Advice needed please

greyflintstone · Master

Advice needed please

Lesley · Guru

If I were you, and I had serious concerns, I would phone the SSPCA. They are professionals and it is their job to assess the situation and give advice to the owners of the dog.

Many years ago I viewed a house for sale at which there were two goats in a terribly bad state with overgrown hooves etc. This was before programmes like Animal Hospital and Pet Rescue and not as much was known about these organisations as it is now. I have always wished that I had done something to help those goats and if it happened now I would have no hesitation in phoning.

Remember - you are only reporting your concerns - the SSPCA will make the judgement on what happens after that. A visit from an inspector might be all they need to pull their socks up and start looking after the dog properly, but - on the other hand - it may be judged that the dog is neglected and it may end up going to a better home.

Jennifer · Big Cheese

Dont mean to dishearten you, but the SSPCA are very disinterested in most cases (IMO). If the dog has food and water there is normally nothing they can do. About a year ago, one of my friends neighbours stayed at Westerhailes, and the guy left his 2 x breed dogs in the house for days at a time unattended with no food or water. You could look in the window and see the dogs with empty cans of food and their faeces on the floor. It was so distressing to see it but when we contacted the SSPCA, they werent very interested at all and just said they would check when they guy had last been there. Turned out they never even came to check but the neighbours had complained again days later about the dogs barking and the police kicked the door down and removed the dogs. They were taken to my work (at the time) and both were later PTS as they were in such poor condition and one was agressive as had no socialisation.

I have recently experienced similar with my own neighbour. He has 2 staffie pups (mentioned in one of my previous posts) and he leaves them all day on their own, comes home feeds them (on rubbish) then goes out again for hours at night and i can hear the poor things barking and crying behind the door. As far as the SSPCA are concerened, they are getting food and water and shelter so are not being badly treated. Its a sad thing but i have heard many a story about the SSPCA not being very interested unless they may make the headlines over a cruelty case.

The best thing you can probably do is just keep phoning the police everytime you hear the dog barking so they have a build up of events and they can take action. If it upsets you, other neighbours must be aware of it too. Hope something is done for your sake and the dogs.

You wonder why people like that get dogs in the first place if they are not going to be oart of the family

Sorry this has been such a long post!

Dave · Enlightened One

I agree with Jennifer, if the dog looks fed and watered the SPCA won't touch it, only possible course of action in this respect is to call the police on the noise angle. The police will of course treat your complaint anonomously however the neighbours will know it was someone nearby doing the complaining....

Gail · Big Cheese

Do you have a local dog warden you could contact? A friend of mine was an animal contro officer for the council in perth for years and was involved in complaints about the noise of barking dogs quite a lot. In some cases a visit from him was enough to make the owners re-think the way the dogs were being treated...might be worth a try.

It must be so frustrating and depressing to see this.

Gail & Neo. x

Lorna · GAL Shop Co-Ordinator

Hi

It might still be worth trying the SSPCA ?

My previous dog walker called them when she saw a greyhound puppy locked out on the veranda of the owners flat for hours on end - the dog was surrendered by the owner after a visit from the SSPCA. Turns out it was a present for their daughter but no one was interested in walking it or looking after it.

I beleive the dog was rehomed through GAL or the local SSPCA

max · Enlightened One

I had a similar thing with three ponies in the field next to our house, no one ever came near them to groom or feed all winter I was giving them hay and breaking the ice in the trough, the foal was always escaping and kept having to put it back in the field. I got the owners number and called with no sucess, so I phoned the SSPCA, who came out took a look and said they did not seem to bad and they would come back in a couple of weeks, they never did. The owner was evicted from the field by the landowner for none payment of field rent and I never knew what happened to the ponies. I would still phone the SSPCA and if nothing is done then just keep pestering them.

Nora

yvonne · Master

I would contact the SSPCA but i would also ask neighbours to do the same. The more complaints they recieve the more likely they are to investigate.

You could also be a it selective about what you tell them to make them feel it is something they would need to investigate. Tell them that in your opinion they seem neglected and in very poor condition etc etc

Teresa · Enlightened One

i agree with yvonne, get as many people as possible to report this and choose carefully what you say and how you say it......the SSPCA have to at least visit the house, surely. that might be all that is needed for these people to realise they are doing something wrong.

good luck

MojoTilly · Master

If I was you i'd still phone the SSPCA and it's then on record and if possible get other neighbours to to the same, the more complaints that they get the more likely that they will look into it.

I have to agree with what Jennifer was saying about the SSPCA, in my experience with the RSPCA down south they were always very reluctant to take cases on unless they were definately going to win them which is awful. I know they do do a lot of good but they could do a lot more.

It is frustrating not being able to do something, maybe just a visit from the SSPCA will make a difference.

Hope that you get somewhere.