Our across-the-street neighbour got a beautiful BC pup around 5 months ago. The woman barely walks the length of herself and the dog is only taken to the bottom of the road and back for exercise. I'd say it gets a maximum of 10 minutes every day or so out of the garden. The neighbour has been tying the dog onto a railing at the top of some stairs and even after I told her about someone I knew whose dog died due to falling from steps and hanging, she still does it.
I recommended a good puppy class to the woman but she didn't bother with it and then expects the dog to obey her. She even asked if the class would house train the dog as it was still peeing and pooing in the house! Doesn't help that she buys it an ice-cream cone every night and then wonders why it has an upset tummy.
The dog barks constantly, I think mostly through boredom and being left on its own. This is really starting to distress our household. On Sunday I was up and out with our lot at 8am. The BC was outside on its own and barking. We returned after a 3 hour walk and the BC was still outside and barking. We are doing some decorating so the door was open all day and that poor dog was in and out the house all day, not walked or paid any attention. It was still barking at 9pm when we finally stopped working and shut the door.
Our niece was in the house today and asked why we couldn't go and help the dog.
The thought of that lovely dog being brought up in that house is really getting to us but would do we say without sounding like interfering busy-bodies?

this is a really difficult one.i don't know how well you get on with this lady but maybe you could ask if she would like to come for a walk with your lot, if she is home a lone most the time. you never know she may like the company and if you build up a relationship she may be a bit more open to advice about what her breed needs.
i suppose if you could manage it you could ask if you taking her dog out sometimes would help her if she's busy.
there''s not a lot else you can do apart from trying to support her as if the pup is fed and watered then people like the RSPCA wouldn't do anything.
Does she realise the pup is barking all the time as this is the only thing you may be able to stop if reported but you'd have to report her to the council and if she knows it's you then you will have to deal with an unhappy neighbour.
do you think she maybe  regretting getting the puppy and it's too much for her? if you could try and talk to her and ask her if she needs some help as you've done a lot of training with your dogs. some people just don't realise what certain breeds need although not walking the puppy isn't good enough for any type.
sounds as though she would of been better off getting an older dog that has been trained and calmed down, happy to sleep most the day.
in an ideal world you'd take the pup away to someone who can give it the time and love it needs but for now all you can do is try and support her if she'll let you.

Being owners of a BC this makes me so mad, this dog needs hours of exercise, loving and playing with it must be going out of its mind, trouble is it will possibly get snappy and end up with a bad reputation when its a bad owner.

I cant think of a thing apart from nicking it and giving it to a better home, all illegal, possibly immoral and probably its only hope, Im not advocating you do this I know its not the right thing to do by the way but I really cant think of anything else apart from buying it off her.

Im going to cuddle Jake now, and feel sad that such an intelligant dog is stuck with an owner less intelligant than it is. Its so sad..

The thought of that lovely dog being brought up in that house is really getting to us but would do we say without sounding like interfering busy-bodies?

You could try saying that you are worried that someone else might complain about the barking and ask if they need some advice as to how they could deal with the problem. You could then explain that the dog is barking because it is shut out and needs far more mental and physical exercise - although being fairly young it shouldn't be walking too far at the moment. If you treat them as though you are trying to help them out to prevent problems with complaints you may be able to get your point across more readily than if it seems that you are pulling them up on their treatment of the dog.

It sounds to me like a dog warden might be the best way to go. They might be able to give the lady advice, or pursuade her to give the dog up to rescue. :-(

I have to admit i only walk mine 2 x 10mins a day on top of training and garden play, but then he is a different breed altogether. Is this dog tied up at the front of the house bordering the pavement? If so this dog could also be stolen as well and if tied up with no access to water then i think you should be reporting to dog warden and also RSPCA. Take photos of it, keep a log if you can, and other neighbours as well. Record it on your phone or camera as evidence too.

This pup i feel sorry for being tied up, not on and not fair on anyone. Lets hope it can find a good new forever home or the owner bucks up her ideas quick smart.

If you make a record of when and how long the dog is barking , then contact Enviromental Health at your Council.

Maybe she needs a bit of a ' kick up the bum ' to realise that this is not fair on the dog .
I would also be giving her the contact details of BC rescue so that , if she rehomes , the dog gets a knowledgable home next time .
Perhaps this person has taken on too much and would be glad to rehome , or perhaps this is how dogs were kept when she was a child so she thinks that this is normal .

Thanks for the replies. I've heard today from another neighbour that someone has already called the local council about the barking so maybe that combined with my call will be the 'kick up the bum' she needs.
I know that as the dog is young it only needs a limited amount of exercise but any BC's i've known need a huge amount of mental stimulation as they are incredibly intelligent and this is what is sadly lacking in it's wee life.
I've tried to be friendly and offer advise to her but she does not seem to want to put the work in. She comments on my dogs but doesn't seem to understand that they are like that through months and years of persistant work and that dogs don't come ready-trained!
Hopefully the council will help sort things out.

> Im going to cuddle Jake now, and feel sad that such an intelligant dog is stuck with an owner less intelligant than it is. Its so sad..

Exactly.  And people like us that actually realise what we're taking on, have stimulated, happy BC's.  And the really sad thing is, they are so very easy to train.  Will go and cuddle mine too.  :-)

really sad to hear this especially as an owner of 3 BCs.  A 5 month old I would still work on the basis of 5 mins walk per month old so only 25 mins at that stage probably split in two walks and increasing month by month, but at this age my pups are well into their clicker training doing tricks etc. going to training classes doing the Good Citizens and working on controlled waits ready to start agility training later on.