I can totally sympathise with your situation,i lived next door to a neglected dog,he never went on walks,he never got to go  inside,the family tossed scraps outside for food,he had no shelter,it gets up to 43celsius here in summer!!!This poor little dog sat outside and cried day in day out!i ended up walking him everyday and feeding him,so in essence i was looking after 3 dogs,i have 2,I dont know what it's like in the U.K but here in Australia the Italians dont beleive in vets and dogs are third class citizens who are only good  for being watchdogs!My neighbours are italians,i dont mean to be racist it is just a common pattern with them!
To cut a long story short,i called up the animal welfare(not r.s.p.c.a they are the same as yours here!!!) and asked their advice,we came to the conclusion that this dog was better off away from these people and they had a very long waiting list of people who wanted small dogs,she never told me to steal him but indirectly hinted ;) So one day when they were at work i sneaked over and took him,i then took him the animal welfare and the rest is history,he is now with a wonderful family who lets him sleep on their bed and who love him to bits,now he will get to live out the rest of his years a totally pampered pooch :D he was 4. I have never once regretted my decision,this dog would have been better off dead than living with these horrible people,they never even came over to ask me if i had seen him If faced with the same dilemma again i wouldnt hesitate in doing the same thing,i will NOT stand by and watch an animal be neglected or abused,the worry would just consume me as the above dog did,in the end he was all i was thinking about!I could not live with myself if i knew this was happening and did nothing about it,forget the r.s.p.c.a and get some strong arms in to take the dogs away??I wish i lived over there as i know a few people i could send to you who could make this problem go away ;) and give those poor dogs a life!that they so deserve.

christine

I to have always found the RSPCA useless when needed. So, phone the local council and they have always been very helpful, especially if backed up by the police. But, then I have always found the police in my area very helpful. Good job we are all anonymouse on here or we would all be in trouble. This is said light heartedly as I can't find any little laughing faces!!!

If I knew how to do smiley faces I would!!! Nice to hear someone singing the praises of their local Plod - have always got all sorts of whinges and stories whenever have been anywhere and people find out was a copper!!! - its nice to hear of positive responses, have always found the old saying "damned if you do, damned if you dont" TOTALLY  aplicable - its just such a shame that an organisation set up to help animals is so useless, toothless, undertrained etc as the RSPCA is - needs taking over by animal lovers, not business men and accountants. As have said before on here, I've worked with several RSPCA Officers who DID know what they were talking about - but also many who didn't - this debate I think will go on forever!!!!

Head office is now

RSPCA
Wilberforce Way
Southwater
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 7WN
Ph: 0870 010 1181 / 0870 333 5999 / Fax: 0870 753 0048 
webmail@rspca.org.uk

I live close by to the RSPCA building in Southwater. Shame they can't spend as much time and money on the poor animals than on the huge eye sore of a head office they built!!!!!!!!!

Totally agree. My brother lived in Southwater amd my sister-in-law worked at the old head office in Horsham for a while. I seem to remember her remarking about the luxurient carpets. :( It was a beautiful old building if I remember rightly (was a long time ago :D )

I used to work at the old Head Office back in the late 70s. There weren't many carpets about then! But that was before the organisation was infiltrated. :(

It would be 1993/4 when she worked there Jg. :)

I left in 1980, so there was certainly plenty of time for change.
:)

UPDATE
They're not interested.
Say the dogs are fed and no physical signs of being beaten.
The owner says he is aware of the fact he needs to have one of them castrated/speyed and theres only TWO piles of dogs mess in the back room...so they're not worried!!
Will not give up on this
Archer   

URGH!!! Mind, I once went to a house where the dogs poo'd inside and they just put sheets of newspaper over it and carried on walking on it.  The floor was about six inches high!!  Unfortunatley, the human species is made up of two completely different parts.  Normal people and the 'others' who are quite happy to live in muck and squalor.  It's a shame but there's kids living in worse conditions than our dogs :(