Tips if you suspect abuse or neglect in dogs
86What to do if you suspect animal abuse
Abused dogs lack that certain spark in their eyes. They walk with their tail between their legs and their heads carried low. They have lost confidence in their selves and have lost trust in human beings. You can tell an abused dog from a mile away.
It is very unfortunate to learn that these dogs were once wonderful pets, eager to please their owners, willing to spend time together and lead a normal happy life.
Every year millions of dogs are abused and/or neglected. The difference between abuse and neglect is about what is done and what is not done. Abuse occurs when an owner or other person intentionally punishes a dog and submits it to horrendous acts. We have all heard horror stories of dogs beaten to death or trained to perform in cruel dog fights.
Neglect occurs when there is lack of care, owners leave their dog tied up to a tree with no food or water. Dogs are left outdoors on cold freezing nights or major during heat waves.
Most abused dogs will lead and continue to lead these awful days throughout their lives, unless somebody decides to finally step in and put a halt to this intolerable behavior.
If you would witness a case of abuse or neglect that are many things you can do to report such criminal activities. Abusing/neglecting a pet is considered an actual crime and there are stiff penalties. Studies have also shown that people prone to abuse animals are also those prone to rape, assault and commit homicide.
It is vital for you to know that as a witness you will be protected. You will remain anonymous, your name will only be released to those agencies that enforce animal protection just so they can follow up with you and provide updates.
You can report the case of abuse/neglect to your local animal shelter, humans society or animal control association. They should be equipped to deal with such cases and likely will start an investigation.
If there are no human societies or animal control offices in your area you can report directly to your local police department.
During The investigation officers will monitor the situation closely. In severe cases they will intervene immediately and seize the dog from its owner. The case is presented to the prosecutor's office for possible prosecution.
Fortunately, most cases are not so severe and rather require that the owner be better educated about the dog's care and needs. In this case, if neglect is suspected, the owner may receive a citation and/or is given a chance to correct the violation.
Sadly, in some cases when seized dogs are handed over to the humane society they are humanely euthanized. These are dogs whose personalities have permanently been damaged by abuse and have become in-adoptable.
On the brighter side, many dogs on a daily basis get a second chance and are adopted by caring loving owners.
In either instance, as a witness you have been the abused dog voice. You have brought the abusers to justice. You have contributed greatly by putting a halt on a dog's miserable life and the dog will be eternally grateful to you for this; either if it's soul is watching you from the above or if it is sharing precious moments with its new family.
CommentsLoading...
Somebody tell me what to do. I have a next door neighbor going thru a divorce. Wife left him, (he is selfish - I can see why she left him). He has taken up with his new girlfriend and now comes home 3-4 times a day to let the dog out. He leaves food and water in an 8 x 6 laundry room so the dog is not starving or dehydrated. Now the neighbor has asked me to walk the dog once a day (I have my own two dogs, and he knows I always walk them) - what's one more? So now I am enabling him to go away for weekends at a time, stopping by his house 2-4 times per day to pet, bathe, walk etc. If I am unable to care for the dog on any particular day/week, the dog goes into a kennel. Yet this man won't give up the dog. Says he loves the dog. Yet the dog has spent 5 years of his life in an 8 x 6 laundry room. When left free to roam the house, the dog pees and poops in the house. So he obviously has no training. He also humps everything in sight. The owner obviously didn't see a need to train in the beginning - figured why bother when you can just lock him in a laundry room - he won't poop where he sleeps right? I am losing sleep over this. I cannot keep the dog. My son is allergic. I can't force him to give up the dog.
I want to know where to go to report a dog that is being abused and neglected, it gets kicked out of the house all the time and stands at the door and barks and nobody cares to let it in. In my opinion they dont care if it lives or dies. Im tempted to take it in but with 2 dogs of my own im not sure how they'd react to a stray dog (to them) Please help me im so worried
As my article points out, the best place to go is to the closest humane society or shelter, they deal with these issues quite often, :(, thanks for trying to help out this poor fellow, best of luck!
