How can I help this puppy?

Call Animal Welfare or the SPCA.

Call the Humane Society in your area and tell them the same thing you have stated here. Ask them what, if anything you can do, or they can do to save this poor little puppy. They should be able to steer you in the right direction. Or steal him and send him to a good home

You should call the Humane Society.

Call animal welfare, the SPCA, the Humane Society, and the police.

Call the proper authorities in your area and document everything you see and do, being time and date specific. Take pictures, if possible. The more proof you have the better.

(All the jellies responding are in agreement. Must be a first!)

Yes, @janbb, that’s unusual. The only thing that is as usual is, of course, that I am right.

But of course, my dear. Did I not bow and scrape properly enough for you?

We tried that already. They came & said “nothing was wrong”.

Call again. The more you bug the more apt they are to take you seriously.

Maybe, as has been suggested, you can take photos or even video of the dog when it is suffering to show to the Humane Society.

If you can, get photos or videos of his conditions, and make sure the photos have date and time stamps (you should be able to turn on this setting on your camera). Take photos or videos throughout the day documenting the lack of food and water.

Call animal control (they are different from the humane society or SPCA).

If you have a city attorney’s office or Justice of the Peace, you as a citizen have the right to go down there and file charges for animal neglect and abuse.

Check your city ordinances on chaining dogs. In many cities they must be on a chain at least 12’ in length, and there must be food and shelter readily available. Remember that if you keep going on their property to give Mustang food and water, your neighbours (if they’re nasty enough) can report you for trespassing, and that would be mildly troublesome.

@xxii I don’t have a camera, or know anyone who does. We live in the same building (they live under us) so there yard is our yard.

@Draconess25 Can you borrow one? Is there one on your phone? What about a webcam?

@Draconess25 Go to the supermarket and buy a cheap-o disposable camera. Then take everyone’s advice and call the police, humane society, animal control, etc repeatedly. If what you’re describing is accurate, this is animal abuse.

@xxii It doesn’t have a date, but I have one on my phone.

Go through the all the ‘proper’ legal channels first, then torch their house and take the pup. ( venting ) Grrrrrr

A few years ago I called and called on some underweight horses in a field, no grass, no visable water source, same deal, then…a few months later one draft horse was down, hundreds and hundreds of lbs. underweight, he died. I was so angry…..

@Draconess25 Your phone will automatically date/timestamp photos. As long as they are of a usable resolution, those will do.

Same deal here. There was a beautiful doberman that a girl across the street chained outside on a 2 foot chain, left no food and the water bowl was empty. It was close to 100 degrees outside. Another neighbor noticed and tried to give the dog water. By the time this happened, the dog was foaming at the mouth. We all called the humane society, dog pound, police, anyone we could think of. No one came. The dog died that day. The girl came home and screamed “who killed my dog?” I screamed back “you did, asshole.”

Please contact your local animal welfare office—immediately. This lovely creature is being tortured by neglect and mistreatment, and he(she?) shouldn’t suffer for even one more day. You can save the dog from misery, and your neighbors will face criminal charges.

Maybe send the photos to a local newspaper or TV station, too. A little public shaming might go a long way.

Build your case. Take video, pictures, keep notes on days without food and water etc. Contact the Humane Society, tell them what’s going on and about the documentation you have collected. Tell them they were already out once and did nothing but things are worse, then if they still refuse to do their job, contact the local news.

That is the regimen to make a vicious dog. Isolation, mistreatment, non-socialzation. This will eventually make a xenophobic dog that will attack anything that enters it’s domain. Left where he is, he will eventually need to be destroyed.

Build your case. Take video, pictures, keep notes on days without food and water etc

While the dog continues to suffer in the sun and heat? This sort of abuse shouldn’t continue for another day (hour, minute), and the dog could be dead before the “case” has been made. This isn’t the time to play detective; call the local animal control office now. Any official who sees this poor dog—in the heat without water, and tied to a short leash—will act immediately.

Don’t confuse your local animal control office with groups such as HSUS or ASPCA. The latter are exempt organizations that lobby for and advocate animal welfare reform on a wide scale; they’re not rescue groups that shelter animals. Also, such exempt organizations don’t have the legal jurisdiction to remove animals from people’s property; the local authority must be involved.

I’m wondering why your neighbors would have adopted this sweet, beautiful puppy, only to neglect him, abuse him, and let him suffer and die in the hot sun? Maybe they should have purchased a lawn ornament that would look cute outside and never require any care.

@Primobabe I don’t know where Draconess25 lives but in my neck of the woods the authorities err on the owners side and it’s going to take a little more than seeing the dog without water once or twice. “Oh the dog must have spilled it.’ ‘Oh, the dog wasn’t tangled in her chain 5 minutes ago.” Building a case is the only way to prove the abuse is abuse.

