[Raichu]

Hello!

My name is Rachel, and I joined this forum a few minutes ago because I have concerns about my neighbor's dog and I'm not sure if I'm over-reacting or not. I'm actually a cat lover. I have 3 cats. I've never owned any dog in my life before, and I don't know how to care for them. So, this is why I need the help of you guys on this forum..

This dog is a German Shepperd mix, and he's left outside most of the time. I had to call the cops on my neighbor's once because it was 3 in the morning, and all I could hear was the dog howling, crying and scratching at their screen door to be let in. The neighbor's yelled at the cops when they showed up, but eventually took their dog in. A few days after that, they placed a wooden board in front of their porch so that their dog couldn't get up to scratch at their door.

Since then, the dog hasn't been left out overnight anymore. However, he is outside for large periods of time. Usually from 8 - 9 AM until about 5, 6, 7 and sometimes 8 PM at night. There's no food, no water or no shelter (besides under the porch) of any sort. The dog tends to bark and howl to be let in, and usually his owner will open the door and yell at him to be quiet. The dog usually spends his time sitting // sleeping on the porch, in front of the door. I don't see his owner out there much with him at all, and he doesn't have any toys to keep him occupied either. I've seen his owner go outside once or twice to clean up after the dog's waste, but the owner didn't pay much attention to the dog at all. The dog also stayed away from her, but he didn't look scared at all. She pet him for about a minute on her way back in, and shut the door on him again.

Sometimes he's left out when it's really cold out, or really snowy outside.

He also has a prong collar on him, and I think it's placed on him wrong. I read that prong collars are supposed to be placed right under his chin, and this dog's prong collar is almost at his shoulder blades. I went outside today to check if the prongs are digging into his skin, but I couldn't tell because the collar was too tight and I didn't want to pull on it in case I hurt him.

He is friendly towards me. He lets me pet him. He whines when I leave. It makes me wonder if he lacks a lot of affection. I'm not sure if he gets walked or not, and of course I'm not sure how he's treated inside. All I see is what goes on outside.

I have called the SPCA in my city, and someone came to look at the dog. She took a look for about 2 seconds, and then left and nothing was done about it. Myself and a few of my friends called the SPCA back, and we were told the because of the type of dog he is, it's okay for him to be outside all of the time. I did mention the food, water, shelter and prong collar to them. They told me the prong collar was harmless, and not to worry about it. But if the dog is lacking attention and is outside for the most part, why does he need that type of collar on him? Aren't prong collars made only to be left on during training, and taken off afterwards?

I'm not too sure what to do from here. I was hoping the SPCA in my city would take him so I could adopt him and show him love and care, but nothing is being done. I was told that unless there were signs of physical abuse, there was nothing they could do.

I've attached a few pictures to this thread, to show you what the dog and prong collar look like, and etc.

Would you please let me know if this situation is in fact okay for the dog, and if I'm just over-reacting? I have been outside to pet him, show him attention and to give him dog treats so I don't know if my attachment to him is in fact clouding my judgement or not.

Thank you in advance to anyone who read this, and to anyone who can give me some insight.

 

[cshellenberger]

I'd call ANIMAL CONTROL every time I see the dog outside with no access to water or shelter for that long (they may be feeding him inside, I feed twice a day, early morning nad evening around dinner time). I beleive in most place the law is that the dog must have access to water and shelter if left outside.

 

[Lindbert]

Also, leaving a dog out on a prong collar is definitely dangerous. What happens if it gets caught on something and the prongs do dig into his skin?

He's such a beautiful dog. I would adopt him in a heartbeat.

 

[Raichu]

Today, he's been outside since 9 AM. It's not 5:20 PM. I just saw his Owner open the door, go outside and grab something, go back inside and close the door on the dog, and then shut her curtains. He's still not being let in. It's been 8 hours now that he's been outside, and it's getting colder.

I want to steal him so bad if nothing gets done, but I'm scared to get in trouble with law if his owner would actually report him missing..

 

[Miss Bugs]

since AC cant do anything, what about maybe talking to the naighbor and asking if they would be willing to sell him to you? be super nice about it, like commenting how you have always wanted a big dog, and you just love him, would they be willing to sell him to you? making sure not to disparage them in any way of coarse!

 

[Raichu]

I guess I could do that. Maybe make up a fake e-mail, write her a letter about it and drop it in her mail box. I'm too scared to go and say anything to her, because she told off the cops when I called. I could only imagine what she would say to me.