Hi I am 12 years ld and my next door neighbors have three dogs and if you look at them you can kinda tell they are in ill helth they do not get bathed and they look as if they are starving and another weird thing when there dogs get really weak they get rid of them a had a dog before and it got really weak and they got rid of it and recently we discoered there very weak dog in our backyard and the fence was not broken they threw him over the fence into our yard becayse they know i love there dogs i give there dogs food every day but my father i strict and put it back in there yard and when we rang there doorbell no one answered and they were home they treat there dogs abdly but my parents do not want to get involved at all so what shall i do i reallly love them please help
I recently rescued an abused & neglected puppy. The police picked it up and within a fews hrs. the puppy was returned to it's neglectful owners. I called MADAC(Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control) and they said that the police dept. released it because the owners claimed it. It is very clear the pup is in great danger. They also said that we do not have laws that would allow us to keep the owners animals. I can't tell you how upset I am and I need to do something immediately. Please help me. What should I do?
what do you do if a owner/neighbor seems to be medically neglecting their dog
According to the Humane Society ''Neglect is not giving an animal the right food, water, shelter or vet-_care_-.'' Consult with your local shelter for help.
Vets are to blame for neglect too, because they charge such high prices, even for basic services.
I live on a farm, and lots of people dump their pets off in this area, and they usually end up here where I feed and take care of them.
I have to work two jobs, just to keep up with the vet bills. I love animals, and to me their health is my priority. But other people are not going to pay 150.00 for puppy shots.
I tired to get health insurance for pets, but that is not cheap either.
My next door neighbour regularly KICKS her puppy for doing puppy type things. I used to be her friend until I witnessed her treating her dog with such violence. The pup 6 months old, is tied up and whimpers daily. He is well fed, and has water, but thats it. * I hope someone steals him soon ;)
i was just at a my friends house and they keep her dog outside every day. i noticed that the dog is extreamly skinny and doesn't even gey clean water, they dont even give it food. every time it barks they scream at it to shut up. i hope someone notices soon and calles the police
What about you? you can report anonymously if you wish...
I feel that my neighbors are abusing their dog but am not sure what to do. They are all gone from 8am-5pm from Monday to Friday and leave the dog tied up on a 4 foot radius all day. He is a very high energy dog. He cowers whenever I sneak over to give it atention. Every day I watch them come home and continue to neglect their animal untill dark, not even taking the time to go and pet it and give it attention. It has a bowl of food and a bowl of water,(which usually gets knocked over throughout the 8 hours it is left outside), but no shelter and no love. My question is should I report this or is this something that happens often with buisy pet owners who just don't really care about their animals?
Sorry my answer came a bit late as I was out of state. Keeping a dog chained out all day and neglected, is a form of animal cruelty. I would contact your local humane society. Here is a helpful link:
Hey if you witness animal abuse call 911 immideately
DO NO HESITATE AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT DON'T JUST SIT THEE
of course, do not use the emergency line unless there is something really serious going on...
ijust moved to this neighborhood in may of this year but my husband had a dog that just recently passed away because someone had poisened her in our neghborhood. Just a few weeks ago we noticed that our neighbor two houses down from us was throwing puppies in a bonfire and throwing some already dead dogs that i assume they killed in the woods. I was devastated and called the police but they would not do anything because they said they needed evidence. What should i do? i know this is very wrong and i want someone to put a stop to it.
That's horrific! Those people should have charges for such abhorrent behaviors! Evidence: Try to take pictures, movies of them doing these horrendous acts. Call the local shelter or ASPCA for advice, see if anybody would go out there to analyze the ashes...
i know and we just took our children outside to play and had to witness him doing it again!! im sooo angry and i dont have a camera right now i will go tomorrow and get one. ijust cant believe anyone is capable of such things, it seems so heartless and these dogs arent dead they're thrown in the fire ALIVE. i have to do something this is totally uncalled for.
Perhaps a video would be even more convincing. Make sure the zoom makes it clear who the PERSON is and that there are DOGS and they are tossed in the fire ALIVE. Of course it would be ideal to have the police see it with their own eyes but if this is not an option, pictures with zoom or better a film may be helpful. it is best to ask the police or humane society about your rights in remaining anonymous...try to protect yourself as much as you can...I hope they get this sick guy as soon as possible...bless your heart for helping these poor dogs out!!what a horrendous death, its just repulsive!
