Met up with my dog walker a while ago,he had a underweight St Bernard with him he told me the owner of the dog also had a husky that was left in the yard all day and wasn't asked to take her out,apparently the sb spent all its time in the hallway,dog walker no longer takes her out due to the owner not paying him,also he told the sb always had the runs due to poor nutrition.I met up with the owner yes he was actually walking this sorry sight I told him the dog was undreweight,I got abuse of him,yesterday he had them both out,poor things,the st b was boney with a big floppy abdomen,he then tells me that the Husky was going nxt week,I asked him what he ment,told me he was having it put to sleep as she was incontinent of urine,I will be ringing the rspca in the morning about this matter,the poor husky had a very sad and empty look about her i feel so upset.

Sheila

Annabella, you may well be right, but also you may be wrong too. Many years ago, I once called the RSPCA on an owner with a cat which looked half dead, it was so thin, it's bones could be seen, it's eyes were bulbous and sad and if offered food it would gulp it down. I thought the cat to be half starved and uncared for along with many of my neighbours, all complained, but none did anything, so I did, I phoned the RSPCA. It turned out the cat was well cared for, had liver disease and had a vet history as long as my arm, they were holding on to having it pts because they didn't want to let it go, and as thin as it was, it was still eating and having a life, so quite the opposite to what we all had thought.

The owners who were new to the neighbourhood, made a point of talking to us all probably wondering who had phoned the RSPCA But very nicely explaining that the cat was cared for. I felt a plank but I guess I still did the right thing.

Now, I always ask questions if I am suspicious from the person themselves, not someone who thinks they know and I try not to listen to tittle tattle. So by all means call the RSPCA, if you are really concerned, but you may well find that both dogs could just be old, or have health problems unrelated to care, the Husky may only be walked by the man himself because of it's condition, it may not walk too good, so may not have needed the dog walkers exercise. What I'm saying is it may not be neglect, a lot of our dogs when old or ill do go down hill fast and sometimes do not look that great.

If the man is taking the husky to the vets to be pts, the vet would soon know if it were neglected or if it has a history with him/her, not many people will take a neglected animal to a vet, which makes me wonder (if that is true) perhaps it isn't neglect just bad health.

By all means call the RSPCA as it is the right thing to do if you suspect cruelty but only do so if you feel the dogs are neglected from what you have seen and if you feel what you have heard from the man does not add up, not from someone elses opinion on it. Be ready for the fact that it may well not be. :-) But if it is you've done the right thing.

I have to also be honest as to the question of if the dogs are neglected, why would the dog walker not report this person? Surely this is the person who would know more facts from talking to the owner and dealing with them, what kind of dog walker would not report neglect? Or were a few pounds earned from walking one dog more important? Is it sour grapes now that the payments were delayed and the walker is no longer used?

I know you use the dog walker but it is not very proffessional to talk about other clients and for you to end up feeling you need to call the RSPCA, maybe you are just being used, sometimes people load a gun and wait for someone else to fire, have you thought of that too.

I know I'm an old cynic, :-) but don't get why the dog walker did not report it, if it is so.

The saint b is only 2 years old,the husky is 9 years old,I think it may be a case of ignorance the owner is only young himself these dogs are left for very long periods while he is in the pub,they are definatly undernourished,

sheila

I have a dog that's extremely underweight, had numerous blood tests etc and nothing has come back to show why and I only can keep on paying out and getting nothing confirmed.  I look after him and he's still happy when he sees his ball etc. and eats well.  Sadly as I fully am aware of, people can have animals that are looked after wonderfully but sadly the way their animal looks doesn't show this. 

I do realise this as I also had a Lab who was very under weight through illness,however the owner of these dogs is feeding them on a unsuitable diet hence spending all his money in the pub he had obviously just fed them yesterday as they have no mustle but big floppy bellys.

Sheila

however the owner of these dogs is feeding them on a unsuitable diet

But what's an unsuitable diet? That varies from dog to dog. I have one dog that cannot eat ANY of the top ranking complete foods, so if I fed him on, say, Nature Diet or anything else high quality and expensive, for him that would be unsuitable and would make him ill and thin. Likewise his granny can be fed on any really cheap food and still look great. If the dogs lack muscle, that isn't anything to do with the diet.

