neighbours dog left home alone. hours on end

[Chicken Chaser]

Looking for a bit of advice here.

Our old next door neighbour decided to rent his house last year. 2 young chavs moved in. Recently they've bought what appears to be a young pup Japanese Akita. They've had it around 6 weeks now, I've never seen it being walked yet but the problem is that they leave it for more than 8 hours a day sometimes up to 12. The poor thing howls the house down and is constantly banging on what sounds like a baby gate.

Is there anything wrong with this from an animal neglect angle? I love dogs and for the reason that myself and my wife work long hours, I won't have a dog right now. I don't agree with them leaving it so long as personally I think that's cruel to the dog.

What's the consensus?

Edited by Chicken Chaser on Wednesday 11th July 19:25

[Mubby]

My own personal feeling is that I would not leave a dog home alone that long either.

When I puppy walked for Guide Dogs UK the rules there was you were allowed to leave the dog for up to 5 hours a day, So I do not know where they plucked that figure from or why, but I guess they had thier reasons for that figure...

[R1gtr]

Call the RSPCA, they will come have a look and try to contact owners if they think dog is being mistreated, sounds like the dog is caged (not a problem in itself,we cage ours when out) but that length of time is just wrong.
Police may pay a visit if noise is an issue.

[bexVN]

8hrs is far too long for such a young pup. 12hrs is just cruel and needs to be reported.

[Davel]

Phone the local council and keep a log of the noise for the Environmental Health folk.

Also ring the RSPCA as this is cruel.

[Chicken Chaser]

Thanks, I know you lot are animal lovers too, but I was just worried that I was over-egging the situation by considering reporting it.

I'll give them a ring.

[JohnnyJones]

Ring them, IMO 4 hrs is acceptable AFTER a good long walk.

[Chicken Chaser]

Rang the RSPCA last night. They said that adult dogs can be left for 24 hrs before they would consider it out of the ordinary but that it was different for a pup with regular feeding requirements. Logged it and they said they would get back to me with a resolution.

[Mubby]

I seem to remember something similar a friend told me when she called the RSPCA, why do people have these animals when they cannot care for them properly! For years I lived in my flat with no animals as it just wasn't right as I was at work all day!

[bexVN]

They'll have spent a lot me money on this pup buying it. Not that it should make a difference re cost on a pup but you'd expect more thought will have gone into an expensive 'purchase'

[Chicken Chaser]

Waste of time. Apparently as the dog is over 10 weeks old it can be left all day. No one is coming out to speak with them and I should have made the call when it first happened. I explained that my call was made after it was repeatedly left on it's own day after day for up to 12 hours but she said as it was likely to be around 16 weeks, it no longer needs the attention like a small pup.

[bexVN]

Chicken Chaser said:

Waste of time. Apparently as the dog is over 10 weeks old it can be left all day. No one is coming out to speak with them and I should have made the call when it first happened. I explained that my call was made after it was repeatedly left on it's own day after day for up to 12 hours but she said as it was likely to be around 16 weeks, it no longer needs the attention like a small pup.

Biggest pile of bullst I've ever heard!!!!! They need more attention at this age not less. Just one more black mark against RSPCA from me and there are a lot of them. They have more powers now with mental welfare not just physical welfare being part of it.

[Firefoot]

I have had cause to call the RSPCA a couple of times over the years, and I have to say I have never had a successful resolution.

Leaving a young dog unattended for up to 12 hours on a continual basis must be cruel to some degree. Come on rspCa, the clue is in the name!

[Deva Link]

You could speak to the occupants, speak to the landlord / agent or complain to the council environment health dept as the noise is bothering you.

[R1gtr]

Sounds like the RSPCA are bloody useless, the cheeky fu*k*rs send out their begging leaflets here in Scotland where they dont even operate, we have the SSPCA who are much better but sadly a lot of donations go to the RSPCA from up here as people do not know that they are two completely different organisations.

[TackleburyUk]

Been there, done that.

RSPCA are feckin useless when it comes to small time abuse. Don't get me wrong they are brilliant at the job they do but for this type of thing I found them worthless.

Best solution? Get your own dog.

We did and occasionally he barks and my wife and I don't stop him. At 10.30pm after my afternoons are particularly good times!!!

We also trained him to a high standard. This means we can walk around outside and Charlie will respond to our commands. Makes them look stupid and trust me your neighbours will pick up on it.

Ours now try not to leave theirs as we've shown them how you should treat a dog.

Drastic but I have to say I love my dog, wish I'd not fought my wife for 4 years and got one sooner. Best thing in the world.

Tack.

[Granville]

Local council environmental health or do you have a Special Bobby officer round your way?

The RSPCA will do nothing, they seem only interested in collecting donations and knocking your door every month begging for money.

[Superficial]

Chicken Chaser said:

Waste of time. Apparently as the dog is over 10 weeks old it can be left all day. No one is coming out to speak with them and I should have made the call when it first happened. I explained that my call was made after it was repeatedly left on it's own day after day for up to 12 hours but she said as it was likely to be around 16 weeks, it no longer needs the attention like a small pup.

Hate to say it, but I could've told you this would be the outcome and saved you the phone call

If I were you I would try and be friendly with them, purely for the sake of the dog. Make them aware he is distressed while they're out, recommend a local dog sitter, or even offer to pop in and check on him yourself. I know you might not want to, but it's a case of making the best of a bad situation for the dog now.

[Chicken Chaser]

Yeah thanks for the comments. I genuinely feel sorry for the poor thing. The noise is bothering us but I also have concerns for the dog. Like I said, I love dogs and used to have one as a child but it's just not practical or fair on a dog for us to be absent at work for hours on end. Disappointed with the RSPCA as I thought they might be more understanding. It is easy to see why so many dogs end up mistreated or left to be re-homed.

I will be making a call to the council to see what can be done about the noise. Not overly hopeful but there's more than one way to skin a cat. Unfortunately the owners aren't the type for reason so a friendly chat over the fence isn't going to resolve it.

[Wigeon Incognito]

Just to defend the RSPCA a touch with this one it genuinely isn't that they don't want to do something about complaints like this it's simply that they don't have the resource.

Whilst I don't agree with it, leaving a young dog alone for 12 hours would be marginal at best as to whether it could be considered in relation to the Animal Welfare Act and would never make it to court if the animals needs are met in other respects.

Now consider that an RSPCA Inspector with a small patch will cover at least 400 square miles alone. At this time of year (the busiest) an Inspector could be running with a backlog of 50 unresolved jobs, and will most likely receive at least 10 new ones per day. All of these jobs will be things like beatings, untreated injuries, severe weight loss, and other issues likely to cause suffering if left unactioned. At best they'll be jobs like animals being kept outside 24/7 with no shelter.

Now add to this the wildlife collections inspectors are expected to deal with, any emergencies that are called in (happens almost daily), and the fact that Inspectors often have to cover more than one area at a time alone due to staffing issues

With traffic and the time taken to deal with jobs dealing with 8 to 10 complaints per day is the norm as it may be a no reply or could be a case so bad that prosecution is the only option that the Inspector walks into which could take all day.

Sadly things have to be prioritized, but when things are so stretched jobs where the animal is fundamentally okay do have to be considered as a lower priority. The RSPCA is a charity stretched to its limits with public expectation that it acts like a government body.

Knowing the massive issues the RSPCA has with resource, the huge expectation placed on it, and the fantastic work done by its field officers on those jobs they are able to deal with I sympathize with the RSPCA. The only way they'll be able to deal with more and so improve animal welfare is by us giving them more donations.

Edited by Wigeon Incognito on Saturday 14th July 08:31