Hi,

A neighbour of mine is mistreating his dog. I've seen him hit the dog one and heard him hitting it another 2 times. We can see into his garden and although I want to report it, I'm scared of this man..he's got a bit of a reputation. It's only our house that can see into his garden so he'd know it was us..any advice on what to do. The dog is kept in a run in the garden and as far as I know doesn't go for walks. the run is about 8 ft x 6 ft and the dog is medium size.

this is a difficult one.... have you ever had a friendly word between you, i.e do you say hello if you bump into him? if it was me, I'd befriend him (as much as I'd hate doing it) and offer to take the dog for a walk occasionally "aren't these dogs a tie etc"...try and get him to respond. Then I'd suggest that if the dog is a burden to him then you could take it off his hands...something similar to that. Its a passive approach, gets the dog out without any confrontation, and keeps the situation sweet.

the downside is that he could get another, but if he's keeping it in a run and mistreating it, it sounds like he's just sick of it :(

what type of dog is it, try and keep an eye on it if you can and make sure things dont get out of hand.
If he is hurting the dog cant you creep into his garden when he's out and get the dog and take it to a safe place, its unlikely to be chipped, if he's treating the dog like you say he doesnt care much for it so dosent deserve to be an owner.

Although it sounds like a nice thing to do Sandie.It could be very dangerous
The dog could bite her ,or the man come out and catch her.
So best not go down that road
Mari

hi
yea thats sounds a bit risky ,if you report him the rspca will do not nothing anyway,i reported someone once and they did'nt want to know,befriending him sounds like the best idea

shaunie