Oh definitely. Sadly, that's a common situation here. When I first moved into my current neighborhood, a woman, her young daughter, and two small chihuahuas lived a few houses down. Everyone here rents land from the same owner whose veterinary office is only a couple of houses away from mine, and he cleary stated that he encouraged people who owned pets to be responsible for their animals. He didn't want animals living outside, and he did not allow dogs to live on chains or to roam around the neighborhood. Well, of course, there's always someone who doesn't listen, and that person happened to be the lady with the two chihs.
These dogs were small (obviously), and one wasn't even full grown, but they roamed anyway. She let them outside because their barking annoyed her. Well, if their barking annoyed her, their owner, imagine how it annoyed everyone else here. It's not difficult to keep animals indoors. One of my dogs alone outweight both dogs by 90 lbs., and he and my Lab are strictly indoors except for bathroom and exercise time. On top of that, the dogs weren't very socialized, and they constantly used our yard as a bathroom so I was waiting to pick my battle. Until then, I just tried to ignore them when they came around to bark at me and my two dogs (90 lb. lab and a 100 lb. border collie/something huge mix) when I took them out for bathroom breaks.
So one day, it was freezing and raining, and I was working on a paper. I heard the chis barking (as usual) and looked out the window, and the larger white one was covered in mud. I mean COVERED in mud. It was ridiculous. Night was coming, the temperature was dropping, and the rain was getting worse. I called animal control, who spoke to the woman about leaving her small dogs roam unsupervised and off-leash outside in the mud, rain, and cold. Later, the vet talked to her about it, too. Eventually, she started to keep the dogs inside, and months after, they moved. But before they moved, the dogs disappeared, so I have no idea what happened to them. I just hope they're not wet, mudding, and freezing anymore.
I live in a very quiet neighborhood, but I can't say that the majority of pet owners who live here are responsible. Only a few weeks ago, my husband came home from work, and when he opened his car door, he knocked a boxer puppy in the head! He didn't know where it came from and didn't see it. So when he caught the dog to check its tags (which, of course, weren't there), a lady comes running up to him and snatches the dog as if Brett was going to steal it. He realized, then, that the lady lived in the back of the neighborhood, which is why he didn't know about the dog. A few weeks ago, these same people got a pitbull puppy who they literally drag down the road when they actually walk it. Hopefully these owners are better than I think they are.
And finally, one of our other neighbors (not sure if they live here anymore either, as they live nextdoor to the boxer and pitbull people.) These people are horrible, and their pit (can you tell they're popular here?) actually ran away to my house. One day, Brett was cooking outside, and when I walked outside, I said, "Hey, there's a pitbull behind you." He thought I was joking, but when he turned around, there was Blade. So Brett walked him back to his house and five minutes later, guess who came back. Blade was living outside, tied out with a rope that broke, which was connected to some kind of lead. I didn't notice his condition the first time he came, although I clearly saw he was skinny. The second time he came, this is what I saw:
That's his elbow. Both were covered in sores, some from bot flies. He also had a huge knot on his back foot, mange, and a million other things.
He was skinny, although not emaciated. Obviously, he was underfed so I fed him, gave him water, and treated him for fleas before the ACO came. (He rode to the shelter in the front seat of the officer's truck.
)
Blade's story does have a happy ending, however. After Brett returned Blade again and the owner did nothing (he didn't even answer the door again, and this was five minutes after the first time Blade arrived), I called animal control. Because of the dog fighting problem here, the shelter is very strict with who they adopt pits and pit mixes to. Meanwhile, the shelter called the vet/landowner to report the situation, and he told the shelter to *not* inform the owners and that he would talk to them. They never looked for Blade or even questioned us about him. The shelter kept Blade hidden until I could place him with a rescue, but before that happened, a good home came along (and passed the police check). Blade was adopted about by a solider who was later deployed for Iraq, but I think his owner is back now. The shelter manager sees him often and gives me updates when I go there. Blade lives indoors now, is healthy , and his skin as cleared up, although his elbows are pretty scarred.
Wow, did I rant or what? I can go on forever about irresponsible owners. Can you tell? :crazy:
