..do people bother getting dogs if they don't want to care for them?!

Our neighbours have recently (9 days ago) got a dalmation pup, totally the wrong breed in the first place. At first, I gave them the benifit of a doubt, if the dog was outside I would let our dogs out for him to "speak" to through the chain-link fence and socialize with and all was fine for the first few days. After day 5 I went out early in the morning to let the dogs out and saw the pup chained outside, on his choke chain - no water, no bed (they have a concrete and gravel garden), no shelter..nothing. I thought..ok..maybe he is just being chained out to go potty...I had no idea what time he was put out, so maybe they just want him to stay in a certain part of the garden. Half an hour later I took the dogs food out. Pup was still chained out. By now I was getting concerned, but what could I do? I sat out there talking to him and petting him through the fence for 10 minutes and by this time the dogs had finished there food, so I picked up the trays and went inside - watching the pup from the kitchen window, continously running to the end of his chain and bouncing back. After the second time I sent the OH (underdog) to go sit with him whilst I cleaned off the trays, trays got done, I made us both breakfast and took it outside where the pup, poor sod, was still chained up. Finally after 3 HOURS the owner come outside, chirpy as ever
"Hey!! You two ok? having fun with the pup? the little scamp!!!"
As politely as possible with my blood boiling I replied "yes, fine thanks. The pup is great, isnt he! So well behaved, how old is he?".
"Oh hes about 5 weeks old". I shrieked
"Why so young?"
"We wanted him young so he would bond to us and so he wont bite the kids"
"You realise at this age he should still be getting milk from his mum? and he most certainly shouldn't be chained up on a choke chain. why is he chained outside?"
"The breeder said he would be fine, hes just been getting a bit of milk from our cereal and hes outside because he keeps chewing and barking inside"
"No, he will be a big dog, he needs to stay with mum until at least 8 weeks old - preferably 12 weeks. Also, you got a puppy...a puppy that is teething..he needs to chew, and you got a dog. Dogs bark. You know. Woof Woof?"
"But I didnt think he would be like this! hes so annoying. Sometimes I feel like smacking his silly head off the pavement. He runs around all day and bites. He screams and fights with other dogs and is all round stupid. I cant believe him"

At this point I was seconds away from punching him before the OH told me to go off inside. From that point I sat by the door and listened to them talking. The OH asked to hold the pup and the neighbour passed the pup to her. He then asked her to keep hold of him for a while....fine!! anything to get him out of there! He was filthy, we brought him inside and gave him a shower, which he loved, and the bottom of the tub was at least half an inch thick in mud. We rinsed him off then gave him another go over with oatmeal shampoo using a rubber horse brush to work it into his coat, rinsed him off and dried him down with a towel. All the while soaking up the attention. I really couldn't believe how well he behaved, he never bit once apart from the obvious playing, which after 2 corrections ("NO" and turning out backs on him) he stopped. We noticed he had dry ears so we rubbed some lotion into them and settled him down. After a while it started whimpering and "paddling" our stomachs so we gave him a bottle of puppy replacement milk and left him to sleep for an hour. We went outside for a while and left the door open for him. After a while he ventured outside and played with our other dogs - as dogs should, play fighting and the like, we fitted him with a new harness, gave the owners a new tie-out stake with swivel and a proper rope tie-out leash instead of the crappy chain. So this was a few days ago, we continued with the milk feedings, everything was pretty much the same. Yesterday I went outside to find he was digging under the fence and had just about got through to our side, so I reached under and un-clipped the harness and let him through. I filled in the hole he dug and let him loose in our garden to play with our dogs. I gave him a feed and noticed he had a limp, so as the owners were no where to be found, the car was gone etc we took him off to the vets. He had an internal abcess in the hip joint so after getting it slightly drained, we got him some anti-biotics and went back home. Poor thing was so dehydrated so we gave him some sub-Q fluids and settled him down in one of the smaller kennels with 1 of the young-ish chihuahuas and a sprocker. He slept alot of the day, spent the rest of it restling the other dogs and having a good time, then....by 12pm, oh look...hes still with us. So, by his choice, he slept outside with the other dogs. Not a peek from the owners, didnt hear anything. Today, got up and let the dogs out, still heard nothing from the neighbours. About 12 noon I was outside playing with the pup and the owner come outside and asked if it was his pup, I replied yes and mumbled "unfortunately". He said he only just realised he was gone. Arghhhh, these people will be the death of me! Needless to say, they still dont have the dog back, and he is currently wrestling with our GSP's in the pond.

Rant over, sorry that was so long *blush*

[chevy & karen]

This is exactly how I ended up with two of my pup's...

I can't answer your question as to why, but I have thanked God that you are the neighbor with a heart of gold...

[Lunareclipse]

I think that the person who let the pup go at 4 weeks should be slapped too.

Originally Posted by chevy & karen

This is exactly how I ended up with two of my pup's...

I can't answer your question as to why, but I have thanked God that you are the neighbor with a heart of gold...

Hehe
And I do agree Lunareclipse...if only I had their number as this type of thing is illegal.
Update on the pup though - he is the cutest, best behaved pup EVER! lol
We give him a bottle of milk and we lay it down on his bed or our lap and allow him to suckle and paddle, and he looks at you with his big brown eyes and you heart melts. :mrgreen: The dogs are enjoying him aswell, 2 of the collies slept inside last night (for those of you who haven't heard about these, they NEVER sleep inside and its extremely rare you will find them go inside the house even for food) and looked after him, the pup only had one accident inside and that was my fault because I put a load of pedialyte in his "bed time" milk without even thinking about it. Got cleaned up, let them out and he is sitting outside in the tunnel right now :-D

Havn't heard anything from the neighbours but they know we have him. They never asked for him back yesterday and said how great he looked compared to what he was like previously and said "oh, I see that limp has sorted then. I knew it would. The missus was going on we need the vet blah blah blah". After showing him the vet bill and anti-biotics he soon shut up and went back inside. Ahh well, if they dont have the pup back then he will for sure be staying with us for the rest of his life. We took the dogs a walk yesterday and I put the pup in a sling and we went through the village to allow him to socialize a bit. Whenever we stopped people crowded around and gave him a pet and I am happy to say he never bit once.

Underdog, thank you so much for taking care of this pup.

What ignorant owners. I can understand not researching a breed, but not to realize the dog is missing or taking the poor thing to a vet even after finding out he was without his mom so young? come on people use some common sense.(not referenced to us caring owners but the ones that don't care)

thanks once again and plz do keep us posted. have you posted a pic yet?

Will do and as we don't have a camera I'll see if the ex-owners (:P) have any pics they can send me. I am sure they will, they have just about everything else.

He is now named Katire (cat-awr-E)

He is mad but yet again I cant believe how well behaved he is. If we see him squatting to go to the toilet we just say out, point to the door and he goes outside and waits patiently inside for his treat bless him. If we say no he will stop, he hardly bites and when he does its a quick nip if he mistakes us for a blanket or chew. The OH is in love with him and vice versa, the pup keeps standing up on his hind legs and looking at us with a desperate attempt to put is ears up and when you walk past him he puts his paws up on the back of your legs and follows you around standing up leaning on ya.
He is eating like a good 'un aswell. So far today he has had nearly 1.7 quarts of Esbilac puppy replacement milk, 2 rabbit hind legs and he has had 2 large kongs stuffed, the little piggy Lol.

[DoggieVogue]

you are an excellent human being! Thank you for taking care of that pup. Sadly, there are many, many more people like your neighbor than there are of us dog lovers and it's pretty much impossible to keep up with all the dogs that need help. I commend you for doing what you can to make a difference. It just makes me wonder how a person like that sleeps at night, without even realizing how much suffering is going on right under their noses. crazy.

what a beautiful name for a beautiful pup. He sounds so lovely and friendly. Where you have him now you will have the most well behaved dal anyone has seen.

Kudos to you for taking him in.

Originally Posted by DoggieVogue

you are an excellent human being! Thank you for taking care of that pup. Sadly, there are many, many more people like your neighbor than there are of us dog lovers and it's pretty much impossible to keep up with all the dogs that need help. I commend you for doing what you can to make a difference. It just makes me wonder how a person like that sleeps at night, without even realizing how much suffering is going on right under their noses. crazy.

Hehe thanks. =]

Originally Posted by timber&gizzy

what a beautiful name for a beautiful pup. He sounds so lovely and friendly. Where you have him now you will have the most well behaved dal anyone has seen.

Kudos to you for taking him in.

Thanks. He has already learnt sit and heel (he will also stay....when he feels like it ). We took him a quick walk in his sling when we went out earlier to the pet shop. Everybody Aww'd or Oooh'd. He already has alot of neighbour hood fans. The kids across the road have been with him most the day outside. We have a pretty private road, nobody comes down here unless to get to one of the houses so I said they could take him out front and play with him for a bit, so they took him on his harness and tired him out for us. Don't you just love being bombarded with a hyper pup everywhere you walk.
These is the pic the ex-owner sent me of him:

recently taken:


He's currently settled with a bottle in his bed with a collie.

[DoggieVogue]

What a beautiful pup!

Isn't he just lol
And his big tubby belly lmao.

[chevy & karen]

He's beautiful....... I love him...

Hehe.

I got up this morning (aka was kicked out of bed this morning) to feed him a bottle and he took it with no problems. Pictures don't do him justice. We have/had many dogs and puppies, we've hand reared many litters, fought many battles with pups but none are like him, he's just amazing. We are going to a friends house later for a small party and as we havn't got anybody to look after him, he is coming with us. He has an empty shed in the garden all to himself if he gets scared or fed up of the attention and wants to get away, somehow I dont think he will.

Just at our friends now (nipped onto the computer to show her the email the neighbours sent me ) and he is being brilliant. He's not tried to steal any food as of yet despite plenty of food being thrown on the floor by the kids (he has pushed his look and tried once or twice, but with the "no" command he stops and starts playing again. The kids are loving him, obviously. My nephew is here and he's playing with Katire, every time he calls Katire he comes to him, stops dead 1foot in front of him, rolls over, barks then starts licking his face Lol .

I am afraid we broke every "rule" in the book last night, and Katire ended up in our bedroom by the side of the bed getting fuss all last night. He never once tried to hop up onto the bed though, and about 20 minutes after I brought him up to the bedroom he settled down and slept the whole night through, up until I got up to let him out. He needs a new collar and harness, though. I cant find a normal nylon collar to fit him, so his other one was made big enough that if it did get caught he could slip it off, but instead he puts his paws through it. and he chewed the bottom part of his harness whilst he was out with the kids...he hasnt broke it, and it wont break, but it looks tatty hehe.

[chevy & karen]

I'm so glad Katire got to go to the party and a good time was had by all.

Your such a good puppy Katire, yes you are and a handsome one too.....

[CorkyMax]

I'm not sure I understand all of this----Did the neighbors give up the dog for good?! I hope they did because I'm afraid you are really attached to it. I'm just afraid they are taking advantage of you and when the pup gets a little older and "trained" (by you) they will want it back--If the kids in the neighborhood all like it----the kids of those neighbors are going to want it back just because of that. You have only had it for a couple days--right? Is there some way you can make sure it is now yours---even if you have to buy it from them and get some kind of paperwork for proof? I'd hate to see that pup go back to them---bigger problems for the poor baby, esp. after the good life you are providing for it now. It sounds like such a good puppy. Good Luck. Keep us posted.

[chevy & karen]

Originally Posted by Corky/Max

I'm not sure I understand all of this----Did the neighbors give up the dog for good?! I hope they did because I'm afraid you are really attached to it. I'm just afraid they are taking advantage of you and when the pup gets a little older and "trained" (by you) they will want it back--If the kids in the neighborhood all like it----the kids of those neighbors are going to want it back just because of that. You have only had it for a couple days--right? Is there some way you can make sure it is now yours---even if you have to buy it from them and get some kind of paperwork for proof? I'd hate to see that pup go back to them---bigger problems for the poor baby, esp. after the good life you are providing for it now. It sounds like such a good puppy. Good Luck. Keep us posted.

As much as I don't want to think about it, Corky/Max is right. I hope they don't give you any trouble.. Please keep us updated on Katire

Originally Posted by Corky/Max

I'm not sure I understand all of this----Did the neighbors give up the dog for good?! I hope they did because I'm afraid you are really attached to it. I'm just afraid they are taking advantage of you and when the pup gets a little older and "trained" (by you) they will want it back--If the kids in the neighborhood all like it----the kids of those neighbors are going to want it back just because of that. You have only had it for a couple days--right? Is there some way you can make sure it is now yours---even if you have to buy it from them and get some kind of paperwork for proof? I'd hate to see that pup go back to them---bigger problems for the poor baby, esp. after the good life you are providing for it now. It sounds like such a good puppy. Good Luck. Keep us posted.

They just said "fine, keep it" to us. Whether they stick to that I don't know but, because the pup was unsupervised on our property by its "rightful" owners, it is a stray. Therefore I took it to the rescue we volunteer and foster for, he got signed in as stray and so the owners have 7 days to claim him back, after those 7 days I will adopt him if they don't claim him (by the looks of it, they won't). And even if he did go back to them, if he was treated the way he was before we took him in then they have broken at least one of the five freedoms so the dog can be prosecuted by the RSPCA. To be honest, I don't think they realise how good this puppy is, and as they only see him crashing around the garden and ripping the place up (which is what the kennels and garden has been fitted out for) I don't think they will get the good boy impression anytime soon, Lol.

[chevy & karen]

Originally Posted by Mr.Underdog

They just said fine, keep it to us. Whether they stick to that I don't know but, because the pup was unsupervised by its "rightful" owners, it is a stray. Therefore I took it to the rescue we volunteer and foster for, he got signed in as stray and so the owners have 7 days to claim him back, after those 7 days I will adopt him if they don't claim him (by the looks of it, they won't). And even if he did go back to them, if he was treated the way he was before we took him in then they have broken at least one of the five freedoms so the dog can be prosecuted by the RSPCA. To be honest, I don't think they realise how good this puppy is, and as they only see him crashing around the garden and ripping the place up (which is what the kennels and garden has been fitted out for) I don't think they will get the good boy impression anytime soon, Lol.

Yayy!!!!! I'm so happy for Katire and his new fam. I hope the neighbor's don't bring anymore home now.. And I hope they continue to see Katire under the influence of the zoomies for the 7 day's.

aw simply gorgeous pup.