Is this animal cruelty ?

Is there an animal rescue team near you? I would certainly do something. The dog may be in serious distress.

It’s not too close maybe 45 mins away, I had to google it

Im sure your neighbors are nice people, call them up before you make any drastic decisions.
If nothing progresses from there then you should get help.

the neighbors and i actually don’t get along. . .they are our landlord’s family so they think they can do what ever they want when they want and already played parking games.. . were lookin for a new place, but for now we have to deal with it. .

@Plone3000: Neighbors are not home.

I would call the police.

Call someone. If you can’t get hold of a rescue place, at least call the police. I worry there is no water in the crate. It is too hot for the dog to go without water for that long.

@gailcalled and @sammibabi6 My bad!
Yeah call the cops.

Can you go check on the dog?

Call your neighbor(if you know their number) or one their family member about this issue and see how they’ll explain before you’re going to call the authorities. First of all,that dog isn’t your dog(dog is considered as property) and second,a dog can still survive without water and food for a day,so just wait for a day before you really have to call the Animal Dept. You can also put some blanket and feed that dog yourself if you afraid that dog won’t survive for a night. Everyone want to save that poor doggie but we must make sure of what we’re going to do.

personally i would like to check on the dog. . .but the relationship with the neighbors are not good. . . i’ve already had to call the cops on them before. . .

But no one’s home. Maybe you can sneak over. I can’t tell you to trespass.

@Doctor_D Neighbors are not home. A dog cannot go without water in the heat that her state has been having this week. If it is 90 degrees outside the kennel, it is probably 10 degrees hotter in the kennel.
@sammibabi6 Please go check on the dog and at least try to give it water if there is none.
I would never tell someone to kidnap a dog even if that is something I may or may not have done myself.

He’s been in a carrier for over 6 hours? That’s not right. And yes, it’s cruelty and neglect. Call animal control but if they pick the dog up check on him in a day or two. To make sure he’s been picked up by the owners and isn’t scheduled to be euthanized. Some people just don’t understand how you are supposed to treat and take care of animals. Maybe they just need to be educated.

Call the cops. Given your history with them, the last thing you want to do is get caught over there.

For all you know they have the dog out there in this manner just to try and get you “caught on tape” trespassing.

A barking dog after 10 pm should get the cops out…and they can handle the neglect/abuse from there.

Do you know for absolute certain the people aren’t home? You could not be blamed if you went over to knock on their door and just happened to peak into the dog carrier at the same time to see how the dog was holding up.

If you do that though, make sure to actually knock on the door in case there are cameras around.

If they are genuinely not home you really can’t know until you knock then I would call the police.

I don’t see the cage on the porch anymore and I see a light in their kitchen, so they must have finally came home. . . Thanks everyone for the help ! I’ll be sure to keep my eye on the dog and report them if they do more things like that.

Document this and future instances. If this is a regular thing, a rescue group may need evidence to rescue the dog and will need the evidence if the owners get taken to court for animal abuse. Also, if the dog does get taken away, this may cause some nasty backlash from your neighbors so I would suggest recording any and all suspicious activity directed towards you or your property.

I constitute it as abuse. I would have called the police. If you have a friend like me, you could call them and ask them to come over to check on it for you, given the history you and your neighbors share.

I don’t care how long an animal can survive without food or water, it is cruel and negligent to contain an animal and prevent it from seeking that which will sustain its life. If you contain an animal you do not love, you should still have the respect and decency for life in general to give its core necessities to live.

I’m glad they’re home, but I still would call if it happened again.

Being in a crate for 6 hours in and of itself is not abuse, as long as the dog is well watered at reasonable intervals. Feeding is not as necessary, most dogs can go a day or two without food if they are in shape and not active. We have hunters that fly from Germany to South Dakota with their dogs on commercial flights. Those dogs are in their travel crates for up to 16 hours, with maybe a brief walk. But they are constantly watered and checked.

Properly trained dogs look on the travel crate the same way they look on their doghouse. It is their safe place.

In this case, it doesn’t sound like the dog had water or was checked, which would be abuse.

Doesn’t really sound like animal abuse to me; some dogs are just loud. The victims here are those who must suffer through the yapping.
We tried to make our dog an “outside dog,” since Mom is allergic—and because little Carina would shed her weight in hair every three days. Gave her food, water, shelter, and a comfy bed, all outdoors, and she’d still howl and carry on until we let her inside.

It’s the locking in a cage for 6 hours that’s the abuse. Not the barking. Even if there is a well stocked water and food bowl with it, any body fluids are going to be in that small cage with it and its food. The owners should have put the dog in a different setup if they were going to be gone for so long.

And as mentioned above, you have to be careful that whoever picks up the dog will check on the owners and give them a talking to, not euthanize the dog. Some of these animal societies are just as bad as the owners.

There’s also “disturbance of the peace.” Even if the owners are home, having a dog barking constantly through the wee hours is a disturbance of the peace and the police can just give them a talking to.

Also, you can ask the police to say it was anonymous. If the dog is barking the whole time, it’s not unreasonable to think someone else noticed it and called it in.

It may possible that dog is hungry and bark for help.

@Iclamae Our dog does just fine without us for the duration of the workday.

Drawing on the extensive knowledge I’ve gained from “Animal Cops,” I’d say the issue would be whether or not the dog had enough water, food, and space. The temperature would also be a consideration. Putting the dog into a crate for several hours, while not something all dog owners would do, isn’t abuse in and of itself. However, if it’s very hot outside and the dog has no access to water, that is abuse. Most police departments have an Animal Control officer for just this reason. If you see the dog in a situation that you suspect is abuse again, call Animal Control. They will evaluate the dog’s condition and circumstances, remove the dog if they feel it is in immediate danger, ticket the owners if the dog is being mistreated but not in immediate danger, possibly check on the animal in the future, or just leave if they feel the dog’s needs are being met.

