Problems With Neighbor's Little Dog

I am sorry to come here with this folks, but I have no one to talk too about a problem I have with my neighbor's little dog. I am an animal lover, treat all my pets as family. I have a cat Snowcat (12 years now), my little dog Rollo a rescue dog for two years now. Before all this happened about four months ago my little dog got in the neighbor's yard and they came and told me to keep my little dog out of their yard. My bother lives next door to me and the neighbor lives on the other side of him. About a month ago the neighbor got a little dog, cute as she can be, but they don't feed her, or let her live indoors. They just got the little dog because their five year old little girl wanted it. So the little dog has taken to staying with me, I am feeding the little dog, and for awhile letting it stay in my house. The little dog has long hair and needs taken to a grooming pet store and that is what I would do if the little dog was mine. So I want to talk to the neighbor and see if they will let me have her. But my brother got all upset, saying that I will start a war over this little dog. I told him it is hard on me to have her hanging around my house all the time and not take care of her. But the poor little dog is a mess, and needs to be groomed, fed properly and loved. My brother talked to them and asked if I could take her to have her groomed, and they told him sure no problem. My problem is why can't they just give her to me, I would love to have her. I would get her groomed. But I feel I am being taking advantage of by my neighbor who got upset when my little dog came into their yard. What they are saying is, yeah feed our dog, have our dog groomed, let our dog live with you and feed and love it for us, don't let your dog in our yard, but no you can't have the little dog. Then why can't my brother help take care of the little dog, he want do it.

Sorry this is long winded, I am just upset right now. My brother and I got in a big fight over all this.

Thanks for listening......

 

I’d take the dog and give it to someone far away who would take care of it. Or report it but that may go down into a fight....Immoral maybe but so is starving an innocent animal. It would be dead without you by now.

Of course you are the one who has to deal with any outcome. Little girls feelings or not it’s an animal

 

You have two options here as I see it.

1. Call animal control.

2. Stop feeding and caring for another's animal. Even if they gave it to you they would just get another one. I know the type, it is a control issue, and they are controlling you into caring for what they consider just another piece of property.

Walk away from this, as difficult as it may be.

 

Thank you so much for the replies, it means a lot to me right now.
This is really, really hard on me because the little dog is innocent of all this. Thunder you are right about the neighbor and getting dogs, they have had at least 4 dogs in the past year or so, and the dog never lasts, they always get rid of the other dogs, and I feel sooner rather then later they will get rid of this little dog, probably after their little girl looses interest. It is just that I have grown fond of this little dog because she came to me and I could see it in her cute little face asking me for help. My emotions have settled down a little, because coming here and venting has helped me. I have a strict rule when it comes to pets, love them as if they are your family, take good care of them and if you don't want to do that then don't get one. I know I am layering what I feel over on other people, and I shouldn't do that, but it makes me so upset to see an animal mistreated. I mean come on people, you got the little dog for your five year old, don't you need to teach her how to love animals by example. The neighbor's little dog and my little dog Rollo really like each other, it is fun to watch them play, so that is a big part of this. I spoil my pets, treats, toys, beds, spending money on vets, grooming, if they even look sick it is off to the vet. So I guess, trying to understand why others can be so negligent about taking care of theirs is hard for me.

So I guess I will have to bite the bullet, spend money on the little dog by taking her to get groomed, keep feeding her and loving her, let her sleep on my couch and treat her if she is mine, even if she is not, and hope and pray that one day she is not just gone.

Again thank you for helping me with this, I needed somewhere to talk about it.

 

I vote report the neighbors or call animal control. I hope that dog turns out okay!

 

I vote report the neighbors or call animal control. I hope that dog turns out okay!

That is what I should do, but then a war would start and personally I wouldn't care. I can't because of my brother who lives next door with him, he got totally upset today when I said something about doing this.

 

Maybe have a heart to heart with the neighbors and try not to tell them that they are bad owners (even though they are lol). Offer to take the dog and maybe help them with another pet. You said they took care of it for a little while, right? Help them with a pet that has a short lifespan so the girl won't be bored with it. Does your brother live in the same house as them? Maybe he could take in the dog.

 

Maybe have a heart to heart with the neighbors and try not to tell them that they are bad owners (even though they are lol). Offer to take the dog and maybe help them with another pet. You said they took care of it for a little while, right? Help them with a pet that has a short lifespan so the girl won't be bored with it. Does your brother live in the same house as them? Maybe he could take in the dog.

Oh I plan on talking to the neighbors in the near future, just not today because of the charged emotions right now between my brother and I. No my brother doesn't live with them, he lives next door to them and I am on the other side of my brother's house form the neighbor. He was instant that I do not start a war over the little dog with his neighbor, but I guess it was ok that they complained about my little dog when he got in their yard. It would have made things better if my brother had said he would take the little dog in for awhile, but he want. Don't get me wrong, my brother loves his dog like family, a really big rottweiler. His big dog lives inside with him and everything, but helping me with this is out of the question. So I have gotten myself in a situation here.
Thank you so much for your help......

