Neighbours mistreating their dog

[mrsfields]

hi everyone,

long story, but am at my wits end...

we're in a really awkward situation... our neighbours bought a gorgeous Belgian Shepherd/Malinois puppy last Christmas, and just left it outside all winter as a puppy, and from day one it started to escape onto our land and come and find us - we're outside regularly, looking after the horses, and they are out all day at work, so the pup was constantly left alone and would escape, by ripping holes in their fence, looking for company...

anyway, a few months later, and she's getting near fully grown, she was still escaping, jumping up and putting her paws on my shoulders within a split second - pretty scary as i'm quite scared of dogs, but luckily she would just frantically lick my face and thankfully was't aggressive, but is quite scary and very aggressive with strangers... she has never been trained, didn't have a collar (until yesterday - for their new electric fence) - this has now been going on for a whole year... she would be incredibly aggressive over the fence with the horses which was very worrying indeed, and when she was out she would try to kill our cats!

they then got another dog, to keep her company, and then both dogs started getting out, and going farther afield, sometimes away for a couple of days... anyway, the owners are incredibly violent and last week, when she finally made her way home after escaping, i witnessed him give her a thrashing with an electric cable looped to make a whip, which he took out of his car, so i imagine it is something they have been doing regularly (also the wife boasted about it to me saying she had escaped again and got a good hiding as if it's perfectly OK to treat animals like that! - what the hell do you do with imbeciles like this?!) - i give her grief and go on at her til i'm blue in the face, but they just ignore us or patronise us and treat us like we're stupid foreigners (we're brits living in France) - maddening!

The dog has lost so much weight over the past few weeks - they have no proper shelter, are out in the elements 24-hours a day, and at the moment are huddling under some old wood and rubbish propped against the side of the house to shelter from wind and rain... i can see her ribs and pelvis, and her spine is starting to show, her ears are down and she is looking depressed, is barely barking at the horses now, and is now trapped on their property as they have just installed an electric dog fence... I went to see the owners to say I was concerned about the state of the dog, has she been wormed, is she eating enough? but they just do not seem to give a sh!t

what do i do? i have made an initial call to the french equivalent of the rspca explaining the situation and asking for advice, and they are keen to intervene - do i go ahead and give them the address? I am worried about retaliation for our horses as we do not live on site, and we are the only neighbours - it is very isolated, so we are the only "outsiders" to see the state of the dog, so they will know it's us... I don't think i have a choice, as i cannot turn a blind eye, but am a little worried, and just wanted some feedback...

[Deleted]

Local dog warden is the first point of contact

[nightowl]

Will they assume it is you if they get reported surely visitors to the house could report them? If it's as bad as it sounds I think you will have to get the right welfare people involved it's obviously causing you some distress anyway.
Good luck

[mollichop]

That poor poor dog, this is so upsetting to read :'-(
I have full sympathy for your situation wanting to report them (and boy! Do they need reporting!!!) but then concern for your own animals, you don't know what these people are capable of
Could u install some cctv for your horses? That would hopefully give you some comfort that 'something' was keeping an eye on them while you're not there,
Could you help the dog escape again but this time into the arms of the French RSPCA??
Good Luck and bless you for trying to help this poor girl

[kafee]

O goodness, so sorry to hear this. Standing up for what you know to be wrong can be very hard as I have found out to my cost. I'm no good at 'strategy' which you need to be to bring about successful result and still end smelling of roses. mc's idea of helping the dogs escape and end up with the French RSPCA sounds good. Have you got a friend who could 'find' them, and hand them in?

Would the French RSPCA take action? I believe the French are not as kind to animals as we are.

[lesleyking1]

I can only think that you could take them to a rescue (out of your area) and say you found them on the road, but I would be really worried if they found out it was me, these people don't give a ......... but are the first to get nasty with anyone who gets involved, I've always found that the distress it causes in other people is part of why they mistreat the animal, like they get off on the attention it causes.
Unfortunately I have programmed myself to switch off now, just don't look, the amount of abuse around is mind blowing especially as I foster, I can't rescue everything, but this case is horrible, I would have to do something, but do be very careful.

