chance that someone may have crossed other gardens to get to yours in an attempt to steal your dogs.
I would advise you to check with your neighbours to see if any of them will admit to knowing about the meat or whether they were home on the night in question.
I would also contact the Gardai to make them aware of what happened.
There may be a perfectly innocent explanation to what happened but there's also a chance that the meat contained some form of sedative or, worse still, poison and it might not be any harm to have your vet check it out if you still have it.