Animal Abuse

I love coming on these forums because I can get some outside opinions to clarily my situation!! Your all so smart and caring. I would like to know how any of you would of handled this...

My boyfriend, who is like my husband and WILL be my husband as soon as we make enough money, has a kind and loving father, who I care for and LOVE. Thing is he had this jack russel terriar and apparently she got alittle rebellious as she grew. They decided to keep her outside because they couldn't or wouldn't potty train her. She wasn't kept in a fensed yard but on an outside 6 ft by 6 ft patio with one other dog. Problem with that is they would shit and shit in their own sleeping areas becuase they had nowhere else too. They would clean up once a day but those dogs shat so fuckin much it was always filthy out there. He would not walk them because according to his wife, Pumpkin the jack russel terriar, would fight with other dogs. These are small dogs and when we would visit we walked them everyday and did not have a problem with them (and if we did, they're soooo small I'd just pick the damn dog up by it's nape and carry it off). So that was their lives, in this enclosure area that they would shit in day in and day out.

So news came in today that Pumpkin died, and she was less than 2 years old. My fiance/boyfriend says his father doesn't know why she died but I can take a pretty good guess, living in her own shit. We even believed before her death that the dogs were being abused (in the way stated above and no other) and now that one has died I am seriously thinking I did wrong not to stop it. My boyfriend had told him repeatedly he should take better care of the dogs, but his father did not take his advice, out of pure laziness, not cruel intentions.

So in my mind even though I love my future father in law I think he and his wife killed her. The other dog has moved inside and I don't know her condition. Part of me feels like I should of contacted authorities about the dogs, and if I did Pumpkin would probably still be alive. But most of me feels I would of been hurtin my family and going behind their backs. I didn't say more because the pesca-vegetarian thing to them is already enough and I didn't want to come in as a guest and constantly jugde them on their bad habits... and in my mind they have alot!! Eating and feeding their kids nothing but junk/processed foods, drinking and driving, etc. etc.

What would you guys of done? If I had saved that dog I'd feel like a hero right now, but at the same time I might of fucked up relations with my spouces family that would of probably of hurt him and maybe even us as a couple. It's important to him I'm close to his family as his family is very close. I feel bad for Pumpkin but not surprised. I don't think I did enough to stop it.

 

That's a real sticky situation. I wouldn't beat yourself up about the situation. Pumkin is gone now and there is no bringing her back, but the other dog is still alive. You did mention the dog has moved inside, and hopefully they admitted there needed to be change.
I defintely concur that keeping 2 dogs, regardless of their size, in a 6X6 area is inhumane and adding that there was feces everywhere just adds to the inhumane treatment these people put their dogs through.

With that said, it doesn't sound like these people were or are melicious. I do believe they need to be educated and talked with. Now I'm kinda familiar with Jack Russels and I know they are insanely smart but their temperment is also insanely active. I would most defintely have your bf, if he feels the same way you do, talk to his parents about the situation. Also, I'm sure it wouldn't be very difficult to adopt out a JR, and that should be noted too if they are not willing to change their ways.

If they don't improve the conditions from the 2nd dog and things are hostile, I would defintely report them. Although I must admit, I'm not sure how much they will be willing to intervene. Many times if the animals aren't starving or show physical abuse, they don't regard such treatment as necessary for removal or any punishment. Even sometimes when it is extreme abuse, authorities do little. It's a really sucky situation.

 

I mean how many dogs drop dead after a year and a half of showing healthy signs? Maybe it could of been something else, but I don't think so. I told my BF straight up, though I love his dad and have a close relationship, I think it's murder if you take on a pet or a child even and do not properly care for it and they die as a result. It wasn't out of sprite, but out of... I don't know, being uneducated?

I want to tell them. But here I am a pesco-vegetarian (they're meat eaters and really unhealthy ones at that...) and I just feel so judgemental around them because I disagree with how they conduct themselves apart from their obvious love towards us. I don't want to be the stuck up bitch girlfriend who thinks she's better than anyone else, so I keep quiet. It's just an excuse though. Even though I feel it's more my BF's places to say something, and he does, it's hard for me too. I guess I should just get over that? but I don't want to hurt our relations...

 

As soon as you seen the conditions the dogs were living in, you should of reported them .
Those people should not be allowed to keep pets,you no your self that poor dog died because of there neglect .
How could you be close to some one like that ? if was me i would have to say some thing to them.
You should think about what that dog went through every day, and then ask yourself should you let it go.
you can tell a hell of a lot about some one, when you see how they look after there pets.
As you can probably gather i am an animal lover, and people like them make me sick.

 

thats pretty judgmental of you, dusk. didnt you read her post properly? she feels like crap because the poor thing died and she wants to help the other one. but ones human family is put before their animal family. i say that as a lifelong animal lover involved in rescue.
crystal, if your boyfriend cant do anything about it, you should see if you can call your local spca (or better yet, a smaller, no-kill shelter thats more likely to actually do something about the situation) anonomosly. hopefully someone can come by and speak to you parents in law or tell you what you should do. please try to do everything possible for the little dog. try this site for animal shelters-

HTML:

http://www.netpets.org/horses/horsresc/virginia.htm

 

thats horrible. don't feel bad though we all make mistakes. but if they do it again report them. its the right thing to do because what they are doing is wrong and its abuse and theres NO excuse for it. ask them to give the dog away to give the other dog a chance to live a happy and enjoyable life with a family who would care for him/her.

 

Yes i did read it properly, i can see she loves animals, and is upset by this.
I could also see that she was thinking about saying nothing to them cruel people, because she dose not want to upset things.
I was trying to make her see that saying nothing, is not the right thing to do.
What they did to that dog, should tell her every thing she needs to no about what sort of people they really are, so you tell me, could you be close to someone you no -mistreated animals in that way ,family or not.
when i said people like that make me sick , i was referring to her bf parents, and not her.

 

If I decided my in-laws were horrible people and to not have anything to do with them, where would that leave my soon to be husband and me? In a shitty situation with a broken family base. What will we tell our children? The family unit is very important. Just as much so as the dog.

If I see anymore abuse I will report it annoyomously. I don't think I could even tell my boyfriend about it, and I tell him everything, and that makes me feel bad. It's a shitty situation from any perspective.

 

It isn't his or my dog. It is his parents who live in another state than we do.

He did tell them many times they should walk the dog, let it in, potty train her or get her a fence, etc. etc. We walked the dog EVERYDAY when we were in town, and cleaned up it's feces. I thought I made that clear. Maybe I didn't but it is not our fault they abused that animal.

I never personally got on his dad about it, but I did push my boyfriend to constantly while we were in town (since I saw it as more his place than mine) and he did. The dog unfortunately died, and I feel like shit about it. The only other thing I could of done was called animal services or talked to them myselves. I did not feel comfortable talking to them because I look down on alot of things they do and I dont' want to feel like a bitch b/c there is alot I would want to say once I started in. A reason, not an excuse.

 

p.s. we are a unified force. and if we lived with or even near his dad we would of taken care of that dog ourselves. Kind of hard when you live in Northern Virginia and they live in South Carolina, which is an 8 hour drive.

 

even if granny and granddadddy arn't the best people, I want our children to know them. They never undermined us b/c it's not our dog. You can't hate people for not being perfect. There's alot we all need to learn and I'm not cutting ties over this.