If you had some concerns over how your neighbors are treating their dogs, would you try talking to them about it or would you just call animal services?

Call animal services.

Call animal services. Many people like their pets more than their neighbors.
If you complain about their pets, they will often see it as an outright threat which will cause any existing negative feelings to escalate quickly and could become a very dangerous situation.

I have tried the talking to them route, and it did not go well. Now? I would just call animal services.

Before you decide to call animal services, try to make sure something is actually happening. If you call animal services and they investigate and everything’s fine, that might make trouble.

Bring on the trouble! Call animal services.

I’d call animal services.

Express your feelings to the owners, they are doing nothing illegal so don’t call animal services. If it were me, I would steal the dogs and find them homes myself! If I ever go to jail, that’s what it’ll be for… haven’t gotten caught yet though ;)

@BBSDTfamily I live in Orange County and my sister who volunteers at our local shelter told me that it is illegal to have a dog tied up for more than 4 hours straight in Orange County. If this is the case then I can tell you that they are most definitely doing something illegal. Plus, the leashes they are tied with are no more than 4 ft long and I’ve never seen them take those dogs out for a walk. Even though they have food and water, I can’t help to feel that they are being neglected.

@kheredia Mistreated dogs all too often become a danger to society so you are wise to be concered. You can always call animal control and ask what constitutes an offense without filing a report.

Check local laws about animals, and if you see something that is being violated, call animal services. Otherwise there isn’t much you can do except attempt a stealth re-homing. Just don’t get caught.

<—- Highly discourages stealing dogs from people’s property under any circumstances.
Private citizens are allowed to have guns.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Lol!!!! I’ll keep that in mind :-)

<—— Has stollen a dog from chuch property and turned out fine.

Anyone who steals other people’s dogs is not to be trusted. I find that irresponsible and downright immoral and illegal. Should someone do that around here, they might find themselves with a cranial lead injection. We don’t take kindly to people thinking they have a right to touch our pets without permission. Theft is theft, whether its a car or a dog.

Call the animal services folks. Even if your neighbors aren’t doing anything wrong, at least you know the animals are being checked out by people trained to know these things. The authorities are the people to turn to, not some sort of animal vigilanteism.

if someone felt the need to steal my dog, they might find themselves with clipped hamstrings, right above both heels.

Unless it is absolutely clear that the animals are being treated horrendously, ALWAYS talk to the person before you go reporting them. Give them a chance. Perhaps you’re misinterpreting their situation, and perhaps all it will take is a suggestion that you might call animal services for them to make the animal’s situations better. Perhaps they are airheads but really do care about the animals. If you think your neighbors are crazy, and they might come after you with a club, leave an anonymous note instead of talking to them. If your hunch is wrong, and there actually is no problem, you could be creating a giant headache for these people.

Then, if nothing has changed in a week, call animal services.

We have neighbors that treat their chihuahuas the same way. Every few months another sign goes up in the yard saying “AKC Chihuahua pups for sale.” Animal control knows about them and periodically comes and takes all the dogs away, but then they get more. By their lights, a dog is a thing you can use to make money.

They have also been blacklisted by the Humane Society and aren’t allowed to adopt through them or several other no-kill shelters here in town.

Anyone who tries to talk to them about how they treat their dogs is well advised to move out of the neighborhood immediately thereafter.

@Darwin This is why you are foolish to confront these people head on. Some people are just crazy enough to take your concern or neighborly curiosity as a threat. Contact the authorities, that’s what we pay taxes for, isn’t it?

@evelyns_pet_zebra – That’s why I said above to verify the law and call animal control. I sure ain’t gonna talk to them.

BTW, we have ended up with two of their cats. One they simply “lost” (they couldn’t sell the kitten so they dumped it over the back fence) and the other they got mad at and gave to me. Several years later they asked for it back and I said sure, just reimburse the vet bills. They said “Vet bills?!” and decided they still didn’t like the cat.

If I find one of their dogs on the loose, since they have no tags on their animals I can’t be certain it is their dog, so I take it to the Humane Society. But I don’t say a word to anybody else.

Call animal services, explain the situation. They will let you know if it is something they can investigate. Under normal circumstances, the person who files the complain can remain anonymous, as long as there isn’t a bite involved. double check that part, to make sure.

What condition are these dogs in? Do they look healthy? Well fed? etc also, I assume if they are outside dogs they sleep in kennels at night (we have Retrievers that sleep outside although they are allowed in the house during the day, and so we have kennels for them with shelter, constant water, bedding etc). If they ave kennels can you see what condition they are in, does it look like the dogs would have adequate shelter from the weather of needed.

If they keep them seperate that my not be a bad thing. This may be a sign that they are NOT using them as breeding machines and it also stops any fighting if they have problems with fighting in the past.

Please try and find these things out before you report them as just because they are lttle does not mean they can’t be outdoor dogs.

:(
I would try to figure out the laws in your area, I’m sure animal services can give you information. But, I also don’t think you should call when you are unsure…that’s like someone calling CPS on a parent when they should really be trying to do something proactive instead.

We have had animal services called on us. It came as quite the surprise. Apparently our bull mastif had been escaping during the day while everyone was at work to terrorise some chickens in the neighbours back yard. Drastic? Yes. Effective? Yes. Could they have approached us and kindly informed us that our dog was Houdini reincarnated? Yes. We have since fixed the fence and poor Zeus is bored shitless now.

I would call Animal Services without talking to them first. If you talk to them and nothing changes, then call Animal Services, they will know it was you and might retaliate. if Animal Services determines nothing illegal, at least the neighbors will know their actions are not going unnoticed and you will know you’ve done the best you could to help the poor pups.

@kheredia If you are fortunate enough to have such laws like those, then yes you’re right you should call animal services. It’s the least you can do for the poor doggies!