I live next door to a man and his dog, he is a very quite man keeps himself to himself, his garden is very overgrown and i have concerns about the dogs well being, he does not take the dog for a walk so the only time the dog gets to go out is when the owner gets home from work, the dog is on her own from about 8am till 5-6pm and when he lets her out in the garden she has to battle with brambles and a very small space to do her buisness, i was wondering if any body had any ideas on what i can do? I feel for the dog and the conditions she appears to be living in.

if I were you I would phone the RSPCA. Things have been said about them before, some negative, but if you tell them the conditions the dog is living in, and that you are concerned they should send someone round to advise the man, as he may not be coping but not know who to ask for help. what is its body condition like?? This is important when reporting an animal as sometimes if the dog is obviously being fed them they can't do anything. Am I right when you say she is alone from 8-6 that she has no access to anywhere to toilet? If so that is very unfair as she may be forced to go in the house-the dog is then living in its own mess-v.cruel IMO.
Tells us what happens, this dog deserves better.
Emily

My boyfriend phoned the council about 6 months ago and conplained about the dog mess, they then sent a woman out to have a look, as he was not in she looked threw a hole in my fence, and she said it was unexceptable, she wrote to him a couple of times and she had no replay and she came out again and he happened to be in that day, she speant about 10-15minutes there, came back over to my boyfriend and said he was going to try and keep it tidier and clean the mess up, We then left it for a while and he didn't seem to be cleaning the mess up, so the dog now has to crawl under the brambles in order to do her buisness, we got back on the phone to the council lady who then phoned the RSPCA and they came out and checked everything out and all they said was as long as he keeps it cleaner and tidier and the dog has food and water everything is fine, I have seen the dog from outside my spare window and she looks in ok condition but she looks so sad, she is left on her own for 9-10 hours a day, :(

It would seem that just because you have a dog you don't necessarily have to walk it, just feed and shelter it.  One of my neighbours has at least one dog and in 3 years of living here I have never seen it walked.

The dog in no way seems mistreated, I've seen it feeding in the back yard and it must do the toilet in the back yard but it just does not seem to get walked. 

I walk Copper at least 3 times a day round the estate as well as further away in the car.  The owner in question does have a car so maybe she takes them in the car - but I've never seen it.  I'm not saying I'm the best dog owner in the world, I just think its a shame that the term "dog ownership" means such a lot of different things to different people. 

I do feel sorry for the dog in Vons post though.  If it was near me I'd walk it.

CG

I don't know if this is practical or not but could you offer to walk his dog?
It would give you a chance to get to know the man also and see if he is finding it hard to cope.

i have thought of that, and would love to do that, as i have a 16 month old dobermann myself as you can imagine im always out walking. I do try and catch him when he comes in from work but have never got out in time to say anything to him. I was thinking of putting a note threw his door offering to walk his dog. I may do that this evening.

You could make an exscuse up such as your dog gets lonely with no-one to play with, as long as it sounds like he is doing you the favour I can't see why not. Just knock on his door and ask him. Keep us posted please.

That's what I'd do - he might not be fit to walk the dog himself and he might be really grateful for your offer.  Let us know what's what.

CG

i will let you all know how it goes. Thank you very much for your help. :)