Catherine, I feel sick to my stomach reading your story. Please dont stop fighting until this man is put behind bars. If you dont do anything he will keep hurting these innocent animals!
my neighbor dog is so pitiful,i guess they feed her,when they remember and how often they give her water i can't tell,she has 3 puppies 9 or 10 weeks old and they are left out in the cold, the nights here get around 20 to 25 degrees. i try and be nice to them so i can take care of hana and her pups as best i can, but sometimes i can't even sleep knowing she is so cold. she is such a sweet little dog. how do i handle a situation like this?
I wanted to update everyone on the situation where my neighbors were burning dogs. I have been to the animal shelter and the police and they told me i would have to testify against them in court in order for them to take them to jail.I have 3 babies so at first i was scared, but im NOT anymore. I took lots of pictures (which was extremely hard for me to do) and i am gonna testify and put his butt in jail. I have never had so much anger towards any one until now. -I originally posted under catherine-
i have 2 new puppies and i would like to know if this is considered neglection.
i giv toopii food in the morning rite bfore i leave to work and rite away whn i get home which is after i worked for 8 hrs, i keep my heater on so he has a warm place to rest and exercise.when the weather is good i bring him out for walk almost everyday.
well, toopii barks alot before but he got use to it after around 15 days. and he is still nice and active.
im afraid he will b too lonely so i got him a pal, a new puppy-mocha,which is teacup size poodle ... this is what my problem is...
im afraid toopii will bite the mocha since he is way too small and he is new...
err...if i put em in separate cages and have foods, waters in the cages,im pretty sure they will bark alot,
and my mom is worried we mite get in trouble if people pass by our house hear the noise and misunderstands us..
in case this happens and we get report.. before i do that i wud like to ask if i will get into trouble?does it consider as neglection?
will it b ok if i do that?
my bro will b hm all the time for the rest of this week,
and i only work for 4 days a week. so i'll need the answer asap n c if it is legal... if not i will find smbody to take k of my dogs...
Call your local animal control and report ASAP!
Should it be reported if the owner leaves the dog in a sort of shelter by himself all year long with food and water? The dog never goes out of there or plays or anything
You should ask your local animal control, I am not sure about this as every place has different rules in place. There are places where chaining dogs is illegal and places where it is not. Dogs are pack animals and need companionship, but then he is providing food and water and a shelter. Of course, I believe this is not right, social isolation can be hard on a dog, but not sure about the laws..
I have a question regarding neglect. My old roommate, who I am still very close with, has two sweet dogs that are between 9 and 11 yrs old. He works at night and sleeps all day. Although I know some loss of energy is expected with age, the dogs have become horribly lethargic to the point of not even sitting up when there's a knock at the door. The female rarely leaves the couch and has to be forced out the door to relieve herself. A few years ago she had some fatty tumors removed, however, she now has a baseball-sized lump encompassing the base of her tail and a tumor the size of my hand on her chest. My incessant nagging finally prompted him to take her to the vet and she said the tail tumor should be drained and that she was extremely arthritic and needed some supplements. He hasn't done either. She can barely get off the couch and her toenails are wildly overgrown. His male dog can hardly see b/c his fur grows over his eyes. He was completely flea ridden for months and yet my friend refused to do anything to rectify the situation, i.e. washing their bedding, cleaning his house, spraying the yard, etc. He often simply forgets to feed them and every time he gets to the bottom of a bag of food it takes him about a week to buy a new one as, strangely enough, he'll only buy a certain brand that's sold at specialty pet stores. In the meantime he feeds them his fast food leftovers. When I see this happen I always go to 7-11 and pick up whatever kibble and canned food they sell and my friend acts as if I'm being dramatic. When he does give them any attention he is way too rough, the dogs looked terrified and I can tell it causes pain to arthritic one. I feel so bad for these poor puppies but my friend is completely oblivious, he truly thinks he's giving these dogs a wonderful life. Do you have any advice as to what I can do for these dogs or say to my friend? It seems no matter what I say he just blows me off and thinks I'm being silly. Please help! Thanks
Maybe this article defining signs of neglect may open his eyes:http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/
Good hub. Someone mentioned how expensive vets were. One way to save on shots for your dogs or cats is to give them their shots yourself. Not the rabies shot they have to go to the vet for that. 5-Way Vaccines as low as $3.99. It's not hard to give a shot.
