Animal abuse? Not sure what to do...

[NikiM20]

Wish I lived near you I'd go with you. Do you have a friend who is not shy?
I've gotten better at not being shy and found that I was bolder when with my friend who never meets a stranger.

I live in BR and when it comes to animals I am not shy. PM me if you want/ need help

 

[Disneyadore]

This makes me very sad and reminds me of the wise words my grandmother always told us:
By the way you treat your animals I can tell how you look deep down inside.

 

[CathrynRose]

This pisses me off. *This* is the type of situations that lead to the news stories, on pit bulls. All dogs are pack animals - and those owners, are her pack. She's alone, and needs socialization. This is awful. And contrary to popular belief, Pit's are really, really, really "people" dogs. Some may have issues with other animals, or dogs - but very rarely do they have people issues....until *this* sort of thing, happens. I'm really mad.

Try calling a Pit Rescue around there. Honestly, I'd be worried about taking her in - not because she'll attack your entire family in a blood-fest (it's obvious from your interactions with her, she's people-friendly).....BUT she might do that to your cats. For real. Unless she's had exposure to other cats in her life, she might not be tolerant of them.

Charley is an unbelievably laid back dog, with adults, kids, babies and other dogs - but he doesn't like cats. I brought him to my Grandma's, and under supervision we could tell him to STOP! - when he'd start giving her cats the "eye", but if he was alone with them, I'm pretty confident grandma wouldn't have her cats any longer. And Hazel? Forget it. I won't even bring her over there, because I don't think she'd listen to STOP!

Poor dog. WTH is the matter with people??

 

[castmemberb4]

This pisses me off. *This* is the type of situations that lead to the news stories, on pit bulls. All dogs are pack animals - and those owners, are her pack. She's alone, and needs socialization. This is awful. And contrary to popular belief, Pit's are really, really, really "people" dogs. Some may have issues with other animals, or dogs - but very rarely do they have people issues....until *this* sort of thing, happens. I'm really mad.

Try calling a Pit Rescue around there. Honestly, I'd be worried about taking her in - not because she'll attack your entire family in a blood-fest (it's obvious from your interactions with her, she's people-friendly).....BUT she might do that to your cats. For real. Unless she's had exposure to other cats in her life, she might not be tolerant of them.

Charley is an unbelievably laid back dog, with adults, kids, babies and other dogs - but he doesn't like cats. I brought him to my Grandma's, and under supervision we could tell him to STOP! - when he'd start giving her cats the "eye", but if he was alone with them, I'm pretty confident grandma wouldn't have her cats any longer. And Hazel? Forget it. I won't even bring her over there, because I don't think she'd listen to STOP!

Poor dog. WTH is the matter with people??

Now that you mention it my friends pit who I could throw my arms around and she'd love all over me no matter how long it had been since she's seen me, you couldn't evey SAY the word cat in front of.

OP I hope you and NIKIM20 get together and help this sweet girl, please keep us updated.

 

[louey]

Hey! Thanks for all the advice/suggestions!

I talked to a co-worker and, like a lot of you have, he also suggested just going to talk to them to at least let them know there is water in her cage (the opening of it is facing my yard). He thinks asking them to let me take her in, at least for the cold nights that are coming, is a good idea as well. Don't know if they'll go for that, or if that would even come up in conversation, but I guess we'll see. I do have an old king size comforter that I was going to throw out that I might offer for them to use (even though I'm sure she'll tear it up).

Anyway, I think maybe talking to them first IS the best idea. I am just very shy and never have had a conversation with anyone who lives there before, so I am nervous to go over there.

Don't worry you are going over there with good intentions. Everyone who has replied on this thread is obviously an animal lover and we have your back We have to speak for those who cannot, your a caring person and am sure if you don't say/do something you won't stop worrying. I do have to agree with others that not every dog likes cats so just keep that in mind. Keep us posted.

 

[Desiree]

Don't worry you are going over there with good intentions. Everyone who has replied on this thread is obviously an animal lover and we have your back We have to speak for those who cannot, your a caring person and am sure if you don't say/do something you won't stop worrying. I do have to agree with others that not every dog likes cats so just keep that in mind. Keep us posted.

ditto

 

[ilovejack02]

Boo hoo its raining here again : ( poor puppy ! Let us know how it goes OP ! Maybe they will just let you take her since they arent interested in her. Good luck !

 

[CathrynRose]

Another thought - The Pit Bull Community is HUGE on Facebook. If you're on there - search some rescues, which will lead you to rescuers, and on and on.

