Got An Rspca Question

[mirawee]

I've had a complaint made against me , RSPCA rocked up, laughed at the dogs laying around on the lounge, kennels were clean, water bowls clean and dogs with rugs on as it was winter.

What they did take exception to was my crates and said they could only be in there for an hour. They didn't push the issue any further. Sure I lock them up sometimes when I go out and some of them sleep in there at night, but given the choice, most of them will put themselves to bed if the doors are open. They are very happy sleeping in there and they know which one is theirs.

Do pet shop animals have that same restriction? I would have asked them

Glad everything worked out ok Josuki

[sas]

What they did take exception to was my crates and said they could only be in there for an hour.

LOL What a load of rubbish.

[Ruffles]

I had the RSPCA called on me also, for having 3 dogs inside for 2 hours while I was at the shops, in 42 inch crates. Meaning 3 dogs, in 3 seperate crates, all with coup cups full of water. THe person who made the complaint said that the dogs couldnt lay down, or turn around and were distressed. I emailed a photo of the dogs in their crates to the RSPCA inspector and she laughed and said "Right, I dont know what they were on, thank you for calling us back".

I am happy they came out, in that I am glad to see they take action when people make complaints, but still annoying!

[rastus_froggy]

The police officer that reported it was a woman.

The lady from DOCS was lovely and she was the one that told me that a complaint was also made to the RSPCA.

I didnt think they would actually come out, when I hadnt heard anything after a couple of weeks. Its now been a month since the report was lodged with the RSPCA.

Funny thing was that reports were lodged with DOCS and the RSPCA the same day as the break in! Even before the attending officers even put in the request for forensics to come and finger print that didnt happen until the next day!!My dogs are my babies and they are in no way neglected or mistreated.

They are usually loose in the house with me, as the neighbours dog has been getting into our yard lately and I dont want my babies getting attacked. The neighbours dog is NEVER in its own yard.

You are lucky that the finger prints were done the next day around here people have to wait up to 2 weeks!

As for the neighbours dog never being in it's own yard have you reported it?

Glad it all worked out for you

EFS

Edited August 31, 2011 by rastus_froggy

[angelsun]

Some non-dog people don't really understand crating

Many DOG people don't understand crating!!

My girls are crated at night...full stop, no execeptions. They are crated during the day if we both are out and away as then I know they are safe and not into something (or each other) when no one is around. I do not agree with allowing multiple dogs to be outside unattended, but my background is in terriers and it's simply not safe as sometimes one of them gives another 'a look' and it's on!

We teach the shepherds crating so that if there is injury, they can cope without stress. We use the trailer for this mostly. This also means if for some reason they need to be contained when too much company shows up or work is being done around, they don't freak out. I can't lock this many dogs in the laundry!!

I can't tell you how many dog people I know that will NOT crate train on any level and end up being held hostage by their dogs inability to be contained during certain times. The gang here love their crates. They are not a jail like so many may think. They are not in them 24/7 and that's the difference I guess. Like using correction collars, crates are great but when used incorrectly they are not the positive item that they were intended to be.

[~Anne~]

I am a dog person and yet I don't understand crating to the excess degree that I hear of. The justification I hear for some crating actually sickens me.

(I have bolded excess crating for a purpose - I am not referring to short term, overnight or temporary crating)

[Clyde]

I am a dog person and yet I don't understand crating to the excess degree that I hear of. The justification I hear for some crating actually sickens me.

I agree. There's crating and then there's crating.

[megan_]

I am a dog person and yet I don't understand crating to the excess degree that I hear of. The justification I hear for some crating actually sickens me.

(I have bolded excess crating for a purpose - I am not referring to short term, overnight or temporary crating)

Agreed. Especially in the US. I've read stuff about crating dogs whenever you're not training them or directly supervising them. If I crated my dogs whenever I was out they would spend most of their lives in crates.

I also don't like to crate them when I'm out because I live alone. If I was in an accident it could be days before they got found and let out, if at all.

[cybergenesis]

At any rate, if you are doing nothing worng then you have nothing to be concerned about.