> I have a dog that's extremely underweight, had numerous blood tests etc and nothing has come back to show why and I only can keep on paying out and getting nothing confirmed.  I look after him and he's still happy when he sees his ball etc. and eats well. 

Ditto, I've got a four year old Lurcher who looks like a skeleton although he eats like a horse, hops about and all tests came back negative.

If you feel that this man is subjecting the dogs to a life of cruelty then report him. If its something as innocent as both dogs are ill then they'll find this out, case closed..
I understand what others are saying and we used to have a Lab who could never put on weight, regardless of the different foods he was on, added toppers etc. He went through tests at the vets and nothing was found to be wrong with him, as he got that bit older then he started to put on the weight, but i was always worrying about how he looked.
If you can gather more information from the dog walker and maybe get them to report it if they feel the same way, but i'm also concerned that if this dog walker had concerns himself why he's not reported this man, especially if he is a lover of our canine friends.

Only you know whether it needs reporting or not, you've seen these dogs, you have much more information than us, so only you can make the decision as to what to do..

such a difficult subject, my mum owned four well loved cats, one day two weeks before christmas, the eldest called pebbles went missing,she turned up two weeks later and the vet said she must have been locked in somewhere and survived by licking condensation off the windows,anyway, since she was locked in, she hated being kept inside, she liked being out and about and free,she would pop in once a day for food, but spent most of the day at the bottom of the lane,watching passers by going home from town, then people started to feed her,so she would never come in, then someone phoned the rspca and they came and took her away, my mum broke her heart,other people getting involved done that,she was moved to a house 40 miles away and was kept inside permanently,i feel it was not what she wanted as she hated being inside, sometimes its good to involve the rspca,other times i feel you should try to find out whats happening first

I know what is happening these dogs are left on there own all day while he is at work and then he spends the night in the pub,I CAN TELL BY LOOKING AT THEM THAT THEY ARE NOT LOOKED AFTER,i am not a inexperienced dog owner ,he only lives up the road and the poor saint bernard has mange .Iwill not post on this thread again.

Sheila

Sheila
go with your gut instinct. The RSPCA should be told. They wont go gunning in there and remove the dogs. If the dogs are under veterinary treatment, then all the owner has to do is prove it. If they are not, but need attention, the inspector will advise a trip to the vets, and then check this has been done at a later date. If the owner doesn't bother with a trip to the vets when advised to do so, then the RSPCA will probably advise they sign the dogs over I think.

Annabella, I don't think any of us who posted about having a skinny dog meant that your judgement was impaired/clouded. My post was merely to demonstrate how tough a call it is. I am sorry if you took it up the wrong way.

anabella,
i am sorry if i upset you, i was just giving you an example of what happened to my mum, if you know this is happening then you should report it, i would,i had to call the dog warden out once when i was chased up the road by a i think was a mastif (turner and hooch dog,sorry for any offence)it was growling and his face was covered in blood,gosh i have never run so fast in my lfe,i managed to get into my car and call the dog warden, i felt so bad doing it,but i had to

You may be right and you may be wrong, if you have a gut feeling that these dogs are not cared for then you should (in my opinion) contact the rspca if something happened to them and you didn't you would never forgive yourself.  If you report this and the rspca inspect the owner and the dogs, and decide all is well, then there is not a problem, you have lost nothing but gained your peace of mind.  Sometimes it will take more than one complaint before the rspca take action, you may not be the first in this case, I'd definitley contact the rspca on this occasion.

> if you have a gut feeling that these dogs are not cared for then you should (in my opinion) contact the rspca if something happened to them and you didn't you would never forgive yourself.

If the R£SPCA refuse to do anything about it you can report it to the police and they have a duty to investigate an act of animal cruelty. Thats what I had to do when I discovered a bad breeder, and the R£SPCA would not even come out of their office doors to see the dog I rescued from there!