Your information is right on.
pretty sure its illegal to give your pets shots and medication without seeing a vet
You can actually give shots to dogs yourself, you can purchase them online from websites like amazon. Only the rabies vaccine must be given by a vet.
These posts are really great ..Thanks
I called the ASPCA and local shelters and no one would help me they blew me off and gave me the run around.
This Friday I am adopting a dog that is 11 years old and was rescued from an owner who kept him in a very small cage 24-7 for 11 years. He is terrified and has no sparkle in his eye. It is so sad. I have had rescue dogs before but never one this psychologically damaged and depressed. I know it will take a lot of time, treats, and love-- but where can I get some tips on getting this dog out of his shell so that he can enjoy the last few years of his life?
Helping a dog as such takes time, but it can be rewarding once you see the dog blossom, I have a hub that may help you out:
So, a family member of mine has a dog that was wearing a cast and they have not got it removed. Needless to say he is suffering but the owner/family will not let anyone know or see the dog. Im wondering if I can convince her to let me take the dog, and my question is "Could I take the dog to get help and be put in a good home without them being pentalized??" :(
i have a friend that has a dog with fleas, i just found out last night when i checked a pinkish spot in his white fur, he kept biting so i immediately knew what was going on, i didnt have time to clean him so i was hoping he would do it himself the next day, to find out he didnt and doesnt care, now its the second day im waiting to get there to see if he did it and if hes going to, i should just do it myself but hes neglecting him and that i cant deal with should i go to the police
I am not sure if a dog having fleas would apply as dog neglect or abuse, even though it should be taken care of and it is the owner's responsability. The police would probably care less unless you saw the owner abusing the dog. You can call the humane society and ask about what constitutes neglect and if failure to apply flea products is considered neglect. I know failure to give water, food, shade or care like dogs full of mats, malnourished, with health problems not taken care of are neglect but not too sure of the flea problem.. doesn't hurt to ask, best wishes!
I need help. My dog is abused n neglected all the time and has been since we first got her. Now its worse cuz she has a bladder problem and she can not hold in any of her piss, it drips out even when she is sleeping walking sitting ect.... I have been pleading and pleading and praying to my fan to take her to an animal shelter where she could be treated well but they say they love her but yet they keepers in a room while she cries all day until 11pm cuz at 11pm we take her up with my dad to sleep with him cuz he says he loves her. I don't want her walking anywhere my son plays but no one cares they go to the room n beat her so she can be quit even when my son isn't sleeping like y idgi. If you love a dog wouldn't you want the dog to be happy instead of rolling around in her own poo and piss? They don't care that I need the floor clean from coli n my life is miserable n my fan don't care. What do I do? I don't want my fan to hate me for reporting this crazy stuff they do for their own satisfaction. Its sick how they treat this dog and they say its my fault that she is going thru this cuz I care about my son. But they care about the dog more than me or my son. But not enough to take care of her. I give her water n food n I take her out when I can but sometimes its so much urine n poo every were that I can't even put my own foot anywhere in room. How do I get the curate to rat my own fan out? How do I know that they won't try to ruin my life more by saying its my fault if she gets taken away? My fan is not rite in head n they think their always rite so how do I keep the peace if they know someone tipped off cops they are going to know it was me. They think i really put big trouble on them money wise.
What if you notice a dog is being neglected, but the owner is a cop??? I cant really call the cops, when the owner IS one...
Hello i have a question i have 2 dogs of my own i live in a house that its next to an apartment building, their is not a day that they bug my dogs if they dont kick the fense when they are watering their plants they wet my dogs,, last year animal control came by to check they had received a complaint about us neglecting the dogs, they confirm it was not true, and ask if we would neuter them i agree to be honest i dont now anything about dog laws, and was not aware that i had to purchase a license for the dogs recently i was told by my neighbors that they had seen a animal control officer standing outside my home while i was asleep he didnt knock or anything what does hes visit mean if he only wrote on a piece of paper and left please help..thanks/..............
I am wondering if perhaps your neighbors may be calling animal control on you. It sounds from your description they are not very fond of your dogs since they kick the fence and spray your dogs with water. Do they bark a lot? It is hard to say what the officer may have noted; it could be he wrote down details about your dogs such as if they access to water and shelter if they are kept outdoors, and other things, like if they look healthy or look neglected etc.