I am sorry but that is seriously naive. Especially with Child Protection. If you truly think that if you have done nothing wrong, that they will never come up with false allegations / concerns etc, you are wrong. Child Protection are dangerous. They don't need hard evidence to take your children, just if on the "balance of probabilities" they feel their suspicions are justified, whether they are real or not, especially when it comes to "sexual abuse". But this is probably starting to go off topic from a dog forum.

However I would also be concerned if the RSPCA turned up at my house based on false allegations. I wouldn't let them inside my home, no matter what.

Edited September 1, 2011 by cybergenesis

[mawson]

I crate my boxer when I am out as she is prone to destroy stuff, rarely but she does do it sometimes. I believe that she is nervous if left out of her crate when I go out and actually feels more secure in it. She can be DA and is nervous with kids so chooses to go to her crate if I have a foster dog here or if we have friends with kids come over.

Although I was nervous about crating her initially, I soon realised that even when we are home and she has the run of the house, she will 90% of the time, choose to go and sleep in her crate and she certainly sleeps in it all night even though the door is open!

I should point out as well that I work part-time and I am either at home with the dogs at least 5 days a week or if we go out, they come with us the majority of the time, but when we do go out and have to leave the dogs at home, we believe that she is happier being crated (and it gives Mawson a break from her sitting or laying on top of him!). Having said that, I often get up in the morning to find both dogs squashed into one crate, is that cruel!! They chose it!

Even at the full extreme, I often go away to sea for a month or so and my choice is either to board them, or have the OH look after them at home. Of course I choose the latter when I can and even though Migaloo will spend the whole working week crated (OH comes home for lunch to let them out to the toilet and have a run around) on a Friday night when he is home with them, Migaloo will still choose to curl up in her crate even though she has the run of the house and has been locked in the crate all week! So I really don't believe that they are a bad thing at all! As long as they are used to it!

Very beneficial to have them used to being crated if they are injured, or in my case when I fly to my folks house in Queensland, and I even just bought a new car for the dogs (!) and I feel much safer having them crated in the back of the combo than what I did with them on the back seat of my excel.

[Tilly]

Glad nothing came of the complaint ...

A few years ago there was a complaint against the care of the dogs that worked for the security company that my brother worked for at the time. Because the "company" didn't own any dogs ... they then got a list of the employees and their addressed and visited.

I was home and my brother was asleep ... they insisted on going out in the backyard and inspecting the yard even though I told them I had to lock up the dog first. They tried to push past me to go out into the back yard - thankfully the dog growling at them (because they were touching me) which was enough to stop them long enough that I was able to slip past them and grab the dog. I then locked him in the garage while they did an "inspection" of the yard. I don't know what they were looking for but they were looking under bushes and around the plants etc - I thought they might have been looking for dog poo or something - thankfully I had just done the poo patrol about 10 minutes before they had arrived. The water tubs (concrete) that I had scrubbed clean that morning had some dirt in the bottom which they were not happy about - they didn't care that the dog stands in his water bowl while he is drinking so of course there is going to be some dirt in the bottom.

They then wanted to see the dog - so I had to muzzle him and bring him out and walk him around in front of them ... the dog didn't like them one bit and never took his eyes off them and he growled everytime that made the slightest movement near us.

They didn't give me any explaination ... just making notes in their notebook as the went. Still don't know what the complaint was and what they were looking for. Never heard anything further.

[~Anne~]

At any rate, if you are doing nothing worng then you have nothing to be concerned about.

I am sorry but that is seriously naive. Especially with Child Protection. If you truly think that if you have done nothing wrong, that they will never come up with false allegations / concerns etc, you are wrong. Child Protection are dangerous. They don't need hard evidence to take your children, just if on the "balance of probabilities" they feel their suspicions are justified, whether they are real or not, especially when it comes to "sexual abuse". But this is probably starting to go off topic from a dog forum.

However I would also be concerned if the RSPCA turned up at my house based on false allegations. I wouldn't let them inside my home, no matter what.

Naive? No, not naive at all.

The greater majority of parents and dog owners never have issues with DOCS or the RSPCA and if a complaint was lodged falsely, then they would be cleared as the OP has been, without a problem.

Very few people in all reality have their children taken from them unneccessarily and very few people in all reality have their dogs seized for no reason.