She could try to shame the neighbors, by making a public spectacle of them. I have posted billboards in my yard asking a neighbor to “Please water your animals!” “I’ll pay your water bill if money is tight!” “Your pets are your responsibility not just your property!’ ” Take care of your pets butt-hole!”

I had to go to court several times for taking this route. There wasn’t anything they could do because I didn’t name them by name and the billboards were on private property but, I was threatened by the cops and had I been of a weaker constitution I would have taken the deal the prosecutor offered me. My willingness to fight it out got the charges dropped, but it was a huge hassle, worth it, but a hassle all the same.

If I had it all to do over again I would just quietly steal the dog and give it to someone who would take care of it. But, that’s just me and I would never suggest someone else break the law.

@Silhouette Yeah. Not only are they on the owner’s side, but they’re never on our side. We’ve had some bad run-ins with the local authorities.

As for stealing the dog, we’d be better off doing just that. Taking him to my uncle’s house wear they’ll never find him….

@Draconess25 Don’t go there! I would steal the dog because I have this handy dandy old lady suit to hide behind, you don’t, and like you said you already have trouble with the local authorities, don’t make it worse.

Sometimes there is just nothing you can do.

Do not hurt yourself or your family for the sake of this dog. Trust me, the dog would understand.

@Silhouette I could have my girlfriend take him. She’s never gotten in trouble before, so they wouldn’t expect her. And she would do anything for a “fellow canine”.

@Silhouette I don’t know where Draconess25 lives but in my neck of the woods the authorities err on the owners side

I’m sorry to hear that. Where I live, the officials act on behalf of an animal’s best interests. The authorites intervene after just one look at a dog locked in a hot automobile or tethered outside with no water or shade.

@ Draconess25 Before you “kidnap” the dog, please research the applicable laws of your state (something that’s very easy to do in these days of the internet). In some states, it’s illegal to take an animal from someone’s property; only a government authority, with proper documentation, can remove the animal. Other states, however, allow a concerned person to rescue an animal that’s in distress or imminent danger.

To be honest, I wouldn’t be hindered by the law. I’d sneak over—when your neighbors aren’t at home—and take the dog. There’d be no question about doing this for an abused, neglected child, and I wouldn’t do anything less for an innocent animal. I’m not advising you to break the law. I’m just saying what I would do.

@Primobabe Of course I would wait until they’re not home! They could peek out the window & see me….

@Draconess25 I know someone who rescues dogs in a part of the country that’s—there’s no way to say this delicately—backwards and populated by ignorant rednecks. Once, she saved a dog who’d been left outside, 24 hours a day, during a bitterly cold winter. The poor dog was literally frozen to the ground, and the woman had to pour buckets of lukewarm water to melt the ice and release the dog. While she was valiantly doing all this, the property owner was standing by his house shooting at her!

@Primobabe WTF?!?! They didn’t get hit, did they? Where was this? It sounds like where I live….

@Draconess25 I don’t want to offend anyone at this message board, so I’ll send the location by PM. No, the woman wasn’t injured. I think that the man was firing warning shots—to send a clear threat and try to make her leave—but that he didn’t really intend to shoot her. Getting arrested, and being tried for manslaughter (or some other criminal charge), would have been an aggravation and a serious threat to his drinking time.

Get one of your other neighbors to call the cops.

@Primobabe There is always a way to say things delicately. In this case, by omitting “in a part of the country that’s—there’s no way to say this delicately—backwards and populated by ignorant rednecks” and instead elaborating on the situation that your friend was in, letting the facts speak for themselves. Stereotyping is wrong, after all.

My own revision: “I know someone who rescues dogs from bad homes. Once, she saved a dog who’d been left outside, 24 hours a day, during a bitterly cold winter. The poor dog was literally frozen to the ground, and the woman had to pour buckets of lukewarm water to melt the ice and release the dog. While she was valiantly doing all this, the [factual adjective] property owner was standing by his house shooting at her!”

If your neighbor is still tying the dog out, you should contact Dogs Deserve Better. Dogs Deserve Better, a national nonprofit organization and the 2003 First Place Winner of the ASPCA/Chase Pet Protector Award, is a voice for chained and penned dogs, whose sadness speaks only through the eyes. As the days become years, many of these dogs sit, lay, eat, and defecate within the same 10-foot radius. Chained by the neck, they exist without respect, love, exercise, social interaction, and sometimes even basic nourishment. They live as prisoners, yet long to be pets.

You can find them on the internet at www.dogsdeservebetter.com. They will give you ideas for changing this situation, and can even contact the owners of the dog themselves. They will try to get the dog’s owners to either unchain the dog, or to surrender the dog to a rescue.