Unsure of my options

[choralone]

hi

I have a big problem and have really no idea who to turn to for help. I have requested info from my local spca and am not sure if they can be of any actual help.

Anyway getting to it.

Me and my wife have let a family of six stay with us as they had no other options and no place else to go. They have two dogs one a small breed of some kind (sorry not sure what breed) the other a large 150 to 160 pound great pyranees he’s at least four years old. While they were staying with us the great pyranees (mr. Big) has been locked up in the guest house in our back yard there is no ventilation of any kind back there as all the windows are boarded up so in this oklahoma summer weather it gets hotter then the interior of a parked car. Mr.big currently has the worst heat rash I have ever seen on a dog. As well he has at least two years worth of winter coat matted across the length of his entire body ( or did rather) he is compleatly mal nourished although it is hard to tell considering his over all bulk he also has a very hard time walking normally at first I thought that this might have been something akin to hip/ joint issues as dogs his size are prone to getting anyway
or at best due to his heat rash’s as I am not a vet I can only guess. Luckily though he will be going to a vet as soon as possible. For both a check up and an indepth  grooming/ bathing session
in the mean time we have been doing our best to remove as many of the rock like matts and bringing  his diet back to a normal state, he seems much improved in his mood since we started caring for him.
Anyway getting to my problem overall
if this dog remains with this family he will most assuredly die sooner then later. I can not let this happen to any dog. The smaller breed will be taken care of as soon as humanly possible even if we have to keep her ourselves to ensure her safety. And this brings me to the problem.
Is there anyway to keep these dogs legally?? I am not sure we can simply  tell them directly that they cannot have there animals back without running into some kind of police involvement, this makes me nervous in the sense that I do not want the police to take them away for good. As we would very much like to keep the great pyranees. Is there anything we can do to save these animals other than to put them in a shelter? 
Please any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

I can be contacted any time via email at sefron999@yahoo.com

Thanks





shane
     

[bigdogs@5501]

Shane, first and foremost the dog can not stay in that building any more. There are laws against animal abuse. I have sent you a personal email and have given you my contact information. I have contacts in Oklahoma who I can call, but this is the equivalent of abuse leaving him in an un-ventilated building in this heat. They wouldnt be able to do this in a car in a parking lot and they are not going to be able to do this at your home. Is the family not up to the offer of giving you the dog- Obviously they are unable to care for him. Please keep us updated. Pyrs are incredible dogs- do not let this one die of a heat stroke

[choralone]

he is no longer in the back house as soon as i found out he was back there we brought him inside he has been in here for a week now off and on, we do take him for walks in the evening so he can get a bit of a work out,  he mostly sits under the ac otherwise he looks much better now and no the family will fight us for him as they like the idea of him more then they actually like to take care of him. thank you all for the info and the suggestions we are going to keep doing what we can for him though and hope for the best in regards to if we can keep him ourselves.

shane

[bigdogs@5501]

So this family is living with you?  How much longer do you get to enjoy that aspect of your life? I am so glad that you have decided to make his life better. Keep working on the family, maybe they will relent- I am sure that if he is going to the vet then they will realize that he is now going to start costing them money. Maybe when they decide to move, he will all of the sudden run away for a few weeks and come to Texas... gosh, I would have to make a road trip to get him back to Oklahoma 

[jagersmom]

OMG! Thankfully you got involved! That poor dog. I live near Tampa, FL and can't stand the thought of Jager being outside in the heat for too long and this poor dog was in a building with no ventilation?!

You've made a puppy-friend for life!

[choralone]

we took these photo's about 2-3 minutes ago i wish i would have thought of taking pictures when we first brought him inside he was looking pretty bad and im sure a before and after would have helped us if any legal stuff comes up later on. oh well though we will fight for him no matter what happens. also the family very thankfully has been out of this house for about a week now and there not allowed back in for any reason. i can not stomach people that treat there pets this way. anyway sorry for the bad resolution in the images regardless of the graininess he still looks much better then he did. thank you all again for the info and support..


shane and jo

[2Criminals]

Would you be willing to purchase the dogs? In their current position a little monetary incentive may help. Do you know if they took proper care of the pets before they ran into these problems?

[zchic]

I wouldn't asay anything to them...If they have moved and the dogs are at your house...that is abandonment... I would get him to a vet ASAP qand get documentation as to his bad condition, and then if they ask for the dog back give them the bill. If they were to pursue anything you would have a vet statement that the dog was too thin and whatever other problems it has, plus the fact they left the dog.

