Dog Dies When Owner Leaves it Home Alone to Attend Competition

MafiaPrincess

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#21
But if this is person I think it is they post pic thread after pic thread of their dogs, but never seem interested in anyone else's dogs. That to me shows what sort of a person someone is. If you join a forum of dog lovers, but all you care about is bragging about your dogs, then to me (JMO) you aren't a dog lover.

Don't get me wrong, I love to brag with t he best of them, but I also love hearing about and seeing everyone else's dogs and show that by participating in other people's threads.
I assume it is that person as they stupidly and proudly put their real name in their thread recently. I don't see why people keep replying to brag after brag as they never ever post in anyone else's threads. Sadly there's a handful of people like that.

Animals fail fast, leaving them for several days is not okay just because none have died yet.

Is it a money issue? Can people not afford pet sitters? Maybe they should cut down the number of animals they have to feed as a money saving effort?
I'd think for how much this person seems to compete, they could compete less and easily afford a sitter.
 
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#22
I would never leave my dogs overnight, but I have left my cats. Honeslty, now I am wondering what the difference is? Both could get suddenly sick or injured etc. It seems pretty common for people to leave cats....but I can figure out why I felt that was ok and not dogs? I mean the main reason was potty breaks, going outside...but if thats a non issue, what else is there?
 

Xandra

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#23
I would never leave my dogs overnight, but I have left my cats. Honeslty, now I am wondering what the difference is? Both could get suddenly sick or injured etc. It seems pretty common for people to leave cats....but I can figure out why I felt that was ok and not dogs? I mean the main reason was potty breaks, going outside...but if thats a non issue, what else is there?
What I came up with is that animals in their usual settings (eg my rabbit stays in her building, llamas in their pen, cats in the house) and also those animals aren't really emotionally dependent on people. (well mine haven't been)

A dog is going to be upset because it's having to relieve itself inside, it's going to be upset that you're gone and its whole routine is messed up (no exercise, no feeding time etc). So there's an elevated risk that it's going to do something abnormal out of stress/boredom (start chewing on the kennel chainlink). Also, even if the dog isn't stressed out, the area it's in is most likely provisional, since you don't want your house messed in, so it isn't very tried and true.

Cats, rabbits llamas just do their thing as usual. Their environment hasn't changed, their schedule has hardly changed or not changed at all and your presence really isn't a biggie to them lol.
 

Danefied

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#24
But its a legitimate question, if it was a cat left alone for a day who died, would we be having the same discussion?

My neighbor boarded her dogs last time she went out of town, but still had me go check on the cats every day. She filled food and water bowls and had several litterboxes out, so I didn't have to "do" anything, but still had me check on them daily.

When another friend of mine goes off for the weekend, I go check on the horses - she leaves hay out and they're in a big, nice pasture, with automatic waterer, but like we joke, I go and check for 4 legs and 2 eyes on each of them.

Yet plenty of people would not think twice about leaving a horse or a cat for more than 24 hours and all sorts of things could happen there too. Air goes out in the house, fence breaks for the horse....

I sure would like to know more details. I have a feeling there is a bit more to the story than a dog being left for the weekend - like what's the deal with the "no homeopathic remedies"?
 

Kat09Tails

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#25
I sure would like to know more details. I have a feeling there is a bit more to the story than a dog being left for the weekend - like what's the deal with the "no homeopathic remedies"?
It probably had to do with the 24 hr fasting. Most "scientific" animal husbandry is based on 24 hr cycles. Plop food in the dish at 8 am and 6pm 365 days a year.
 
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#26
Well, and what if it was a toy dog who was litter box or paper trained in an apt? Would that be ok?

I have no idea as to what happened in this case...but I do wonder why leaving a dog for 24 hours in and of itself requires jail time? I wouldnt do it and dont think its a good idea but...I dont know....just something seems off...there has to be more. Yeah, why no homeopathic remedies? Are they claiming the dog was sick and needed to see a vet? Neglect from that? That worries me if she was doing things, just not "normal" procedures.

My cats are very very much people cats. With the foster here they have been locked upstairs or downstairs for portions of the day when I cant supervise their interactions and they are pissed lol.
 

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#27
I have no idea as to what happened in this case...but I do wonder why leaving a dog for 24 hours in and of itself requires jail time?
That's what I'm wondering too. If that's the case, a LOT of owners around here would need to go to jail. I mean, they sell automatic dog feeders that are big enough to feed several big dogs for several days. Same with automatic waterers.
Not that I agree with it, but it happens, a lot.

The person in question has been on since this thread was posted, I totally understand not wanting to discuss it, but by the same token, I'm really interested in knowing the rest of the story so to speak.
 

Dekka

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#28
Totally seprate from what may or may not happened....

How you leave a dog likely plays a big deal. Sport when he was young, ~ 9 months, was left in a crate for a weekend with no provisions whilst his then owners went away. Luckily a neighbour heard him screaming and saved him. Nothing happened to Sport, the neighbour told the owners to never do that again or they would be reported...

Not that I would do it, but leaving a dog in a kennel run, assuming the dog was used to a kennel run with plenty of water and food and access to some form of climate control is different than leaving a dog in a totally unfamiliar/restrictive way.
 
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#29
Totally seprate from what may or may not happened....

How you leave a dog likely plays a big deal. Sport when he was young, ~ 9 months, was left in a crate for a weekend with no provisions whilst his then owners went away. Luckily a neighbour heard him screaming and saved him. Nothing happened to Sport, the neighbour told the owners to never do that again or they would be reported...

Not that I would do it, but leaving a dog in a kennel run, assuming the dog was used to a kennel run with plenty of water and food and access to some form of climate control is different than leaving a dog in a totally unfamiliar/restrictive way.
Yes...this is my thought too. I dont like the idea of it, but I dont see leaving say, a livestock guardian dog, or a dog raised or used to a kennel/run as really that much different from leaving a cat or bird or horse or or or.
 