You can also look into your area’s noise ordinance. I think around here any loud noise after 10:00 p.m. would violate the noise ordinance. In that case, you could call the police about the noise and they will check things out themselves. Given your past problems with these neighbors, I think you should consider remaining anonymous when/if you report them for something. The police might have to have your name and address, but you can request they don’t share that information with your neighbors.

so how bout this morning, it is 7:40 and the dog is back in the small carrying cage barking away. I know it’s been in there since 6:30 am. And I’m sure the dog will be in there all day. . . Not guaranteeing that, but I just don’t understand why they don’t put the dog on the leash like they were before. . . The dog is a puppy. It may be 1 to 2 years old. And I don’t see any water or food bowls. I just can’t imagine there being room for food and water bowls in the small cage. . . .

Call the police. Explain the situation, and ask if there is an Animal Control officer that can stop by to make sure the dog is OK.

@WestRiverrat I agree that being in a crate does not equal abuse; but don’t you think placement matters here? This person is leaving it exposed to the elements in 90* weather (in a container which is undoubtedly warmer) when we know dogs overheat easily. I think that’s irresponsible and cruel. Also, what if another animals were to approach it? Or a person who wanted to steal it to sell to a laboratory? The animal is so tightly contained in a crate (unlike an outdoor kennel, which would at least provide more protection from other animals and wouldn’t be so easy for someone to steal), that it would be unable to defend itself, yes?

@sammibabi6 You can call the police now and tell them that the dog is barking now and last night, too.

There is nothing worse than ignorant animal owners. Call the police before the poor dog dies of heat stroke. Barking all day is a sign of distress.

@chyna

There are many things worse than “ignorant animal owners,” but I agree that these people need to be brought up short. I have a son-in-law who kept his poor hunting dog on about a four-foot leash for weeks on end. He and I had several discussions about this treatment being inhumane, to no effect. The dog finally broke loose and disappeared. He blamed the dog, calling her stupid and several things that are unprintable on here. I was happy for the dog.

@sammibabi: Stop talking to us, check on the dog, call the police, ask them to have a look and tell them that you wish to remain anonymous (due to fear of reprisal). There is a pattern here.

Always with an animal, better safe than sorry. Your neighbors could find a nice solution, such as an electric fence or simply an old -fashioned fence around an area where the dog can run free, eat, drink, sleep under a tree if it is hot and enjoy being a dog.

Pick up that phone, now.

Let us know.

I just got home, and the neighbors and their family are all over. The dog is outside with out a leash. So no I did not call the cops. I did however, record the dog being locked in the crate this morning and said what time it was.

I would go to the owners and talk to them. If they have no good reason or don’t seem to care, then yes call the animal control officers. If you are unsure if something is right or wrong about something concerning animals call your local animal control, if not a problem the officer will let it go but let them decided.

I have seen dogs that are “crate trained”, especially puppies that can’t be trusted around the house without supervision. There are two important aspects about this sort of training, the crate must be big enough and comfortable for the dog and the crate is not punishment and shouldn’t be used that way. It is a safe place like a little cave for the dog to have some time to rest. Placing a dog in a travel case and not giving it time to do its business or eat is cruel punishment. People that do that or tie a dog outside for days or weeks at a time have no business owing animals and should be prosecuted for abuse.

If you have to cage your dog in order to live with it, you need to reconsider dog ownership.

@Espiritus_Corvus I thought so too. But the dogs were only caged at night before they were house trained. Then after that when my kids tell the dog to go to bed, it gets into the cage. By the way these aren’t little travel cased the cages are about 4’ cubes.

They are also a handy place for the dogs to hide when things get too hectic, they go in by themselves. They are more like caves than cages.

The dogs are healthy, play a great deal with the kids and each other, I see no ill effects.

I am sorry. Just because you have to crate/cage your dog “to live with it” does not mean you should reconsider being a dog owner. My boyfriend as well as myself work for dog rescues. We adopt out many dogs and highly recommend crate training. It has been proven to be very successful to cut off boundaries of dogs until they earn their freedom. Now I own 8 dogs, a snake, a cat, a spider, and five birds. Four of my dogs are inside dogs, four are outside dogs. My dogs are very disciplined and well trained. I do crate all my dogs (but one who has proven responsible enough to be free) when i leave or go to sleep, if they are not outside in runs or at work with one of us. So yes I do crate my dogs to live with them. Two of my females don’t get along as well as two of the males. They are ok together when we are home. My cat also has jumped on the bird cage in the past. The alpha female will try to get her down by jumping on the cage. This dog loves the cat more than any other dogs in the house. Yet this poses a Hugh problem for the birds if a 90 lb dog jumps on the cage verses a 7lb cat. Also if one of the dogs that don’t like the other get mad at something the others do and starts a fight when I am gone, they could kill each other. No to menschen if they go through the trash and eats something that could kill them. The dogs are fine in there properly sized crates for a few hours, despite what other may think and it also keeps my house in one piece and every animal alive and healthy. So if you crate your dog in the proper way for the proper amount of time you are not doing anything wrong. Despite what others may think. Do your own resource and then make a decision for yourself. Do not let other inferences the choice you make concerning your dogs.

It will not be considered cruelty by law enforcement or anyone other than animal lovers. Basically all you can do is get the ‘law’ to enforce a noise disturbance if you have one. In our town any disruptive noise after 10pm get a warning, after that they’ll get a ticket or worse.