Ask their advice. I'm always quite impressed with how tight knit the pit bull community is. It's kinda strange, actually. I know people from Southern Illinois, to Long Island, to San Diego to Calgary, now.

ETA - and, if this dog was adopted, I know that our Shelter has a very specific contract that states how that dog should be treated. It's very possible *if* it was adopted and *if* that shelter is anything like ours, they'll take that dog back.

 

[Magpie]

I would definitely speak to the dog's owners. If you are friendly and offer to help, I'm sure they won't take offence.

Something similar happened to us... We had a cat show up on our balcony several days running in the middle of winter. We started feeding it, because it looked terribly skinny. It was starving!

My mother figured out which neighbour probably owned the cat and went over and knocked on the door. A woman opened it, and my mother had hardly said the word "cat" when she said, "Oh, do you want him? He's not a good cat for us!"

Turns out she was from some South American country, and thought you could just turn cats outside and they would feed themselves. That doesn't work in Canada, in the middle of winter!

So we took the cat in! He was a great cat, but his legs were all twisted, because she got him as a very young kitten and he hadn't been fed right. So he had rickets.

Please let us know what happens with the dog!

 

[castmemberb4]

So any update?
I truly believe that these are just young people
who thought it would be cool to own a pitbull but
were not ready for the responsibility. If you go
over and offer to help I'm betting they will be more than
happy to let you take her off their hands.
This is breaking my heart that she's outside alone
and aparently underfed.

 

[louey]

Hoping for an update

 

[EllenFrasier]

Call Animal Control - that is what they are there for. They will hopefully come out and assess the situation and see that the dog does not have proper shelter. If you think the dog is too skinny, not getting fed, etc. they will see that too. If the dog is not in mortal danger, they will warn the owners and give them a chance to get proper shelter for the dog and correct the feeding problem if there is one. I'm not sure how long they give them to fix things, but they should follow up to see that it's been done. If they don't then you may need to call them again. Depends on how busy the animal control officer is in your area.

 

[beck0321]

Hey! OP here with an update...

It seemed like the neighbors were maybe out of town or no one was staying there for the last couple of days so I left a note on their door. A NICE note letting them know about the water, and offered a king-size comforter that I was going to throw out (left my number). Well the guy did call me last night, and DH and I went talk to him. He was nice and thanked me for letting him know about the situation and took me up my offer with the blanket. So it seems all is well for now!

 

[Hannathy]

Blankets are not good for outdoor dog shelters. They get wet and stay wet which is worse for the dog than laying on nothing inside the house.

If they are going to keep it in an outdoor shelter they should use a bedding which would dry and drain like straw or hay or wood chips.

I would keep watching cause if water got in it once it will all the time.

 

[ilovejack02]

Hey! OP here with an update...

It seemed like the neighbors were maybe out of town or no one was staying there for the last couple of days so I left a note on their door. A NICE note letting them know about the water, and offered a king-size comforter that I was going to throw out (left my number). Well the guy did call me last night, and DH and I went talk to him. He was nice and thanked me for letting him know about the situation and took me up my offer with the blanket. So it seems all is well for now!

That is a plus , because if he was totally horrible person he would have ignored the note all together and now he knows someone is keeping an eye .

 

[Carlyzmom]

We used to have 2 dalmatians. In the winter, we would stuff their houses full of hay. They LOVED it! They even had 2 houses, but would snuggle together in one house. It was so cute! I miss them!

 

[beck0321]

Blankets are not good for outdoor dog shelters. They get wet and stay wet which is worse for the dog than laying on nothing inside the house.

If they are going to keep it in an outdoor shelter they should use a bedding which would dry and drain like straw or hay or wood chips.

I would keep watching cause if water got in it once it will all the time.

I don't own dogs so I have no clue what is best for them in that regard. I was just trying to be helpful in letting them use something that I had no use for anymore. If it gets wet and they want to toss it, he knows that I was going to throw it out anyway.

He moved her cage near their side of the fence so I think he will be able to see better if something like that happens in the future.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Please continue to keep an eye on things for the dog's sake. BTW, does anyone beside you interact with him at all? Dogs are social animals and enjoy and learn from being with others. Left alone outside with no stimulation (note this does not include working dogs who live outside OR dogs who are truly cared about who happen to live outside) and inadequate conditions they become stressed and begin to develop bad habits. If they don't want him or do anything with him, he'd be better off somewhere else.

 

[Desiree]

I'm very glad you and DH were able to speak to one of the owners. Now maybe he will pay closer attention to his furbaby since he knows people are watching out for the dog. Fingers crossed that everything works out. Keep a very close eye this weekend since we've got this cool snap.