kcoltman
January 29th, 2011, 01:49 PM
My friend has a 6 year old, medium sized dog she got from the SPCA about 2 years ago. She works full-time and has a busy social life so she rarely spends any time at home. While she is away from home, the dog is locked up in her kennel (one of those travel cages). She spends an average of 16 hours (sometimes as many as 22 or 23) locked up a day (including over night). She is rarely walked - no more than 2 times time a week when the weather is nice and once every 2-3 weeks (if she's lucky) in the winter. She is let out to the back yard 1-2 times a day (for about 2 minutes each time). When my friend is home, the dog is allowed to wander around the house or around my friend's bedroom and sometimes they play with a toy.
She is fed once a day (this past month, my friend started buying adult dog food rather than puppy food for her) but the time varies based on when my friend is home from work - normal is in the evening but somedays it's early afternoon while other days it's not until late at night.
She's quite a nervous dog. We think she abused/neglected before going to the SPCA. She is skittish around new people and if someone she doesn't know well tries to put her in her kennel or even let her outside she sometimes pees on the floor. She has had some health problems (an eye infection, an ear infection and a rash on her belly) and has been treated (eventually) in all cases.
I don't think this is a severe case of neglect, but I don't think it's fair to the dog.
What should I do?
She is fed once a day (this past month, my friend started buying adult dog food rather than puppy food for her) but the time varies based on when my friend is home from work - normal is in the evening but somedays it's early afternoon while other days it's not until late at night.
She's quite a nervous dog. We think she abused/neglected before going to the SPCA. She is skittish around new people and if someone she doesn't know well tries to put her in her kennel or even let her outside she sometimes pees on the floor. She has had some health problems (an eye infection, an ear infection and a rash on her belly) and has been treated (eventually) in all cases.
I don't think this is a severe case of neglect, but I don't think it's fair to the dog.
What should I do?