It's really hard when it's your next door neighbor, because, well regardless of what you do, they're still next door.
Josie, do you know what your local ordinances regarding the keeping of dogs are? For example, here in Escambia County Florida, the requirements are:
It is unlawful for any animal under the age of 6 months to be tied, chained or tethered outdoors. Animals over 6 months of age can be tethered providing all of the requirements of the county ordinance regarding tethering are met.
It shall be unlawful for any owner or person in possession of an animal and who confines the animal outdoors on private property to tie, chain or otherwise tether an animal that is over the age of six months except when the following conditions are met:
The animal is in the visual range of the responsible party or the responsible party is located outdoors with the animal;
The tether shall:
- Be a minimum of 10 feet in length or at least five times the length of the animal
- Terminate at both ends with a swivel
- Not weigh more than 1/16 of the animal's weight
- Be fastened on one end to an overhead pulley/running line
The overhead pulley/running line shall:
- Be at least 15 feet in length
- Be no less than 5 feet above the ground
- Be secured on each end to a fixed location
- The tether must be fastened on one end to a properly fitting body harness or buckle-type collar made of nylon or leather.
- The tether shall be free from entanglement or other obstructions at all times.
- The animal shall have access to potable water, shelter and dry ground at all times.
- An animal shall not be tethered while sick, injured or in distress.
- An animal shall not be tethered outside during a period of extreme weather, including, but not limited to, tornadoes, tropical storms or hurricanes.
- Multiple animals must be tethered separately.
Personally, I would just call animal control and let them know what you found. My experience (but it may not be the same everywhere) is that they will not tell your neighbor who filed the complaint. If they are in violation, they should at least do the minimum to come into compliance. If that results in a fine or more, then they should have looked at the ordinances before taking on dog ownership. That's on them, not you.
BTW, if anyone is interested, here is the Facebook page we set up for our two pups (Charlotte Ann and Bella Donna) at
Sisterhood of the Traveling Curs. Charlotte is a
Black Mouth Cur and Bella is a Black Mouth Cur/American Bulldog mix (as best as we can tell, as she came from the Escambia County animal shelter with very little documentation - we saved her about a day before she was to be "sent off"). Charlotte is a rescue, also - we got her from the Alabama Rescue Foundation (at the "ARFanage"). Bella is a week away from her two month recovery from torn ACL surgery and will be able to run free off leash again. We luckily have enough property (0.6 acres), fully fenced, so there is plenty of room to run and play. They are crated at night (which they consider their sanctuary) and we keep the crates in the family room so during the day, the doors are open and there is always dog/human interaction, with lots of lap time and play time and bone chewing time and rope pulling time and, well, you get the idea. They get a 40-minute walk in the morning and again in the evening.
There is just no excuse for just leaving your dog out and unattended all the time. They are social animals, and so solitude is just going to make things worse.
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