Dog not allowed to be in the yard.

Question

My neighbor had a dispute with me. Their dog had bonded with us when she was two months old. She would come out to the backyard through her pet door several times a day, and we would visit with her every day. They have a chain-link fence between our properties. When the owners would take her for a walk, we would join them, and they would let the dog go into our front yard, and we would visit and play. Now, we haven’t seen the dog for weeks. They don’t give her access to the back or front yard. We saw her walking one time, and she looked sad and was moving slowly. They stay indoors for days at a time. Is that considered negligence? She doesn’t get bathed or have her nails clipped. She has fleas in the summer, and she doesn’t receive treatment. Additionally, she has a bad hip and hasn’t received treatment for that either.

Answer

I hope that you and your neighbor can make amends. Sometimes offering to help a neighbor with a dog or other companion animal is the most expedient way to ensure that the animal is getting humane care. People who suspect that an animal is being mistreated can contact the SPCA (society for the prevention of cruelty to animals), the police, and other entities in their area that enforce animal cruelty laws. California’s animal cruelty law states, in part, “…whoever, having the charge or custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects any animal to needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal, or in any manner abuses any animal, or fails to provide the animal with proper food, drink, or shelter or protection from the weather, or who drives, rides, or otherwise uses the animal when unfit for labor, is, for each offense, guilty of a crime…” I cannot predict what humane investigators will do since that would depend on what, if anything, they observe. It is unlikely that investigators would take legal action just based on a neighbor’s concern that a dog has not been seen outdoors on a regular basis or that the dog’s nails are untrimmed (which would be hard to substantiate if the dog has not been seen). I hope this all works out well for the dog!