Let the fucking dog in already, forchrissakes! Or, don’t get a new fucking dog if you’re not going to be home to care for it, you fucking jackass! Nobody wants to hear a dog whining all goddamn day!
Do you have a camcorder? maybe this is “actionable” , BTW IANAL
Unfortunately, I don’t, or I’d consider it. Poor dog. I hate people who get dogs and treat them like cute accessories and not living critters.
This makes me crazy.
The dog will not be socialized or trained, they’ll blame the dog, and continue to leave the dog outside, perpetuating the problem.
I was faced with a similar sitch last year, and I actually did approach my neighbor, gently, and they did end up giving the dog up.
Good luck.
Some people do this with cats, too. I’ve “adopted” a few cats because their original owners won’t bring them in on cold nights.
There is Reggie, a white kitten who was acquired by the divorced mom next door so her kids could have something to tortur—errr—play with on the weekends. When the kids weren’t there, the kitten never got to go inside. And it was cold. (Yes, it gets cold, even in S. California.) I don’t think she even left food or water out for him—I think she thought he was an animal, so he could “fend for himself” naturally. I returned Reggie to her once, and she seemed happy to see him, but the next day he was outside again.
So, we started taking him in . A lot. The neighbor mom never seemed to notice, or to mind. Eventually her kids wanted to know where the kitten was when they came over for the weekend, but too damned bad. It was too late. By that time, he was our kitty.
And there’s also Missy, another kitten who was left outside in a very cold Hooterville winter. For a while we’d see her wander around in the horrible cold, but we knew she belonged to the neighbors. One day, it was SO COLD that she was HOPPING on the pavement, because the cold ground hurt her little foot paddies so much. That was it. We snapped. In she came. Now she is our cat. The owners never came looking for her. Had the neighbors looked for her, we’d have told them that we only have our own cats, no one else’s. Anyone who will do that to a kitten doesn’t really own the kitten, after all.
Is there a humane society or even a dog pound you can call? They should be able to give you better advice than we can dish out here.
Of course, we can swear ‘n’ stuff better than they can.
Oh, I’m gonna stick with swearing for now. I’m kind of hoping it’s just a one day thing or something. If they make a hobby of it, I’d call and report it.
Another dog idiot that pisses me off is the people who “let their dog out” by shooing the dog out of their apartment to roam free in the complex. Then call him back in after a while. I mean, he’s a nice dog and everything, but we’re just off one of the busiest streets in the area…
And I know people do the same things to cats, but I like to think that one day those people are found with their throat missing, and an innocent-looking cat is nearby. Just my personal cat stereotype.
Another vote for calling the SPCA. They’ll evaluate the situation and take action if necessary. Good luck.
Someone across the street from my parents bought an adorable puppy. The next day, they were gone all day, so they put the puppy on a leash, and slammed the leash in the front door, with the puppy outside – no food or water.
Once people realized why the pitiful yipping wasn’t stopping (half the bloock could hear the poor thing) the SPCA was called. The puppy has not been left in that cruel state again.
I used to have neighbours who never let their dog off the chain. Ever. They never took it for a walk. They never played with it. It just hung on the chain.
It didn’t whine, it didn’t complain at all. Just sat and ate all day I guess (I couldn’t see it very clearly behind the hedge).
Then it died.
So they got another dog and treated it the same way.
We should’ve done something about it, but they were skinhead losers so we didn’t want to antagonise them. 
I’ll see if it happens tomorrow and maybe undertake a recon mission to figure out if the dog is just bored or actually in some kind of danger.
I would recommend avoiding the recon mission at any cost. If after doing so, you decided to call the SPCA, the owners would know who did it. Then who knows what might happen.
My suggestion is an anonymous call to your local SPCA. They will determine what the next course of action will be.