Hi,

I have just had the most upsetting morning ever! I have a Briard and a 7 year old GSD. (have had GSDs for nearly 20 years)  We live in a very rural position on a working farm, we just rent the house with 1 acre of garden and dont have any dealings with the farm.
Ella was 1 year when we got her from GSD rescue.  From the very beginning she has always been protective of the house and extremely territorial with a particular dislike for men, she had aggresion issues in the beginning but this has been dealt with by training, love and patience. She still barks like crazy whenever anyone comes to the house, and as we have had some undesirable types up here at night I am not too bothered by her barking, she is excellent at alerting us to anything untoward. We have a porch that runs off the kitchen and both dogs have the run of the house, and are only ever left when I do the school run or weekly shop, otherwise they come with us.

This morning, I had an RSPCA Officer at my door telling me that there had been a report that Ella was too aggressive!!!! She was barking in the background as normal so I invited him in to see BOTH dogs. He very quickly realised it was a waste of time and apologised. He said that he didn't know why he had been called out and a dog being reported as barking in its own enviroment didn't really constitute a visit from him. He then asked me who might have a grudge against me, had she nipped anyone, etc.  I am soo angry I am not criticising the RSPCA here as they have a job to do and obviously they don't know what they are going to find in any given situation, they have to follow up on every call, But I cannot believe that someone can give a reason as a dog being too aggresive (in their words). I know I will never find out who did it, albeit it is fairly easy to guess as we don't have many people that call here. We have builders in at the moment to point one wall and so far it has taken them 5 weeks and they have been a nightmare from day 1, I am not going to go into details as it would take all day and bore everyone to death :rolleyes: but to cut a long story short we have been onto the landlord trying to get them off the job and they confronted me about it last week and a disagreement took place.

I am so hurt and upset by this, and it is probably stupid getting myself into such a state but I would NEVER do anything to hurt an animal, I live for my dogs, and I have tackled people in the past about cruelty before I have gone official about it. But when I see dogs wandering about near busy roads with no collars on and looking half starved it really gets my goat Since when has it been a crime for a dog to bark when strangers call?  I don't want to confront the builders about it in case there is a slim chance it wasn't them and anyway, what would it prove?

Feel better getting it off my chest, but there seems no justice in this world when there are real cruelty cases going on, the RSPCA officer said to me that they get about 5 call outs a week that are obviously grudge cases. Imagine what that must cost the charity. This is probably why, when I called them out to an unjured swan a few months back it took them a week to act!!! I still can't believe it

I know what you mean, its shocking. I called the RSPCA about a pony that in my mind was being ill treated, left in a field full of rubbish, no food, shelter or company but because it was in good bodily condition they said they couldn't do anything as it was obviously getting food from else where. Luckily we have never had a visit from the RSPCA but at one point we thought we would as one of our vizslas looked like she was starving(very breed trait, now over thankfully), we got lots of funny looks and were sure someone would follow us home so they could report us! Joking aside people should be vigilant as this is how people who ARE cruel are found but most people should really keep their noses out or if that bothered are welcome to ask, although alot of them time you would just get a mouthful....
The RSPCA are great in most of what they do but maybe getting more info out of people might be an idea, our dogs bark,as your do, when people go past and hopefully it deters people from thinking about snooping around but I would hate to think of them being thought of aggressive, its natural for dogs to protect their 'den', maybe some people think dogs shouldn't ever do anything apart from sit and look pretty! :)
Emily

hi hairy pooch,
all i can add is at least the RSPCA guy had the sense not to act!!
must have been really upsetting for you,some people just hate dogs & want to stir up trouble.
my dogs bark when anybody comes to the door,this is their job as far as im considered.

Thanks for your comments :) I have calmed down now, but still have this uncomfortable feeling of wanting to shout at someone :rolleyes: very frustrating when you don't know who to aim it at. I comfort myself with the thought that "what goes around, comes around" :D
Why can't we all have the same outlook on life as our dogs? Don't know where that would put the people that can't stand animals though ;)

if they dont like dogs what sort of person does that make them anyway?i have no time for anyone that activley  dislikes dogs!

One of our gundog trainers who keeps spaniels had a visit from the RSPCA the other day - there were four spaniels in a 12 x 12 kennel/run, and they had been called because of overcrowding.   The poor trainer's wife was understandably distraught (she's not at all well, and her husband was doing a demo at a show, trying to earn a little).

The dogs were fine - they had actually pulled their vetbed out of the bed area (how many of ours do that), so he was reported as them not having bedding.

Don't know the final outcome, but probably another grudge case, as he works his spaniels.

Jo and the Casblaidd Flatcoats

I know what you mean Joflatcoat, our labs have the bedding all over the show in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening - I spend my life spreading it nicely.

On a more serious note, I really do feel angry about the situation Hairypooch has encountered.  Some people will do anything to gain advantage - but I also believe that "what goes around comes around".

Hi

Just read your post and felt quite angry on your behalf.  Try not to let this upset you too much.  Whoever did this, obviously knew how much you care for your dogs and this was one way to get at you, so the answer is, try not to let it.  This is just one malicious person, certainly not worth upsetting yourself over.
Thankfully the rspca guy could see it was a malicious call. Just carry on as usual and dont allow anyone ie; builders to even know this has happened, I only say that because then, whoever this person was, will obviously find some gratification that it has upset you.
Good luck to you and your lovely dogs.

Console yourself in the knowledge that whoever called the RSPCA probably expected some action to be taken against you and your dog removed so when they see you carrying on as normal they are likely to be annoyed that their call came to nothing ! :)

Thanks Tashina,

I have calmed down a bit today, I have come to the same conclusion as you suggested. Bit of a giggle this morning, I hadn't been out to clear up the dog mess and as they arrived early for once they must have trodden in it as I saw one of them wiping his shoe on the grass and muttering expletives :D :D :D Divine retribution or what?

I know in my breed that some of the owners have been getting visits from the RSPCA.  There are unfortunately some very sad people out there and what makes it worse is knowing that whoever is doing this is more than likely into dogs too!!  I now realise why I prefer my dogs to people.  It's a SAD SAD world and the lies that these people give to the RSPCA too, it's unbelievable, it's a shame that some people don't have better things to do with their lives.