I have been second guessing myself on a decision I made last week. It took so long for me to finally say this is enough. I am so angry at myself for allowing this to go on as long as it did, but you have to be sure what your doing is the right thing.
Last week I finally contacted animal control about my neighbors dog. The owner does not live at home. I don't know where he goes but he disappears for days to weeks at a time. When I do see the owner, it is very quick. He walks into his apartment and right out. He owns this little white dog named Trip. This dog is so friendly. This dog stays in this apartment by himself, and never get out. No one comes to take care of him.
This has gone on for a very long time and for a while I was thinking that maybe the owner came in during the night. Then the dog started to get raggy. Then it was getting matted. Then this white dog looked like absolute filth. I was realizing that this dog was on his own. The dog might have looked horrible but he still looked like he had been eating. When I went to take the trash out the other day, Trip was in the window and through his fluffy matted fir, I saw that his stomach was in caved and finally said that's it. I can't take this anymore, this dog needs help.
After I contacted animal control my stomach was in knots. Anger at myself for allowing this to go on as long as it had. Thoughts of whether it was the right thing to do. Then all I could think about was being a caregiver and if you saw abuse or neglect you are a mandatory reporter and if you don't report you are just as guilty as the person doing the crime. So I have been feeling extremely guilty for not reporting this sooner.
Animal control responded to my e-mail Saturday. They came by and could see the dog was in very poor condition. They said they could somewhat see inside and see poop on the floor. They said they were leaving a 24hr notice and they would be back Sunday and to contact them if we saw him. Well Sunday came and went an no animal control. Monday came and went and still no animal control. By Tuesday I was so infuriated that I had finally taken action to contact animal control and for them to be dragging their feet. My mom ended up calling to see why they hadn't been out and the operator was surprised and contacted the officer and sent her out Tuesday afternoon. They talked to me again and I gave them the landlord's tele# and they left another 24hr notice stating they would be doing a walk through the next day.
Wednesday got here and animal control showed up and the landlord let the AC officer in. She came out with the dog. I was so thankful to see trip wagging his tail. As terrible as he looked, he still had his happy go lucky spunk. My landlord asked me if I had seen the inside and told me to go take a look. Half way down the side walk the smell to the apartment hit me like a ton of bricks. It was just beyond terrible. When I stepped onto the cement slab in front of the door the horror came into view. Never in my life had I seen such images, well except on TV. Every inch of carpet was covered in feces. The feces were covered in fuzz and even in some areas was growing white balls of fungus on top of it. There was garbage and old food covering the counter tops. The walls were covered in a yellow mold halfway up throughout the entire unit. The single love seat was torn to shreds and my only thought was that must have been was Trip was eating to survive.
After seeing the horror I was beyond the point of thankful for finally taken the initiative to contact AC. I am just angry now that I waited so long, knowing just how bad it really was. Also to find out the door had been unlocked so this entire time we could have just turned the dang nob and rescued the dog.
The dog went to the shelter to receive the care he has been desperately needing including a nice meal, fresh cold water, and bath and a CLEAN PLACE to lay down and sleep.
I know I made the right decision and when they finally get ahold of the owner I hope he pays for what he did to that poor dog.
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