Her yard is full of his poop, and she just went outside to pick up the wooden board and put it in front of the door.

 

[Tofu_pup]

Like cshellenberger said, keep calling animal control. If nothing else, they can force the owners to give the dog water or release him to the city shelter.

It is dangerous to leave a prong on any unattended dog but I've never seen a law prohibiting such a thing. I do NOT recommend stealing the dog. As much as he tears at your heart strings, dogs are considered property in the eyes of the law.

Give him some cookies and scritches, peek over the fence for water, and call AC if there is none there. Unfortunately, there's not much more that you can do.

 

[Raichu]

The AC here is the SPCA, and the Humane Society here is the SPCA. The SPCA won't do a damn thing.

I'm thinking about logging everything for an entire week. I'm going to write down when he's outside, when he's let in, when he's yelled at and for what, and I'm going to take pictures of his yard. It's covered in his poop. Then once I get enough stuff, maybe I can go down to the SPCA and show them. Maybe just calling isn't enough.

 

[Tofu_pup]

The AC here is the SPCA, and the Humane Society here is the SPCA. The SPCA won't do a damn thing.

I'm thinking about logging everything for an entire week. I'm going to write down when he's outside, when he's let in, when he's yelled at and for what, and I'm going to take pictures of his yard. It's covered in his poop. Then once I get enough stuff, maybe I can go down to the SPCA and show them. Maybe just calling isn't enough.

Persistence pays.

Good luck. I hate seeing dogs banished to the backyard. That's no life for a dog.

 

[sassafras]

There should be local ordinances defining what the bare minimum care for dogs is. In most places it is food, water, and acceptable shelter. You're going to have to be a squeaky wheel - print out a copy of the ordinance (or your state law if you can't find a city/county ordinance) so you can reference it and call AC or the police every single day. "My neighbor is in violation of city/county/state code XYZ" is going to carry more weight than "I'm worried about my neighbor's dog". Eventually they'll get so sick of your calls that they'll probably do something even if they're not really interested in enforcing the law.

 

[Raichu]

I hope so.

The SPCA website says that the dog must have food, water and shelter. However, my Dad's friend had SPCA called on his dogs and he was told that as long as he takes his dog in at night, he doesn't need to provide a dog house. He was also told that water must be out during the summer, but not the winter because the dog could simply eat the snow.

.. Riiiight.

 

[sassafras]

Yea I would try to read the laws yourself. Many laws specify that a non-frozen water source must be available in the winter, and dogs outside for more than a certain number of hours in a row must be provided with shelter.

 

[Canaqua]

He's really cute, he looks like a sweet dog.

Prong collars are for training/walking only and are not supposed to be left on an unsupervised dog . His nails are way too long too.

You may or may not get anywhere with animal control, if the dog is being fed and brought in at night, they might not care. Worth a try.

The AC folks are not supposed to identify a person who reports a dog issue, is there another way that you neighbor would know who called? Any chance you want to become a dog person? Maybe offer to walk him for them, so he gets out and gets some exercise and attention. With people I think might get defensivie if I offer to help, I make like I'm asking them for a favor. When I wanted to get my neighbor's Pit out more, I told them that I wanted to get more exercise and was afraid to run early in the morning alone and that my dog was too old (only the last fact was true), could I borrow his? No problem, take my dog for a run! If I couched it like their dog needed to get out more, I'd have gotten yelled at.

 

[Itoys_Mummy]

i think it's great the effore you are giving to this dog even you could ask if they are not willing to sell, if they'd allow you too keep him company during the day - kind of like daycare?

 

[Spirit_of_Cotons]

What a terrible thing that owner is doing to their beautiful dog! I can't say anything that has already been said: look up your laws, gather your info, and then give it all in. I would also talk to the owners politely about taking their dog. You're doing the right thing for this dog, good luck.

 

[RubyDog]

That's so sad.... hes such a gorgeous dog.
I think you are doing the right thing by persisting on the SPCA. I would keep on them until they did something about it. The very LEAST a living creature should have is water, food, and shelter. But really.... they don't seem to be giving him any mental stimulation whatsoever, that's just as bad as not watering him. Very sad.
I would definitely try to talk to this person and offer her money for him. It doesn't sound like she cares about him much anyway....keep us posted, I would love to hear how this turns out.