Person hitting dog.

CaptainInsano

Hi,
I'm in a bit of a situation at the moment. An acquaintance of mine regularly hits his dog, often for no reason, and with far too much force. He hates the dog but it has to stay with him for reasons that are irrelevant. Now I'm blue in the face having words with this guy, I've threatened all sorts, but no go, eventually he stopped hitting the poor thing in my presence ( I have to go this guys house quite regularly, unfortunately.)
So I'd love nothing more than the dog to be taken from there, but it's well groomed, fed and housed by his spouse, yet she does nothing to protect it from this bully. I had reported a case of cruelty before where I saw a woman in my area swinging a pup by the lead when she thought no one was looking. Ironically, they wouldn't take it off of her as it was so well looked after apparently.
It genuinely breaks my heart knowing this dog is in an unloving environment, being hit when it's even slightly in the way, one time he slapped her on the head because she licked his hand, and the poor thing squealed for a good minute. Like I said I've threatened him several times, on that occasion with violence I'm ashamed to say. Is there anything to be done to remove an otherwise healthy animal from this environment?

maggiepip

The best thing you can do is ring either the ISPCA if outside Dublin or the DSPCA if in the Dublin area, and talk to them about the issue and hopefully they can help and advise.

falabo

CaptainInsano wrote: »

Hi,
I'm in a bit of a situation at the moment. An acquaintance of mine regularly hits his dog, often for no reason, and with far too much force. He hates the dog but it has to stay with him for reasons that are irrelevant. Now I'm blue in the face having words with this guy, I've threatened all sorts, but no go, eventually he stopped hitting the poor thing in my presence ( I have to go this guys house quite regularly, unfortunately.)
So I'd love nothing more than the dog to be taken from there, but it's well groomed, fed and housed by his spouse, yet she does nothing to protect it from this bully. I had reported a case of cruelty before where I saw a woman in my area swinging a pup by the lead when she thought no one was looking. Ironically, they wouldn't take it off of her as it was so well looked after apparently.
It genuinely breaks my heart knowing this dog is in an unloving environment, being hit when it's even slightly in the way, one time he slapped her on the head because she licked his hand, and the poor thing squealed for a good minute. Like I said I've threatened him several times, on that occasion with violence I'm ashamed to say. Is there anything to be done to remove an otherwise healthy animal from this environment?

Do what you deeply believe is the right thing to do. Personnaly, I would not NOT REACT to a defensless animal being hit.

DBB

I'm afraid I would not be able to show as much restraint as you have OP.
I would not, ever go to this man's house as long as he's behaving like this, and I'd make it very clear to him why.
I would also put it right up to him, clip a lead onto the dog, and tell him and his OH that you're taking her now to place her in a home where she will not be hit.
Let them stop you.
If he tried to stop me, I would tell him that I'm reporting him to the ISPCA because he's is causing unnecessary suffering to the dog, which is against the law. I would also make it clear to him that I am telling all mutual contacts and friends what he's been at.
It's not on. I would not tolerate it to any degree.

Edited to add: I refer you specifically to S.12 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, which deals with causing unnecessary suffering, and the powers of an Authorised Officer (which includes a uniformed ISPCA Officer, or a Guard) to seize such an animal.
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/animalhealthwelfare/legislation/AnimalHealthandWelfareAct060314.pdf

CaptainInsano

maggiepip wrote: »

The best thing you can do is ring either the ISPCA if outside Dublin or the DSPCA if in the Dublin area, and talk to them about the issue and hopefully they can help and advise.

The ISPCA have referred me to our local animal welfare association, as they have no staff to cover this area themselves. I'm waiting on a reply but I'm afraid it's going to be rinse and repeat as with the pup I reported.

falabo wrote: »

Do what you deeply believe is the right thing to do. Personnaly, I would not NOT REACT to a defensless animal being hit.

Well the right thing to do is to get the dog out of there obviously, hence I asked the question on how to do that without the backing of the ineffective local animal welfare organisation.

tritriagain

In a funfair once and I saw a fella i sort of knew hit his dog 3 times and then his son fell and when he started crying he hit him. I couldn't take anymore so went over to him gave him a kick in the arse and told him I knew where he lived and Id give him a hiding if I saw him carry on like that again. I know prob not the right thing to do but I was younger but not wiser. Have to say it felt good though.

CaptainInsano

DBB wrote: »

I'm afraid I would not be able to show as much restraint as you have OP.
I would not, ever go to this man's house as long as he's behaving like this, and I'd make it very clear to him why.
I would also put it right up to him, clip a lead onto the dog, and tell him and his OH that you're taking her now to place her in a home where she will not be hit.
Let them stop you.
If he tried to stop me, I would tell him that I'm reporting him to the ISPCA because he's is causing unnecessary suffering to the dog, which is against the law. I would also make it clear to him that I am telling all mutual contacts and friends what he's been at.
It's not on. I would not tolerate it to any degree.

