How do I tell a neighbor to put a collar on her dog?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Recently my dog (who gets loose frequently!) made friends with a little poodle who lives five houses down the street. I’ve started inviting the little guy to come down and play with my Lucy, a black Lab mix, to give her some exercise 'cuz I’m lazy and she loves it! The little poodle is very energetic and loves to wrestle with her. Yes, I have fed him if he is there for meal times. I have to be polite, don’t ya know.

Anyway, I feel guilty for letting him in the house to play, but he is out all hours of the night and day! One night we came home at 11:00 pm and he came running up, so glad to see us. Last night I put him out of our house at 9:00 pm, and he started barking at some neighbors, so I decided to talk to his owner about him. (He was in my house from 7-9 pm.) I did see a food bowl, and an empty water dish. And he has been groomed recently. I gave him a bath one day though, because he was stinky, and I also cut off a dingleberry mat on his butt. (He wasn’t happy about that!)

She is Latino, and doesn’t speak English very well at all. :eek: It makes it hard for me to tell her what is going on, and that she shouldn’t let Chicky (I did find out his name) run loose in the neighborhood without a collar and tags. At least mine has tags, and I go looking for her immediately when she sneaks out.

What should I do? I would adopt him, but how do you broach the subject like that? I don;t want to call animal services on her, 'cuz he’s a sweet little guy, and I would take him. But she seems to care about him - verbally at least.

I don’t know what to do.

2

[QUOTE=Dolores Reborn]
Recently my dog (who gets loose frequently!) made friends with a little poodle who lives five houses down the street. I’ve started inviting the little guy to come down and play with my Lucy, a black Lab mix, to give her some exercise 'cuz I’m lazy and she loves it! The little poodle is very energetic and loves to wrestle with her. Yes, I have fed him if he is there for meal times. I have to be polite, don’t ya know.

Anyway, I feel guilty for letting him in the house to play, but he is out all hours of the night and day! One night we came home at 11:00 pm and he came running up, so glad to see us. Last night I put him out of our house at 9:00 pm, and he started barking at some neighbors, so I decided to talk to his owner about him. (He was in my house from 7-9 pm.) I did see a food bowl, and an empty water dish. And he has been groomed recently. I gave him a bath one day though, because he was stinky, and I also cut off a dingleberry mat on his butt. (He wasn’t happy about that!)

She is Latino, and doesn’t speak English very well at all. :eek: It makes it hard for me to tell her what is going on, and that she shouldn’t let Chicky (I did find out his name) run loose in the neighborhood without a collar and tags. At least mine has tags, and I go looking for her immediately when she sneaks out.

What should I do? I would adopt him, but how do you broach the subject like that? I don;t want to call animal services on her, 'cuz he’s a sweet little guy, and I would take him. But she seems to care about him - verbally at least.

I don’t know what to do.
[/QUOTE]

It’s gonna be hard to discuss it with her if there’s a language barrier, but I don’t think there’s anything to say other than to state the law regarding rabies shots, etc., and that you get tags that the dog should wear.

Sounds like she doesn’t care about the law or she’d be doing it. I think the only thing that would make an impression is a cop showing up on her doorstep outlining the procedure in no uncertain terms (i.e., a ticket and fine). I’d drop a dime on her. She won’t lose the dog; they’ll just ask her to comply.

3

Not to get all preachy or anything and I know your heart was in the right place:

Be REAL careful about feeding other peoples dogs. Some dog owners have a very strict diet for their loved ones and prefer it NOT to be messed with.

Myself, I wouldn’t give a damn if you fed my dog (assuming it wasn’t rat poison) but, OH BOY!! If you fed my Mom’s dog there would be hell to pay.

To be fair to the lady; there’s a good chance she doesn’t know about any such laws. Just call your local humane society and have them send her some info (in Spanish) about the details of such laws. (Or have them send it to you and YOU give her the info.)

4

ISTM, and probably seemed to the OP, that if the owner was so particular about her little doggy’s diet, that she wouldn’t let the dog roam free. Dogs who roam free are prone to eat all kinds of things, actual dog food from another dog owner would be the least of her worries.

I second calling animal control and asking them if they have any information on the laws, written in Spanish, that you could pass along.

5

Thanks, I think I will do that!