[Ouch]

Good GOSH !  People never cease to amaze me.  I would document from these pictures on and have the vet records ready and statements from the groomer about his condition, pictures of the outbuildiing and temp records and keep it ready to go to your county attorney - should that family raise a ruckus begin an animal cruelty action against them.  If you don't feel up to this I'm sure if you have an active humane society locally they can help you make your "case" and you can be the foster family for the Pyr (I don't know of any Humane Society that doesn't need foster families). In fact, they have tons of experience in making cases before the court.  Hopefully it won't come to this but it sure scares the poop out of people when they're in the wrong. When you know it's all over - then you go by the books and adopt your Pyr.

[Sillygoose]

I'm sure if you offer them money or show them a vet bill tehy will gladly hand him over. That poor pyr if you noticed still has his beuatiful pyr smile in those pics. Thank god you were there for him. Keep us posted as to what is happening.

[choralone]

Well we will know by 7:00 tonight they are coming to collect the rest of the stuff from our house. Or our porch in truth. My wife has elected to speak to them and try to work out some kind of deal regarding money, which is a good thing as I have a dozen or so words for them I will regret later if I voice them aloud. me and mr. Big were going to go to the vet today but couldn’t schedule in an appointment until tomorrow so if anything comes up between now and then with the owners we will have a bill for them. If the Worst case scenario happens I have today talked with some people with the local SPCA as well as a few local city government people, not that that went very far with the city people. I am hoping that we can simply give them cash let them know that we will over look the fact that they stole several things from the house when they moved out and they will peacefully collect there stuff and go away my mother very thankfully has offered to take both jezabell (still not sure of her breed type) as well as mr.big for a little retreat on her 40 acre’s of fenced  land which I think will do wonders for mr.big to be able to get out and about in the cooler evenings and just be a happy care free dog and run around exploring. Jezabell  should be very happy there too and will have the other indoor dogs to keep her company. I know I have not mentioned her very much I apologize I am not trying to fall into a world of favoritism she is just the only one out of the two that has been actually cared for as she used to be mats parents dog. I’m still not exactly sure what to do about her I know my mother would love to have another dog at the house but then she has the issue of if it’s small and cute and furry she can’t say no. so she already has more then she can handle out there being a full time teacher and all. Anyway me and my wife and especially mr.big thank you all very much for all of the support and suggestions and everything I thought we would be alone in this so being all panicky I posted pleading’s to everyone I could think of. So hopefully in another week his diet will be normal he will have a lot less hair and he will still be doing his best to rest his full body weight on anyone sitting in any chair in the house..

Oh also does anyone know of a good kind of food for full grown dogs to get there diet back to normal the last three brands we bought for him he doesn’t seam to like much he only really ever eats just a few hand full every once in a while im not sure if this is the food or because his stomach is not used to a lot of food at one time, from my research I read that he needs to be up to more or less five pounds or more  a day not sure if this is accurate or not it kind of sounds right for his weight though. I guess that part I could ask the vet tomorrow.. Anyway thank you all again and I will let you all know how things are progressing



shane, jo and mr.big   

[bigdogs@5501]

I have thought about this- Can you just send the dogs some place for the evening while they come and get their belongings? They abandoned the dogs and that should show that they dont care- if they start anything you can tell the police or who ever that they left them in your home- they said that they were not coming back and that the dogs were rehomed. I just dont want to see these dogs going back to these people. Or you can tell the police that they are your dogs and have been for some time and that because they are having to move out they are trying to take more items that do not belong to them and oh by the way- this is a good time to bring up what was taken with out permission. Please keep us updated on Mr.Big.

[choralone]

that's a good idea i think my neighbor three streets up from us can watch them for the night. if not then i was thinking i could just keep them in the sound studio until they leave as they are no longer allowed in the house and it's all the way in the back. sorry im rambling there going to be here soon so im a bit nervous. thank you though im going to call my neighbor right now and see what she says..... 

[bigdogs@5501]

You are not rambling and if you havent figured it out yet- we do care here on this board- If I lived closer I would just drive up to get them for a few days and then bring them back. However I bet that we are a few hours apart. I have contacts in Oklahoma if you need something short term. I just have to be given time to make those phone calls. Yea- get them out of sight- And dont be nervous- they can not come into your house without your persmission.If you feel threatened, you call the police. Just get the dogs out of sight for now. If they ask about the dogs- dont get into a discussion with them- remind them that they abandoned the dogs and it is now time to take thier stuff off of the porch and to leave your property before you file trespassing charges. I am going to be checking on line all nite- let us know how it goes. I think that if you find a dog in the street, take it home, take care of it, you can lay claim to the dog- If these people ask for the dog and get really tacky, fine, once they pay the boarding fee of 15.00 a day for how ever many days the dogs have been there, problem solved.

[navarre1316]

Anything happen as of yet?  I agree with bigdogs, just hide mr. big!!  As to the way he is eating, it could also be because it's so hot.  I know my dogs will nibble rather than their normal eating habits when it gets real hot.  I hope everything works out for all!