Some advice..................way off topic!

memaw66

Okay, so I think someone is hurting my dogs. I have 5 dogs and they stay outside. I live on top of a big hill and the closest neighbors are about 1/2 block away. So anyway, about a month ago we come home from work and my little min pin's eye is all messed up. We just automatically assumed it was a dog fight. So we take her to the vet and he says he doesn't think it was a fight because there are no bite marks. He says "Blunt force trauma". So she loses the sight in her left eye. She is now living inside with me. Then 2 days ago I get home from work and my male Italian Greyhound has this HUGE (3 inches long, 1 in wide and deep enough for my entire finger) gash on his shoulder right below his neck. Again, I assume dog fight or something. So I take him to the vet. Well, $450 dollars later, the vet says he doesn't think it was a fight at all due to the angle of the wound and the fact that there are no other bite marks on him. Also his collar is missing. I thought maybe he got caught under the fence and either broke his collar or it got chewed up. Well, I went back out and walked around the yard. None of the fence is damaged and I found his collar-UNCHEWED, NOT BROKEN. It was just removed, actually opened. It is too tight to just slip over his head and there is no way he could have taken it off. And 2 of my cats are now missing. Any suggestions????????????????? We work all day so they are there by themselves all day. I don't know what to do. I hate the thought of someone hurting my animals. I can't leave 5 dogs in the house all day!!! I don't have a garage. What should I do to protect them?
Memaw

memaw66

Okay, so I think someone is hurting my dogs. I have 5 dogs and they stay outside. I live on top of a big hill and the closest neighbors are about 1/2 block away. So anyway, about a month ago we come home from work and my little min pin's eye is all messed up. We just automatically assumed it was a dog fight. So we take her to the vet and he says he doesn't think it was a fight because there are no bite marks. He says "Blunt force trauma". So she loses the sight in her left eye. She is now living inside with me. Then 2 days ago I get home from work and my male Italian Greyhound has this HUGE (3 inches long, 1 in wide and deep enough for my entire finger) gash on his shoulder right below his neck. Again, I assume dog fight or something. So I take him to the vet. Well, $450 dollars later, the vet says he doesn't think it was a fight at all due to the angle of the wound and the fact that there are no other bite marks on him. Also his collar is missing. I thought maybe he got caught under the fence and either broke his collar or it got chewed up. Well, I went back out and walked around the yard. None of the fence is damaged and I found his collar-UNCHEWED, NOT BROKEN. It was just removed, actually opened. It is too tight to just slip over his head and there is no way he could have taken it off. And 2 of my cats are now missing. Any suggestions????????????????? We work all day so they are there by themselves all day. I don't know what to do. I hate the thought of someone hurting my animals. I can't leave 5 dogs in the house all day!!! I don't have a garage. What should I do to protect them?
Memaw

mkeithley

It might be some mean kids/teenagers. You may have no choice but to crate them inside during the day or install an expensive security monitoring system. Or stake out your own house and try to catch them in the act. I would let all of the neighbors in a the area know of the situation for 2 reasons 1-to protect their animals and 2-if they are the ones responsible or know who is it might encourage them to knock it off. Maybe call the local PETA or Humane Society chapter and ask them fo ideas too. Mean people SUCK!!!

shorerider

Former animal control officer here and my advice--find some way to keep them inside. Anytime you leave your dogs outside and you're not there to watch over them, you're asking for trouble of some sort. Either them getting loose, having fights among themselves, or someone hurting them. It sounds like if someone is hurting them that the violence is escalating and you are risking having someone seriously injuring or even killing one of them.

Find someway to get them indoors. Even a fence is not protection against someone who is determined to do harm to your dogs.

FatDancer

Set up a surveillance camera and notify the animal control...animal abuse is illegal...so sorry you and your animals are going through this and I pray for resolution.

Before I retired I had a situation where there was a homeless male that used to come hang out with my dog when I was at work...I had to put a bark colar on my dog before I left for the day, my dog is a very agressive guard dog and I didn't want him to hurt anyone when I wasn't at home...he's off duty when I'm not at home...I would rather be robbed than have anyone injure or kill my Sam...anyway, the guy was harmless thankfully, but it still scared me when I came home and found that he had taken off his colar again...my boyfriend finally caught him and I haven't had a problem since.

Hope you have a resolution soon...I'm very concerned for you and I hope you'll keep me posted.

My Granddaughter calls me Memaw too...

neverbeenskinny

I would definitely report this to the police, just so it's in the records, in case you catch this S. o. B. then there would be record of prior incidences. Then I would set up a couple of camera around your property so you can see, webcams aren't too expensive, and you can keep an eye on the place.

I've had a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy killed by someone once, and they left a message that I shouldn't have brought a Pitbull into the neighborhood. They didn't even bother to do their research to find out if it was a Pitbull, and didn't bother to talk to me about it first. And even if it was a Pitbull, you just don't do that. The poor thing was only 8 months old and was the sweetest puppy. I never felt so much like killing someone before, but didn't know which neighbor it was. It was years ago and I lived in a different place. And now I have 2 wonderful dogs, but it was years before I could get myself to get another pet.

Good luck...do everything you can to protect your pets and find out who's doing this.

yoginimary

I've volunteered at a local spca for over 10 years - in all capacities, so I've dealt with this issue before. First off, most the time the local spca is privately run and has no authority over criminal acts. These must be reported to animal control (the animal police :happy: ). Go ahead and file a report. Really, the only thing you can do is keep them inside. Also make sure all your animals are microchipped - if any animal is stolen, it will prove your ownership. Knowing where you live, the cats could have been attacked by coyotes. This is very common in Texas, especially among cats that are not afraid of "dogs".
I agree with mkeithley, to tell all your neighbors - maybe there is something going on in the neighborhood.