Xandra

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#30
Well, and what if it was a toy dog who was litter box or paper trained in an apt? Would that be ok?
And was free fed (so no change of schedule), slept all the time and was pretty indifferent to its owners? Maayyybeee. I'm still not comfortable with the idea but I've never met a dog like that either.

I have no idea as to what happened in this case...but I do wonder why leaving a dog for 24 hours in and of itself requires jail time? I wouldnt do it and dont think its a good idea but...I dont know....just something seems off...there has to be more. Yeah, why no homeopathic remedies? Are they claiming the dog was sick and needed to see a vet? Neglect from that? That worries me if she was doing things, just not "normal" procedures.
It think it was longer than 24 (two nights, so ~48 hours I guess). But yeah. I don't think there's anything really criminal about leaving a dog for two nights even if I wouldn't do it myself and think it's a bad idea. Same with homeopathic treatments, same with the fasting. (not that I think the latter two are bad ideas necessarily).

My cats are very very much people cats. With the foster here they have been locked upstairs or downstairs for portions of the day when I cant supervise their interactions and they are pissed lol.
Yes I think that would **** any cat off LOL I know mine would not tolerate being restricted to certain areas of the house (and they let us know). But I really don't think they stressed about our absence.

Roman, if he was left for that long would be like "OK where are they? Where ARE they? Where have they gone? Why aren't they back? Why am I still in this house? Why is there no one to play with???"

The cats, even our most lovey followed-me-to-school cat never seemed stressed or bothered by us going away.
 

Xandra

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#31
Totally seprate from what may or may not happened....

How you leave a dog likely plays a big deal. Sport when he was young, ~ 9 months, was left in a crate for a weekend with no provisions whilst his then owners went away. Luckily a neighbour heard him screaming and saved him. Nothing happened to Sport, the neighbour told the owners to never do that again or they would be reported...

Not that I would do it, but leaving a dog in a kennel run, assuming the dog was used to a kennel run with plenty of water and food and access to some form of climate control is different than leaving a dog in a totally unfamiliar/restrictive way.
Here is an article that you might want to read (that goes for everyone). It does not seem the dog was crated nor in unfamiliar surroundings.

Dog dies after weekend fasting, owner facing charges | wtsp.com

And yes I think Kat was right when she said the "homeopathic" hype is about the 1 day fasting.
 

Dekka

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#32
No I realize the dog was not crated. As I started the post, separate from what may or may not have happened... People were talking about when does it become a problem.
 

Xandra

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#33
No I realize the dog was not crated. As I started the post, separate from what may or may not have happened... People were talking about when does it become a problem.
Oh ok. I somehow read that as "maybe separate or maybe not from what happened" but I see now what you actually said.
 

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#34
That second news story makes it sound like they're trying to pin the dog's death on the fasting. I'm so confused... Its not illegal to leave your dog unattended for 24 hours, its not illegal to not feed your dog for 24 hours... There was no autopsy done on the dog... For all they know the dog had DCM or something and would have dropped dead owner present or not, fed or not, hot or not....
 

MafiaPrincess

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#35
So she kept the Akita at the pet store 24/7 and the other 5 at home? So you compete the other 5 and screw the one. Nice.
 

JessLough

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#36
That second news story makes it sound like they're trying to pin the dog's death on the fasting. I'm so confused... Its not illegal to leave your dog unattended for 24 hours, its not illegal to not feed your dog for 24 hours... There was no autopsy done on the dog... For all they know the dog had DCM or something and would have dropped dead owner present or not, fed or not, hot or not....
The minimum you absolutely must provide to a dog is food, fresh water, and shelter. Sure, the dog had (inappropriately hot) shelter, but did not have water nor food when she was found. That there is considered abuse in the eyes of the law. They did not know when she was coming back, when she was gone, etc.
 

JessLough

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#38
I would never leave my dogs overnight, but I have left my cats. Honeslty, now I am wondering what the difference is? Both could get suddenly sick or injured etc. It seems pretty common for people to leave cats....but I can figure out why I felt that was ok and not dogs? I mean the main reason was potty breaks, going outside...but if thats a non issue, what else is there?
IME, people find leaving a cat alone overnight fine because they know people have outdoor cats, who they can go days without seeing. For the most part, cats will not eat just to empty their bowl, so you don't have to worry about the cats eating all the food right away, whereas some dogs will. There are also domestic cats and feral cats. For the most part, dogs are domesticated, and depend on people. Cats are not nearly as domesticated, and do not depend on people to survive the way dogs do.

That said, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't even leave my hamsters overnight when I had them, and made sure somebody was here to check in on them... or else they came with me.

IMO, if you have so many pets that you cannot take them all with you, and you do not have a reliable person to at the very least check in with them, you have too many pets.
 

Teal

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#39
Wow, I didn't know she had an Akita.

But, nothing about this story makes sense. A dog doesn't die from not eating for one or two days, unless it's already emaciated. From the picture in the second news link, the dog is NOT emaciated.

I honestly don't see why some people think it is SO extreme to leave a dog with food and water and space to move about for this amount of time. They are dogs... It's not leaving a helpless baby. When I go to competitions and don't take all my dogs, the others have someone water then once a day (until I get my secured water buckets set up so they don't knock them over) and to check on them - but that is because they are outside. If I was leaving a dog inside, with no risk of wildlife incidents (bee stings, snake bites, etc.) it really isn't that unreasonable.

They really should have done an autopsy on the dog to determine WHY it died... since nothing described in ANY of the articles is cause for death, unless the dog DID die of heatstroke. But I just don't see it, honestly.
 

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