My next door neighbor is such a loser. She has this cute little 6 month old chi puppy and she is so irresponsible. She just opens the door and lets him out in the front yard unsupervised. He spends more time in my yard and even though I have to pick up his poo, I forgive him because he's a baby and nobody trains him not to do it. I don't even really like this type of dog, but I love all animals and I feel so sorry for him. I just moved here so it's not like she's going to listen to me. But we have these big huge back yards (mine is fenced and my dog, Max never goes out front) and yet she puts Simba out the front door. I work at home and I see way too much of this poor pup. I'm getting attached to him and just now I ran into the street to get him out of traffic. It's not a really busy street but in the morning everybody is going to work. When she heard me yelling to the drivers that stopped saying he wasn't mine, she came out in her nightgown (which she will still be wearing by midafternoon) to "help". He's so little that I am not even sure the cars would have seen him in time if I didn't run out in the street like a madwoman. If I call the dog warden, she's going to know it was me. And they can't do anything unless he is in the street when they come anyway. He doesn't have a license but I don't think they need to until they are a year old anyway. I don't know what to do except stop getting involved and stop being friendly so it won't break my heart when something bad happens.

Ooohhh sticky situation. Maybe you should call anyways,even if the woman find out. Its best for the puppy,and she's being very neglectful.I'm sorry thats the best I can come up with.

I had a similar situation with a neighbors lab puppy. Keep in mind, my closest neighbor is a mile away... the first time I found him out wandering he was 4 miles from home on a major highway. She'd called everyone in the area letting us know he was loose and that he had an orange collar on. I picked him up, took him home (which of course meant I was really late for the appointment I was going to) and she thanked me.

Over the next 2 months that dog ended up in my yard at least 3 times a week. He figured out I had girls that came in season and thought he'd consider it his permanent vacation spot. It wasn't a problem at first as I just put him in the run my Dad uses for his Australian Shepherd. But when I was getting woken up at 5 AM on Saturdays to this dog wanting in my house I started getting annoyed. I'd call and say he was at my house and it would sometimes be 12 hours before they'd come pick him up. This is the middle of January in South Dakota - so I then started having to put him in a crate in our heated shed if it was too cold for him to stay outside...

This is an 8 month old lab... I finally had "The neuter talk" with her after about 6 weeks of this and explained he'd be less apt to run off if he wasn't intact. I also discovered at this time that they DID have an outdoor kennel for him - and were kenneling him whenever they left. He was scaling the 6 foot fence and coming down to my house and she didn't know what to do (I suggested a roof to the kennel, or a crate). SOMEHOW this discussion turned towards vaccinations...

The only shot that poor puppy had been given was the one his breeder gave him at 6 weeks... I about died. He'd never seen the vet. They hadn't neutered him because he was "papered" and they had thought about getting a female and breeding them... AHHH... I convinced her to take him to the vet, get his shots, and get him neutered.

This was a LONG process and I about went nuts. I HAD to be nice, as she worked for a client of mine (My "bill paying job" is as a bookkeeper). FINALLY, 2 months later he ended up at my house, neutered, with tags, including a rabies tag... I called, she admitted her 4 year old let him out and that they had but a roof on his kennel, gotten him a crate, neutered him, vaccinated him, switched him to a better food... and thanked me for all my help. But good grief...

Some people have really low standards of pet care. It irks me too - especially when you work so hard to take good care of YOUR dogs. It's not that they are bad people - they just view their dogs as disposable property items.

Bless your heart - but I don't know if there is a good answer... you either keep sticking your neck out (and I'm SURE your neighbor is now expecting that YOU will take care of her dog's safety), or you probably find a dead dog in the middle of the road... Grrr....

Well folks my dilemma is over. I think he just got nailed by a lady in a Hummer. A bunch of cars were stopping and like an idiot I went and looked out to see what was going on. She had him by the side of the road looking for his owner. He was alive but I'm not sure how badly hurt because by the time I got out they took him inside. So now I have about 5 new people to blame when I call animal control tomorrow because that's how many cars were stopped. I'm sorry that's what had to happen to make me do it though.

MaxandAllie - I hope the puppy is ok and sorry you had to see that happen.
Next thing you know, the neighbor will be writing a letter to the editor of the paper, about people in Hummers speeding down you street, mowing down little girl's pets.
We have had two such letter in our paper recently. One even posted her own speed limit signs, with pictures, alongside of the road where her pup was hit. It takes a lot of willpower on my part to not point out that any vechicle going the posted speed limit of 35 mph will still flatten a 3 month old Cairn Terrier like a pancake, if said terrier is in the road. Some people will just not take responsibility for their own actions. You can not convince them.

double post. sorry

That poor puppy; he didn't deserve such a neglectful owner. Are you sure you don't live in my neighborhood? Last night I went to water my container garden and the neighbors two chis were marking all over. This is a regular occurance, she lets them out the front door and comes back in five or ten minutes to let them in. One day the larger one jumped in my car, I had my Maltese and my mom's Schnauzer with me and didn't notice the extra pup until I was two blocks away. Many times I have picked one of them up and knocked on her door to let her know her dog was in my yard. Her response is always, "He wouldn't come back when I called him." The woman is disabled, but not so much that she can't stay out with her dogs for five minutes, preferably on a leash. She could always try puppy pads or litter boxes. She won't put them in the back yard b/c that where hubby's two wild Labs (that he just had to have, but never trained) are 24/7.

Update: I guess the chi puppy is fine. It seems like maybe he just managed to stop traffic and what I saw was just a bunch of people trying to get him out of the road. Maybe the extra cars that stopped also thought he had been hit? I hadn't seen him since that day so I was sure he was gone but I guess she just stopped letting him out front for a few days. When I got home today he came over to see me because I am the only one who shows him any affection and talks nicely to him. Since he came to the side of my house the neighbor can't see, I picked him up and felt for injuries and he seemed fine. So I took him over and planted him on her front step telling him loudly that "This is where you belong baby, so you don't get hurt" All she did was wait until I walked away and open the door to let him in. Unfortunately, the dog warden can't do anything unless she sees him actually off the property with no leash. So I guess I'm going to have to stick with being his protector. I want to just ask her if she hates him or something. I don't need another dog but I'd rather take him than scrape him off the road.

If it was up to me I would not return him to thst stupid lazy bit** that he has been living with. I would find someone who would love and take good care of him and deliver him to his new home. If the owner ever showed up asking for him I would just shake my head sadly and say maybe someone saw him wandering in the road and picked him up because they thought he wasn't wanted.

yep, I agree. Dognapp him and act dumb when she comes asking.

Maybe you could get the other neighbors to sign statements or a petition. Sometimes the authorities won't do anything until most of the work is handed to them. I like the picture idea too.