For me, a little accident in the house is worth piece of mind.

jenbar

You have to keep them inside. If you don't have crates, just prop a gate or something in a doorway and keep them maintained in one room. Maybe you can have a neighbor come by during the day to let them out for a bathroom break. It's cheaper than the vet bills!
So sorry to hear about their boo boos! Dog and cat lover here too!

lilmandy89

Try to teach your dogs to bark at strangers if you can, then maybe they will be to scared to hurt them. Also they may think if someones home if the dogs start barking it would alert the people in the house so then they may just leave them alone.

lilmandy89

I just looked at your pictures, i wouldn't be going near your yard, 5 dogs, and that doberman look pretty big.

fatsis

Add a pitbull to your collection of animals. Seriously file a police report they may know of someone in the area that could be the culprit. The site of police car my scare them too.

I hope you catch the person or persons and sentenced them to Michael Vicks house with meat shorts.
:explode: :explode: :explode:

rethun01

My step mother in law is a Pet Nanny and she helps in situations like this alot. People mostly hire her to attend to their animals while they go on vacation, but she has a few households where it is her job to go and spend time with the animals every day to keep people from coming on the property and hurting them. She rotates the time she goes so that it is unpredictable.

From living in an affluent community where the spoiled kids feel there are no consequences for their actions, this sounds like it might be cruel kids. They think its funny to exert power over another being.

I hope you catch whomever it is a prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. No one has a right to hurt animals. I mean, I hate birds but that doesn't mean I'm going to go out and abuse them. Let alone hurt someone's pet!

lilmandy89

My step mother in law is a Pet Nanny and she helps in situations like this alot. People mostly hire her to attend to their animals while they go on vacation, but she has a few households where it is her job to go and spend time with the animals every day to keep people from coming on the property and hurting them. She rotates the time she goes so that it is unpredictable.

From living in an affluent community where the spoiled kids feel there are no consequences for their actions, this sounds like it might be cruel kids. They think its funny to exert power over another being.

I hope you catch whomever it is a prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. No one has a right to hurt animals. I mean, I hate birds but that doesn't mean I'm going to go out and abuse them. Let alone hurt someone's pet!

That would be such a fun job, i love animals!!:bigsmile:

DBranchaud

It makes me soo sad when I hear about things like this. So sad when I think that people like that exist in this world.:brokenheart:

I have little dogs and my family doesn't let them outside when we are gone. One time we did that and some young kids let the out ( "we're sorry. we just wanted to see the puppies") and Mugsy and Puppet turned up three blocks over. When my boys get loose, THEY GET LOOSE!! Another time my next door neighbour bought a Shiz tsu puppy (Winnie) and Mugsy broke into thier yard to play.


I think the idea of putting them in a room with a baby gate is good, unless you have a dog that can easily jump that. Maybe one on top of the other? Or keep them in a closed room? A basement maybe?

Life_is_Good

That makes me sooo mad!!! Sounds like somebody's shooting at them. I would definately keep them inside. We only have one dog & he has free roam of the house when we're not home (I don't think I would do that with more than one).

How about sectioning off an area in your basement for the dogs? Maybe your laundry room. Anything.

GTOgirl1969

I agree with the poster who said to install a surveillance camera. Videotape doesn't lie, and when you catch the *kitten* who's hurting your animals, kick their butt up around their shoulders!!!

People hurting kids and animals...wtf is this world coming to??

fynendandi1

I am so sorry to hear what is going on. I agree to make a police report, that is not going to stop this but at least it is documented. ANd then bringing them inside is the only answer right now. You know ....when i left my husband i had to leave my dog with him until I could get on my feet. He got out of my husband house and got hit by a car witnesses, told the police that a man actually swerved to delibrately hit him. My bough was my best buddy through my very emotional marriage. And to this day 2 years later I still cry over him, in my eyes he was murdered. Please protect your dogs the best you possibly can. People are so cruel I will never understand what has come of the human race.

Manda86

some people are so mean- when I was younger I had a dalmation/blue heeler mix (made for a VERY high energy dog) named Gloria, and some sick freak I went to school with let my dog out of the fenced yard, shot her, and dumped her body in the dumpster behind my house. It's sad that there are people out there that hurt innocent creatures for no reason, but I wish I would've had surveillance up, so at least we could've prosecuted that little *kitten* to the fullest extent of the law

greekgyrl02

I would kill someone if they hurt my dog! Keep them inside if you can set up a camera for a few days and see if anyone comes by just looking in or something. If they are doing this its only going to get worse ppl are sick. Are there any wild animals around that area that couldve gotten in?

mjfer123

Just agreeing with everyone that a surveillance camera should be set up. Most stores/gas stations have pretty cheap models that reset every 24 hours.

shorerider

The law is all but useless in most animal cruelty cases, as most states have very light to non-existent laws on the books. And, even then, if you catch the people doing it, the judges usually give them a slap on the wrist and that's it. I persecuted many people for cruelty and saw my fellow officers do the same when I was an ACO--some were horrible cases--and no one ever went to jail and very few even got more than a $100 or $200 fine.

Best bet is still to keep your animals--dogs and cats--inside where they're safe. Dogs are pack animals anyway and want to be with their pack, which is us, their human owners.