Called the SPCA

[Cat]

Well, I called the SPCA on my friend's neighbor. I am not sure whether I did the right thing or not. He had his dog, a husky, in the yard in the heat and sun without any water, but I only saw the dog our there for about 30 minutes. What convinced me to call was that the dog appeared very thin, and was probably thinner than he looked under all that hair.

Anyway, I feel a little like an interfering busybody, and I am hoping I haven't created a problem for my friend. At the same time, I couldn't live with myself if I had doubt about an animal's welfare and didn't call.

[Philosophia]

You did the right thing and probably saved the dogs life. The SPCA will come and investigate. If they find that there is an issue, then they will take the dog away.

[Meadhbh]

It was a good thing. Husky's shouldn't be out in the sun like that anyway. Their cold weather dogs, with all that hair he could have had a heat stroke fairly quickly.

[Shanti]

Did you talk to the neighbor at all?

I don't know what the temps are there but about 30 minutes I don't think is animal abuse according to the law, unless its the dog days of summer.

My dog is skinny. She also suffers food allergies and is on a restricted diet so food doesn't kill her.
Being a pitbull she also looks like she is in fights. But its the allergies which cause sores all over her and in breakouts she has a lot on her head from scratching like crazy. She can only be drugged on and then off because the drugs build up and those can kill her too.
Lucky for me, neighbors have come to talk to me about my dog.
I appreciate the time they take because I wouldn't want to be under suspicion from assumption.
Even though I have proof, it really sucks having neighbors that sic the pet police on you when you could of shown them it wasn't necessary.

I did have one neighbor, once, call the sheriff on our dog. After the sheriff came and checked us out he reported his findings to that neighbor. I wasn't mad, just irritated that the neighbor didn't ask, but we had just moved here so perhaps not knowing us at all made the neighbor a little leery. The neighbor did come over a few days later to apologize for jumping to conclusions. :)
That was really nice of him, I think, and now we all are happy and friendly toward each other. :)
He is a nice neighbor. I am glad to have him and his family near by.

[_Banbha_]

Best case senerio is to talk to the person but it's not always a safe or viable option. The animal is the first consideration in a case like this. If everything was okay all along, all the better. :)

[TheWomanMonster]

if they don't find something wrong, he'll just get a warning and pay better attention to his pet next time.
so don't worry about it.

[Shanti]

if they don't find something wrong, he'll just get a warning and pay better attention to his pet next time.
so don't worry about it.
If they dont find anything wrong, why on earth would he get a warning?

I didnt get a warning when all was found to be fine.

[TheWomanMonster]

If they dont find anything wrong, why on earth would he get a warning?

I didnt get a warning when all was found to be fine.

I didn't mean a warning FROM the SPCA I meant that the experience in being spoken to by them in itself would be the warning...
clarified?

[Shanti]

I didn't mean a warning FROM the SPCA I meant that the experience in being spoken to by them in itself would be the warning...
clarified?
Sorry I don't get it.
How could he even perceive the experience as a warning if he isn't neglecting his pooch? I would think he would wonder why somebody called.

Maybe I just cant understand because I didn't feel that it was a warning when it happened to me. The sheriff didn't either. They apologized for interrupting me. And the experience left me wondering why my neighbor didn't come talk to me. The experience also drew me to the conclusion that being new in the area the neighbor was probably not sure about coming to me. But in the end they did come to talk and we became good neighbors.

What was cool, is I didn't even know which neighbor called. The neighbor came and told me that they did it. I respect him for that.

[Cat]

Maybe I should have gone over to talk to him. But he and my friend M do not get along (I don't know who started it or what happened, but its to the point that the man went out and started his snowblower running during M's 4 year old's birthday party in their yard--and just left it sitting there running till we all went inside), and this would have created more bad blood between them.

Of course he may just assume M had something to do with the SPCA anyhow.

If the dog is fine, I hope the SPCA would just say sorry for interrupting his day and go on about their business like they did with you, Shanti.

[LadyCanine]

im with Shanti on this one 100%

I have a GSD, Mace, who is at the age where he is skinny and lanky. He's all legs....at that awkward stage for GSDs.

I've had people give me looks whenever I have Mace on his tieout so he can get some outside time/potty break whenever (trying to walk a high energy dog w/ small kids doesnt always work whenever your by youself, lol) I cant walk him and I just wave as they go by.

I dont put food/water out there, and we dont have a dog house either. I put the dogs out sometimes when its nice, and Im not lugging water/food back and forth, lol. I dont leave them out for long periods of time, but whenever they want back in or whatever, they bark, scratch....let me know 'hey time for me to come in'

I can understand why you would call if there is bad blood between neighbors, sometimes, even if nothing is wrong with the dog, certain situations might be better left to the authorities just mainly for people relations than anything to do with the dog.