One block over is a small house on the corner, directly across from a busy doctors office and a park, and in their front yard is two starving to death dogs tied up by the street. Seems nobody cares. I know from experience the cops won't do anything in this town, so I don't know what to do really. I have started to feed them, but they're in bad shape and I have pets to feed.
I'm so tired of pitiful animal laws.
Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.
I care for the owners as well, they need the love of their neighbors too.
I live with my mom and go to my dads house every two weeks. Me and my sister asked him if we can have the dog, Rocky. He keeps saying no because of my stupid stepmom wont give us rocky. My stepmom has gotten like 6 cats and no dog for my dogto play with or anything i think the cats make my dog depressed. Also they dont really play with him either, they dont walk him or anything like that. I even asked my stepmom it i could take him on a walk and she said "no its ok hes a toy dog" hes a yorkshire terrier and weighs like 18 pounds or so maybe more. They dont bathe him, when i come over i have to do it and i dont mind doing it. They now lock him in the kitchen when they go to sleep because he pees on the carpet. When we go upstairs to sleep, my dog wimpers and scratches the doors and stuff trying to get out and it made me cry because i know if he lived with my mom and i, that would never happen. What should i do??? Call the shelter or what?? I mean i dont want to get my dad in trouble I JUST WANT MY DOG!!!!
I think perhaps you should all get together and seriously discuss the issue as a first step. Express your concerns and let your step mom know that all dogs need walking despite of breed. Best wishes.
My daughter has a neighbor that leaves his dog (less than a yr old) out all day, and although he has food and water the dog cries and whines with loneliness. When he's home he leaves the dog out all evening and beats him with the kids toys for barking to come in. The last dog he had he took in the garage and hit him in the head with a hammer and killed him. That dog was older and had health problems so he just killed it. My daughter want to take the puppy and give it to the shelter. How much trouble can she get into for doing that? The dog warden is a cop in our town and has been to the house twice and has done nothing about the situation, so that option is out. Please advise. We live in Ohio.
I am a dog trainer and am not that knowledgeable on laws, especially since they very from state to state. Call animal control or your local humane society for advice. I would think stealing the puppy even if for a good cause may get you into trouble. kind regards
My 9 year old boxer just died this morning. My family and I suspect foul play. I found him at 12:30 this morning having a siezure. He was bleeding from his mouth. My neighbors have been constantly irritating him since the day they moved next door. I have reason to believe my neighbors poisoned my dog. What should I do? How should I go about it?
Bleeding from the mouth can be caused by rat poison but other causes as well, if you still have the body you can have an autopsy done. Sorry to hear that, you must be devastated.
Monica - I watch the same treatment to my neighbors dog...he has shelter,food and water but thats it! And the food and water is only because I called the dog warden on them a month ago because the cage was full of poop and had no water or food. Now the family just feeds and ignores the dog 24/7. THe family even hangs out in the yard and the dog cries for attention but no one even looks her way! I'm so disgusted!!!
Monica and animaover68, I also have a neighbor that provides no love or attention to their dog. It lives in a cage, I have seen them clean the cage, water and feed it, but that is it. They do not let the dog out, they do not pet it, they do not pay any attention to it at all. That poor dog has no companionship, it is socially isolated. When they are outside and have tons of company, not one person pays attention to this dog. This dog is a Rottweiler and it's back end is crippled up, probably from lack of exercise and laying around. I have called our local dog control and humane society. Nothing you can do if it has shelter, food and water. That is real sad, it makes me sick to my stomache every day. We do not speak to these neighbors. If we were to say anything to them about this, they would cause problems for us. So much for trying to help a poor neglected animal.
tonieg71 3 years ago
My question is how can a I keep a dog when he was neglected.
My daugther call me crying, her mother in-law dogs was biten by another dog. I told my daugther if I go to your house to pick up the dog Im keeping the dog. Poor dogs he was in pain, I took the dog to my house. After the third day my daugther mother in-law wants the dog back. Now that the mother in-law knows the dog is alive. My point of view is if the mother in-law was concered about the dog, she should of took the dog to the vet. Instead of her going to work. But the mother in-law is reporting the neighbor dog about the incident.
Can anybody suggest what can I do to keep the dog. Thank you!!!!