Is this animal cruelty??

Question

Someone in my neighborhood has a full grown German Shepard dog that he keeps in a small crate outside 24/7. The dog has no roof over his head or doghouse to go into when it rains or if the sun is beating down on him. He is never taken out of the crate to run or be played with. His owner even has a large fenced-in yard! The only time i see the owner interacting with his dog is when he is outside yelling at him to stop barking. I feel so bad for this dog and i think this is inhumane. What do you think? I've reported this problem.

Answer 1

Well I am glad that you reported the incident! To me that is animal cruelty. Hopefully they will get the guy out of there and get him into a better home where he will be loved and not a nuisance.

Answer 2

Yes. It's cruel. Call the animal control folks right away. He's probably not getting proper vet care either.

Sadly, depending on the community, there may not be much animal control can do about the dog - but at least if you call there will be a record.

You can report this anonymously. I'd do that.

Is this a dog you would want for yourself? How about mentioning to the owner that you 1. admire the dog, 2. would love to have a dog like him. 3 notice that Owner appears to be much too busy for the dog and 4. wonder if he would be willing to give, trade, sell the dog to you.

Offer a reasonable amount of money - say, $100 so Owner will see you're serious about the dog.

Don't ruffle feathers. Owner is bound to think he's giving Doggie a good home.

Answer 3

It is cruelty in that there is no dog house. However, the laws generally only require that a dog has shelter, food, water, and clean living conditions. The owner cannot be charged for cruelty for not walking with or playing with the dog, although this is certainly cruel to the dog. The local animal cops will likely just make him put some form of shelter in there, as that is all they can do. Maybe he will decide the dog is not worth the trouble and give it to the officers, who can hopefully find it a better home.

Answer 4

WOW!.. That breaks my heart! I dont even see why people like that get pets to start with!.. Having a dog, is in alot of ways, like having a child! You CANNOT put a dog in a crate outside like that for so many reasons!... I dont like when people leave their dogs outside to start with! A dog is a social animals and needs to be with his/ her "pack"... Dogs, if they are going to be outside, SHOULD NEVER BE LOCKED UP OR CHAINED UP. Dogs need to be able to run around, go to the bathroom, get food and water.. They need to have some kind of shelter so that they can get out of the heat, the cold, and the rain! What those people are doing to that poor dog is, without a doubt, abuse! Those people need to be punished some how and that poor dog needs to be taken away for them ASAP!.. It is a good thing that you reported what is going on! If you dont see anyone come do anything about it or if you dont see a serious change right away, you should keep calling animal services untill something happens! That makes me sick and I wish I live close to those people! That dog would not be in the situation it is in if I was there!

Answer 5

To me this is cruelty and I am glad that you reported him. The only problem is with the courts. They think of animals as property and the sentences they hand out are just a slap on the wrist. We just had a case here in Ontario where a dog had its ears slashed. They removed the dog from the owner but if he pays for the vet bills and the like within a certain number of days, he gets the dog back. We need to lobby our respective governments to change the animal cruelty laws .

Answer 6

Water, food and shelter are the 3 things a dog must have at all times. So yes it is. A crate does not prevent him from getting wet or fried in the sun. Call the Animal control now. Unfortunately that German shepherd cant make the call himself. And if you dont, Nobody else will.

Answer 7

yes, keep reporting it and keep reporting it... I had a severe animal neglect issue that I was trying to get addressed... I called our local sheriff 3 times within 3 days and nothing was getting done, so I ended up calling the Police dept. and within the day the man was cited for animal cruelty. Long story short then man no longer has this dog (although he does still have other dogs, which pisses me off! anyway...) Just keep on with the phone calls (oh and a letter to the newspaper is good too...) Make sure you take pictures too! Good luck

Answer 8

Where do you live?

The ASPCA requires enough room in a crate for the dog to turn around. He must also have shelter of some sort.

Does the owner keep food and water in the crate?

Keep reporting it, if he has no shelter, it needs to be reported

Answer 9

Yes, that is animal cruelty. If they haven't done anything about your report, call the dog warden or ASPCA again. Keep checking with them to see if they've done anything, and get other people in your neighborhood to do so as well. Call the non-emergency number for the police to let them know as well. Most cities have a law about animal cruelty as well.

Answer 10

I would call the police or animal shelter to investigate. That's about all you can do right now. I live in a small town and the police are the ones who do that kind of investigating. If they find there is a problem, then they call animal contol, which is in a larger town 45 mins away. But if you have an animal shelter in your town, call them first and explain to them what you told us.

BTW, to answer your question, yes, that's cruel.