Poor dog. :(

We had some new neighbours move in last month. DH and I are pretty sure that the new people are related to the former owners, but, DH and family never got to know the previous people, and therefore don't know the current people.

The new people have a new young dog, some sort of wolf-mix breed(gray and white, long snout like a proper wolf, quite large even though it's not fully grown), and it's home alone all day, from about some time after 7am, until sometime after 5pm( 5.05 or 5.10, there abouts). It's been whining constantly to be let out, and yesterday, it tried to break their old cat flap, to go out and have wees, and/or a run around the garden. I feel awful for it, being cooped up in a house for about 11 or 12 hours, but, since I don't know these people, I feel like I can't say anything.

Are there any suggestions? Thanks for listening, anyway!

If you're not comfortable speaking with the neighbours, you might want to call the RSPCA--they'll come out and do a quick "educational" conversation with the owners, because it's not really okay that he's trapped in there all that time.  They won't necessarily get in trouble, but sometimes people just have no idea...

If you can hear him whining, then you have the right to say something.  They may not know that the dog is acting that way.  Seriously, a dog should NOT be on it's own without a bathroom break for that many hours (we got a dog walker for that reason).

Agree, not cool. We are lucky enough to be able to go home for lunch and walk our dog, so she never has to go more than 4-5 hours in between walkies. If we are going to be away from home for longer than that, then she goes for her holidays at the in-laws house.  But especially if the dog is still a puppy, then he must be having a very hard time holding it for so long. 

Hi there,

Don't even get me started on this!!

My next door neighbours fall into that 'too stupid and ignorant to own a dog' catagory. For at least the last 14-15 years, every dog they've had has 'turned' crazy becuase they do not interact, walk, look after them in any way shape or form. I did speak to the RSPCA and they asked 2 questions - "does it have water and food?" and "does the dog have shelter?" - I answered yes to those questions and they said there's nothing they can do as technically it's not cruelty to the extent they have to be involved. The dogs they've had have all been big guys - alsations, rottweilers, dobermans. The latest one was a Siberian Husky which sounds like the one you're next to. I have a Japanese Akita and yes, these guys will howl all 'wolf like' at various times. My guy doesn't do it often at all as I'm always nearby and interact with him, but he does do it sometimes!

The next door's husky on the very first few days he arrived was constantly howling, I thought it was my boy at first and I was alarmed early one morning when I first heard it. For the following 3 months he howled alot, until finally, the previous owner knocked on their door and asked for the dog back as they obviously were not looking after him. The first owner lives about 5 doors along. I'm so glad, becuase now it's quiet again, and the Husky is doing wel whenever I see him.

For the noise thing, you need to report to your council, make a note of the time and date of any excessivenoise and howling over a period of at least 1 monht. This will help you present your case to the council who then will have that information for when they ssue a notice or fine etc to the owners.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

DH is fearful of me "grassing" on them about their dog. I guess since we live in council housing, and we don't know the exactly what the neighbours are like, he's paranoid about the repercussions for the future. He said, "Well, if you call the RSPCA, use your mobile, so then nobody knows that it's us." Plus, I looked up what RSPCAs are near to us, and the closest one is a cattery.

The RSPCA won't tell anyone who reported--for just the reasons you mention.  I don't know about the council though! Your area will have an RSPCA officer who is assigned, no matter what sort of centres they have around (I'm on a BHS committee and we deal with the RSPCA for animal welfare issues--which is how I know--otherwise, there would be a few people who just spent their time harassing our committee for being the "official'' reporters).  Just be persistent, and if you can't see that it has food and water (since it's totally locked up) tell them so.  I suspect, if they are keeping it locked up for 12 hours, that at the very least it doesn't have enough water--otherwise they would come home to a flooded house...esh. People are ridiculous sometimes.

It's not the RSPCA centres that check out complaints.  There are inspectors for every area in England.  If you wanted to report it to them you'd call the national cruelty phone line.  

Like someone said before the RSPCA isn't able to do anything if the dog is otherwise being cared for, and they're unlikely to come out as they've got much bigger cases of cruelty/neglect on their hands.  I'm not saying leaving the dog for those long periods isn't mistreating it, because it most certainly is, but if they had to check out every case of this throughout England they'd never do anything else.  

I work in dog rescue/rehoming and even though aren't able to intervene in cruelty or neglect situations we get many phone calls about this.  Like Dennis said you should contact the local council and speak to the animal welfare officer or dog warden.  Most likely they will tell you to keep a diary of the noise for a select period of time before they're able to come out.  Sometimes they'll bring you recording equitment so they have evidence of the noise.  

Also it says in all council tenancy agreements that I've ever seen (trust me, I've seen hundreds!) that permission to keep an animal at the property is given so long as it isn't causing a nuisance.  Speak to your housing officer and ask if they can contact your neighbours.  They don't have to say who it was that made the complaint.  

I know you may not want to upset the neighbours but it's unlikely they're aware of the situation if they're out all day.  Either way it's best for the dog if something happens that changes the situation.  

Erin

Erin gave great advice.  As an additional way to deal with the RSPCA, it's okay to call a few times--or to call after you've been documenting for awhile.  When we have to report horses, they often, technically, have water and shelter--but if we can consistently document and report that the shelter is surrounded by bits of old cars and the water is turning into a bog, then the RSPCA can come out. They really are super busy (in fact, they sometimes will send the BHS out to check a complaint about a horse, just to make sure that the 'horse that is on fire' (I kid you not) is not, you know, on fire--just steaming in the morning air.)--but, even if they are busy, they will respect a caller who has been assessing the situation for awhile and has clear reasons for concern.
Good luck!  And, you never know, the neighbours might have no idea that this is bad for the dog.

Oh my gosh, poor doggy . I leave my dog at home for 4-5 hours (only on mondays) and that's already way too long I feel like. 12 hours is sick! What exactly do they do in situations where the owner gets visited by rspca? Does the dog get taken away? Because that sucks too!

Poor puppy!  I have no advice to add, but I hope the situation gets resolved soon.