Edited to add: I refer you specifically to S.12 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, which deals with causing unnecessary suffering, and the powers of an Authorised Officer (which includes a uniformed ISPCA Officer, or a Guard) to seize such an animal.
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/animalhealthwelfare/legislation/AnimalHealthandWelfareAct060314.pdf

I have to go there, even after I hopefully remove the dog I'll still have to go there. That part is irrelevant anyway. I'm not sure what you mean by restraint, obviously I've threatened him with the guards, the ISPCA. If by restraint you mean by not knocking him out and taking the dog then that's just not possible, as much as I'd like to. Although your suggested scenario would be ideal, it would definitely turn into a violent encounter. I'm not an idiot, I would have of course taken the dog if I felt it was possible. I'm waiting on word back from the local SPCA but they are understaffed and incompetent to be honest, as I've stated with my dealings with them before.
Thanks for the link, I'm going to contact the Guards instead, though as it stands it's my word against his. I'll post an update.

maggiepip

Theres a Department of Agriculture helpline too for members of the public to report cruelty, you could try that, the number is 1850 211 990 or
01 6072379.

DBB

CaptainInsano wrote: »

If by restraint you mean by not knocking him out and taking the dog then that's just not possible, as much as I'd like to. Although your suggested scenario would be ideal, it would definitely turn into a violent encounter. I'm not an idiot, I would have of course taken the dog if I felt it was possible. I'm waiting on word back from the local SPCA but they are understaffed and incompetent to be honest, as I've stated with my dealings with them before.

I'm not suggesting violence, no.
I'm not sure of any scenario with any person where I would not be prepared to walk away and never darken their door again if they were prepared to treat any other living being that way. He is not just being cruel to the dog, he is being extraordinarily disrespectful to you too.
I would wonder too why his wife puts up with it? Is she at the receiving end of his disgusting behaviour too, by any chance?
By continuing to have anything to do with him, I'd consider myself to be in a way enabling his behaviour, of signalling to him that whilst he beats his dog, I'm still prepared to be in the same space as him.
No thanks, not for me. Which is why continuing to spend time in his house isn't irrelevant. I simply could not be in his company, and would do whatever I had to do to make sure I never had to spend time with him again.
I would not persist with the local SPCA, they are toothless, unless one of them enlists the on-site assistance of a guard.
I would harangue the ISPCA to get a uniformed inspector involved. They are the only SPCA staff in the country who have the powers of an authorised officer, the local SPCAs do not.
I am not prone to emotional outbursts like these, but I feel so frustrated and furious that any person could treat an animal, or any living being that way, and that other people such as yourself could continue to spend any time with this person, for any reason. It's a long time since a thread here has made me feel so angry.

CaptainInsano

DBB wrote: »

I'm not suggesting violence, no.
I'm not sure of any scenario with any person where I would not be prepared to walk away and never darken their door again if they were prepared to treat any other living being that way. He is not just being cruel to the dog, he is being extraordinarily disrespectful to you too.
I would wonder too why his wife puts up with it? Is she at the receiving end of his disgusting behaviour too, by any chance?
By continuing to have anything to do with him, I'd consider myself to be in a way enabling his behaviour, of signalling to him that whilst he beats his dog, I'm still prepared to be in the same space as him.
No thanks, not for me. Which is why continuing to spend time in his house isn't irrelevant. I simply could not be in his company, and would do whatever I had to do to make sure I never had to spend time with him again.
I would not persist with the local SPCA, they are toothless, unless one of them enlists the on-site assistance of a guard.
I would harangue the ISPCA to get a uniformed inspector involved. They are the only SPCA staff in the country who have the powers of an authorised officer, the local SPCAs do not.
I am not prone to emotional outbursts like these, but I feel so frustrated and furious that any person could treat an animal, or any living being that way, and that other people such as yourself could continue to spend any time with this person, for any reason. It's a long time since a thread here has made me feel so angry.

Look, I wish you could understand it's an extremely complicated situation that you know nothing about and is absolutely none of your business The thread is about how to get the dog out, not about my moral integrity. Ideal scenario for me is to get the dog and never talk to them again as I've stated if only you'd read my posts, I also said the ISPCA have told me twice that they won't come here, again if you've read my posts. I knew there would be people, not fully understanding the situation that would love to blame me for this, when in reality I'm the only one who is trying to do anything about it, with no support from any animal welfare services at all. I didn't expect these accusations to come from a moderator, I'm enabling him? How dare you. I've been hounding him to get him to stop since I witnessed this a week ago. And I don't know if he hits his wife, again another pointless tangent you wish to pursue. This is why your so called emotional outbursts offer nothing, I'm sure you'd fly in with your cape and save the day, as you're obviously a much better person than I, but it's not that simple and I refuse to divulge my personal circumstances to you to justify my being there, you've derailed the topic by going on about it. What I needed were phone numbers, advice, people who have dealt with this. Bar one poster, no one has offered realistic support. Close thread.

DBB

One poster gave you the link to the relevant legislation, and advised that you could contact the guards, which you stated you would do.
That was me.
You thanked that... Remember?
So you got help from more than one poster here, if you recall.
You can drop the indignation and quit accusing me of things I did not say. I never asked you your business of why you have to be in his house nor about the logistics of the situation, so telling me it's none of my business is redundant. Nor did I ask you, with my cape on and underpants worn over my trousers, to divulge anything personal about yourself or the situation. So don't try to make out that I did.
I'd argue that cruelty to animals is my business, as it is everyone else's, but that's for another thread.
And being a mod has nowt to do with it, that's a cheap shot often by people who are struggling to come up with anything better.
Good luck to you.
Thread closed as per your request.