 

No problem! I love dogs too (I have 2) and I know how you feel. What if your brother took in the dog then immedietly gave it to you? Do you have a good relationship with the neighbors? If so, they might be more inclined to let you help. In the meantime why don't you buy the dog some toys, treats, food, that kind of thing, and give it to them. Maybe if you wrap it and make it seem exciting the little girl will be more inclined to help out with it. You could put a label on it like "Princess Treats" or something. That might work as a temporary solution. This would also help build a positive relationship with your neighbors.

 

No problem! I love dogs too (I have 2) and I know how you feel. What if your brother took in the dog then immedietly gave it to you? Do you have a good relationship with the neighbors? If so, they might be more inclined to let you help. In the meantime why don't you buy the dog some toys, treats, food, that kind of thing, and give it to them. Maybe if you wrap it and make it seem exciting the little girl will be more inclined to help out with it. You could put a label on it like "Princess Treats" or something. That might work as a temporary solution. This would also help build a positive relationship with your neighbors.

I don't have much of a relationship with my brother's neighbors, and neither does he. I see them and wave to them and on a hand full of occasions had light how are you doings. I do have a strong relationship with their father, he is a good friend of mine. They basically forced their father out of his house and took it over with their three children. He let them move in because they needed a place to go, and then they just stayed. Their father finally got tired of living with them, then bought a small prefab house, moved in a little ways from his old house on the same property and built him a place to live. So there is that, I have always felt that they took advantage of their father's love for them. But none of that is my business.

Anyway I was talking to their father about the little dog, and he gave it to me saying, "They don't care about that dog, it was just something they did to satisfy his youngest granddaughter." Well a few days later my brother was talking to them about the little dog and saying that their father gave it to me, they got a tad upset saying he had no right because the little dog belongs to their daughter. So as you can see this is an emotional complicated issue.

But I promise you this, this little dog will not suffer, for I will take care of it, even with the feelings of being taken advantage of by people that deep in my heart I don't like.

Thank you again for your help, it so appreciated.

 

I am so sorry for what you are going through. Do you have the dog now? Sorry if I missed that. If you do I'm sure you'll take great care of it. As for the neighbors, hopefully they'll see that you will give that poor thing a better home. I always feel so bad for creatures I can't help (Betta dying from dropsy in a restruant, Rainforest Cafe tank ich outbreak, Betta being nipped buy guppies, etc.).

 

I am so sorry for what you are going through. Do you have the dog now? Sorry if I missed that. If you do I'm sure you'll take great care of it. As for the neighbors, hopefully they'll see that you will give that poor thing a better home. I always feel so bad for creatures I can't help (Betta dying from dropsy in a restruant, Rainforest Cafe tank ich outbreak, Betta being nipped buy guppies, etc.).

Yes the sweet little girl is laying on my couch right now. I just got through eating and was eating Cheetos Crunchy with my sandwich. My little dog Rollo and Honey the neighbor's little dog love Cheetos, so as I was eating I shared some with them. All I can do now is hope for the best, and maybe they will someday give her to me.

On the fish note: I love my betta Clint, but he can be mean to the Cories, it was worse in the 10 gallon tank, but now that they are all in a 29 gallon things seems to be better. I have gotten on Clint's butt for being mean, and you now I think it might be getting thru to him. Just today I saw him lying near the smallest of the three Cories, acting like he was protecting it. When any of the other two got near he would chase them away. It was funny to watch. The littlest of the Cories just set there acting as if he was cuddling with Clint. Strange behavior, for those fish, but it really happened.

 

Thank gosh. Keep doing what you're doing

 

I love animals so what else can it do...

Once again thank you so much for letting me vent all this out, it really helped me clam down over all this.

 

No problem! Venting is the best medicine

 

I would look at the laws for your county. There have been instances similar to this in my county. Since the dog is not in their yard, you could to get to animal control. In my county, dogs go on a holding period of 3 days to give owners a chance to claim. Then they are assessed for adoption. The people who bring them in can sign a form to adopt if there has been no claim. I would see if your county does something similar. Dogs are property and if you take it from them, it would be considered theft. Especially if they have proof the dog belongs to them. I would find out what you can legally do. If you could do the same thing as stated above, you would be the legal owner with papers and microchip to prove it.

 

Also, I would not worry so much how this is making your brother feel. You already said he isn't close with his neighbors and you said they moved in on their father and he ended up having to leave. It sounds like these people have no regard for other people or animals. You really should think about the animal and how they are literally neglecting it. I can't speak for where you live, but my county and state has laws in place to protect animals from neglect and abuse and people are expected to abide by them or suffer the consequences (that are usually not harsh enough if you ask me). In the end, this comes down to animal rights. Not your brother's feelings. And maybe it's just me, but I would not even care if my brother got mad at me for getting involved in something like this. But he also knows that this is something I would get involved with, so he would never get upset with me. It's who I am. If it's who you are then your brother should understand. If not, then he doesn't know you very well.