My neighbor (directly next door; we share a fence) has decided to have the ears of a FULL GROWN doberman pinscher cropped. (As far as I can tell, the tail has already been cropped, I have no idea what age...not that that matters really.) This poor dog is clearly in misery. It has its ears taped up and splinted to create the pointy ear thing. The dog is outside most of the day until probably 10 pm or so and has stood out there and barked straight through, all day and night, for more than a week now. My neighbor is kind of nutty, he's a prof at the university now, but was a dog trainer in the marines for 20 years or some other bullshit that makes him feel like he's an expert on dog's behavior and welfare. We already have a tenuous relationship with him, but its becoming increasingly harder for me not to call animal control (we have no "animal welfare" group anywhere around here). I know full well that the animal control people won't do anything other than make sure the dog has water and is not tied up (that's illegal here). But the idea of that dog just suffering and suffering is killing me! My dogs both go outside and make a wide berth of that side of the yard. My younger dog seems baffled and mostly just sits and stares at this poor disfigured dog...

Ok, mostly this was a rant, but what do you think?

I looked it up and the American vet association and a few others don't condone this practice and as far as I can tell the only US organization that still accepts and encourages it is the AKA. Its illegal in most other countries. I am so ed and saddened I just don't know what to do.

Unfortunatly, as long as the dog has food and water and is not being beaten, there is nothing that you can do. I'm not sure if you have a noise "restriction" in your area. If you do, you may be able to call the police at which point they will give him a warning.

Not sure if that would do any good though....by the sounds of the guy he's an ass who ,instead of letting the dog in, would put a shock collar on the dog and still leave it outside.

Between the ears and leaving the dog outside, IMO it is animal cruelty. Unfortunalty the law does not see it that way:(

Does it have a house in which to go when it's as cold as it's been lately, even in your area, lefty? Most of the time, if these types of stupid things are done to a dog, they're done when they're puppies. My dog, the stray that showed up here about a year ago, has a bobbed tail. The vet said it had been bobbed when she was very young.

IF the owner isn't providing food, water, and shelter, you might have a case for PETA or at least your local humane society.

There is no shelter for the poor thing. I stood about 50' from the fence and tried to talk soothingly to her (I have girl dogs so I just assume its a girl, I have no clue really) to help her calm down, but she was terrified and just got really close to the house and continued to bark like her life depended on it. Me, my husband and son are distraught over this. We've spent a large portion of the day talking about it and trying to figure out what to do for the poor, poor dog. The humane society here isn't so much on the humane side and more just an extension of the animal control department. I've never had positive dealings with them, though I have reluctantly had them come get a few dogs that have wandered up. Now, I take the dogs (and other random animals) that come to me for help to a "rescue" vet outside of town. Mostly its just a really nice guy that will take and keep all the animals he has room for so they won't die. I wish like hell the dog would "get out" of the fence, so I could pretend it was a stray and take her up to that vet.

Its just sooooo sad. It breaks my heart to see that dog suffer like this.

Call up that vet, explain the situation to her/him and ask them if they have any advice.

Do you have noise control ordinances you could appeal to? I think Crimson had some good advice, lefty.

Here's a bit more from me:

There's got to be other animal lovers in your immediate area who you could contact and see if you can present a united front. You could go as a group to your local law enforcement and demand that something be done. Find out who volunteers at the local animal shelter. Check to see who the board members are. Your vet might be able to give you that information. You can't be the only one hearing this poor animal barking.

Have you thought about simply calling the cruel owner and expressing your feelings and concerns?

I've tried to talk to the neighbor and he's pretty much of the idea that I'm a bleeding heart and it doesn't hurt the dog at all (in the long run). I actually BEGGED him not to do it before he did it. He really doesn't give a shit. I've wondered about others who have to have noticed the dog barking incessantly. We live on a cul-de-sac and he's the last house, so aside from me no one else is really actually seeing why the dog is barking. They just hear her barking through the woods that surround the neighborhood.

The noise ordinance for general noise and its only in effect from 10pm to 6am. Cleverly, the ass takes his dog in about that time every night.

Thats a big problem in my view. Noise pollution can be very irritating. My neighborhood has recently become bombarded with the drone of low flying airplanes and helicopters. Plus my neighbor is pretty noisy. He turns on his Jeep several times/day and lets it "warm up." The mufflers are a tad loud.

What do you know, there is an airplane droning overhead right now. I was jumping up and taking pictures but that grew old.

I don't object to airplanes but why do they have to fly so low?

I recommend letting him know of the grievance before going to authorities. Some people don't realize that others may be bothered by excessive barking.

Well, it seems there's not much that can be done, UNLESS you call the vet you mentioned and let him know what's going on...ask his advice and see what happens. Good luck...and if you get the chance, steal the dog.

On the surface, it sure sounds like cruelty to clip the tips of those beautiful ears for owner vanity.

Don't some owners chop some of the tails of their dogs?

The thing I think is sort of cruel are these people who tie up their dog and make it run while the owner rides their bike. I can't imagine a dog liking that much activity without a break.

LEFTY....how about an update on the dog that started this thread? I sure hope there's a happy ending.

Actually, the ending is just an ending. He's still with the guy who allowed this to happen (who did it, basically) and they've moved to Idaho. So, I can suppose that the dog's not in pain any longer, that's all I can guess though.

No one seemed to even give it a notice besides me and my family. Animal torture is prevalent around these parts. Its cool to have big dogs and cut their ears and tails off. No one even notices the animal's pain.

Well, we can only hope that the poor dog doesn't have to suffer any more pain such as what it was going through when it lived near you, lefty...although I think that's being naive to the nth degree. However, we cannot live without hope..for ourselves and for our animal friends. Thanks for the update, lefty. And thanks for caring...

Another BLOOD RED state is Wyoming, which probably has as many Repub Rednecks as Utah and Idaho. Out there one doesn't hear very many greetings such as "Hello, how are you today?" Instead, you'll hear much more frequently, "Did you get your elk?"

Do you know what appalling practice the newspaper has here? They put photos of people with their "first kills" in color photographs on the society page. Usually these are children holding the head of their dead deer in their hands. It is so upsetting to me. I always hide it before my son can see it.