[portiabuzz]

That really upset me reading that.. It must have been horrible witnessing that. Poor poor animals I'm so hoping they can be taken away. Cruel horrid people

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[mrsfields]

thanks so much everyone for your input! I'm so sorry - didn't mean to upset anyone, but just wanted to show how bad it was... unfortunately we can't get her to the French rspca as they owners have just installed an electric dog fence around the perimeter of their property - the dogs are even more depressed and won't even come near the fence for food/treats as they get zapped if they come too close now... that did cross my mind when she was getting out though, but i was worried about attempting to handle her as she's pretty much unhandled, didn't wear a collar, have never seen her with a lead or taken out for walks, just a backyard dog to "guard the house" - it seems the owners wanted to keep her aggressive as they always laughed when she went for their friends or people visiting, so i really didn't want to attempt to try and get her into our car just in case (also not sure if she's been vaccinated for rabies, so didn't want to risk being bitten)... She has been so mistreated by them it's awful! She got out last weekend (just before they installed the fence) while me and my daughter were loading my horse into the trailer - cue panic! My OH had a stick in his hand and went to shoo her away from a safe distance, but the poor dog just cowered at him and looked terrified and we screamed at him to drop the stick as she clearly thought she was going to be beaten, poor girl! We were worried in case she would flip and bite in self-defence anticipating violence! She has been really messed up both psychologically and physically... Also, re. taking her to the French rspca - it's difficult to do things like that anonymously here, being English especially, we'd be really easily identified (and probably prosecuted for theft LOL!!), and there is only one refuge within about 50km to take her to... so tricky all round really!

there are a couple of possibilities - the owners were ordered by the gendarmes to install the electric dog fence due to the dogs straying (it's really rural here, all farmers and livestock, so the gendarmes tend to intervene quickly as they take stray dogs very seriously), and they're meant to be coming back to check they have fitted the fence, so will hopefully see the state of the dog then and intervene (unfortunately when they first called on the owners, the dogs had escaped, so they didn't see them)... also, i have to take my cat to the vet next week, so will also discuss it with him and show him photos to see what he thinks...

[portiabuzz]

I'm shocked and saddened about this . I just wish I could do something !!

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[julz]

I'd get in touch with the French RSPCA again but explain to them that you are fearful of reprisals towards you or your horses. I don't think you can ignore this, their behaviour towards these dogs is disgusting and weather or not the French don't care for animals the way we do, is frankly not an excuse to sit back and do nothing. Clearly they do have some care towards them or they would not have this organisation. Every country have problems with cruel people towards animals, why should the French be any different?

I don't mean to sound harsh, but you have watched the first dog grow up from a pup living outdoors, things should have been said sooner.

[portiabuzz]

Is there any update on this

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[mrsfields]

Dec 27, 2014 23:51:05 GMT 1 julz said:

I'd get in touch with the French RSPCA again but explain to them that you are fearful of reprisals towards you or your horses. I don't think you can ignore this, their behaviour towards these dogs is disgusting and weather or not the French don't care for animals the way we do, is frankly not an excuse to sit back and do nothing. Clearly they do have some care towards them or they would not have this organisation. Every country have problems with cruel people towards animals, why should the French be any different?

I don't mean to sound harsh, but you have watched the first dog grow up from a pup living outdoors, things should have been said sooner.

no need to be so judgemental julz without knowing the full facts

a lot of French people keep their dogs outside all year round, there are a lot of hunting dogs and working dogs which live outside with no problems whatsoever, so i wasn't going to get all aggressive and militant with my neighbours and report them just for having their dog living outside

you are obviously unaware of French culture as any type of "denouncement" is a very hot issue here since Nazi occupation in the war, and is not something that is done lightly, which is why we have had to be very careful, and seek opinions and advice from those around us, who also agree that it is a very delicate situation, and cannot be handled in the same way as you would in Britain

despite living outside since a pup, the dog has actually been very healthy looking (gorgeous actually!), lean but well muscled, and active until a few weeks ago, when she started dropping weight suddenly which is when we thought we had to do something (and which is also when we first saw them being violent towards her - just the week before i posted the original message and contacted the french rspca for advice, so piss off)

portiabuzz, thankfully, now the gendarmes have got involved, and other people have also intervened and talked to the neighbours as we did, the neighbours seem to be making an effort and she seems to have improved and is looking much brighter, so hopefully they have got the message and things will continue to improve...

[portiabuzz]

That's great to hear x sending hugs xx

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[kafee]

Yay, that is good news, I hope she continues to improve and isn't mistreated again.

[mrsfields]

another update, she is looking much much better and brighter and is looking more like her normal build again - it turns out the neighbours actually took her to the vet (they must have listened to all our nagging!!) and the poor thing was covered in ticks and had some bad abscesses which had been making her very ill, so has been on heavy duty antibiotics! am relieved they finally got her sorted out but it took ages and a lot of conflict to get there! the gendarmes have been back again to check up on things, so it's nice to know they are aware and keeping an eye on the situation! huge relief to say the least!