Anonymous wrote:Crates are fine as long as the door is open so the dog can leave their safe space as needed to walk around. Keeping a dog shut in a crate all day is abuse.

It sounds like a mud room gives that space. Not ideal but far better than being shut in a crate like some people do.

Dogs love to run and play and need exercise, especially big dogs. the problem is that is a cycle - not enough exercise so dog takes out energy in the house causing a mess so owners restrict dog even more leading to more acting up etc..

Ummm I hope you are not coming down on crate training? It's a very effective way of training dogs. Dogs like the crate and they don't get into trouble they don't even quite know they are getting into. True... 8-12 hours in a crate for a puppy is not good (they have tiny bladders!), but please don't say keeping your dog in a crate is bad.

Maybe not mistreating - but definitely not ideal dog owners. Anyone who buys a dog and then keeps it locked in a tiny mud room all day is clearly not right in the head and bought a dog for the wrong reasons.

Anonymous wrote:WTF is a German Setter? I thought someone was just confused about a German Shepherd or a German Short Haired Pointer.

OP dogs don't need to roam all over the house. It's really not that big of a deal. It is weird if they leave him there ALL DAY while the dad works. Dogs like to be with their people when they're home.

http://www.dogsdance.com/german-dog-breeds/german-setter/

Yeah, not abuse. Kind of sounds like how we raised our dogs when I grew up - but now that I am an adult and know more about dogs I realize it is not the right way. young German Shephards have a lot of energy and intelligence -- they need a lot of walking and training. But they are really really, good dogs. I would stay out of it. Believe me that dog will tell them he needs more than what he is giving them. Hopefully they will listen!!!

Anonymous wrote:WTF is a German Setter? I thought someone was just confused about a German Shepherd or a German Short Haired Pointer.

OP dogs don't need to roam all over the house. It's really not that big of a deal. It is weird if they leave him there ALL DAY while the dad works. Dogs like to be with their people when they're home.

Why did they get a dog?

OP, you really should MYOB.

I'm not trying to meddle! It's not like I think they're bad people - I just feel bad for that poor dog that has to stay in a mud room while there is a perfectly good fenced-in 1/2 acre backyard he could be running around in!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. They've had him like this for maybe 2 or 3 months. He is potty trained. He knows to bark/claw at mud room door when he needs to go out. German Setters are very smart dogs! I just don't know why they keep in locked in the mud room, so I asked. They're response? The rest of the house is the cat's territory and they will consider letting him in certain rooms after obedience classes. So, this dog will never really get to roam free all over the house. He's a sweet puppy, the confinement just makes me feel so bad. Plus, the father works from home so there really is no excuse to treat it this way.

OP, please save your concern for pets that are experiencing actual abuse or neglect. Maybe you could volunteer at a shelter or something? I get that you want to believe that this dog is being treated terribly, and that you should get to meddle in your neighbors' lives, but it's just not true.

WTF is a German Setter? I thought someone was just confused about a German Shepherd or a German Short Haired Pointer.

OP dogs don't need to roam all over the house. It's really not that big of a deal. It is weird if they leave him there ALL DAY while the dad works. Dogs like to be with their people when they're home.

OP here. They've had him like this for maybe 2 or 3 months. He is potty trained. He knows to bark/claw at mud room door when he needs to go out. German Setters are very smart dogs! I just don't know why they keep in locked in the mud room, so I asked. They're response? The rest of the house is the cat's territory and they will consider letting him in certain rooms after obedience classes. So, this dog will never really get to roam free all over the house. He's a sweet puppy, the confinement just makes me feel so bad. Plus, the father works from home so there really is no excuse to treat it this way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, you are supposed to stand near your dog or have him leashed when you take him out (even in your back yard!) so that the dog associates going outside with relieving itself, not playing. And walks 4x a week is fine if the walk is vigorous. You are the one who seems to not know what to do with dogs. As for the Mud room--a crate would be even better--dogs like to be in a confined space with a close roof when they are resting. Wild dogs sleep many hours a day in dens. You should not say anything to your neighbor about this.

a walk 4 times a week is not enough for a german shepherd puppy. people who never had large, energetic dogs, don't seem to get it.

That dog should be getting walked twice a day.

OP said it was a German Setter. Either way 4x a week is not ideal--but 2x a day is not always possible. My dog gets 3x a day but I know that is a lot--I work from home so I can do it.

I didn't have my glasses on and thought it read german shepherd. A german setter is still a large active dog. and if someone doesn't have time to walk a dog twice a day, then they should get a different breed of dog or an older dog.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, you are supposed to stand near your dog or have him leashed when you take him out (even in your back yard!) so that the dog associates going outside with relieving itself, not playing. And walks 4x a week is fine if the walk is vigorous. You are the one who seems to not know what to do with dogs. As for the Mud room--a crate would be even better--dogs like to be in a confined space with a close roof when they are resting. Wild dogs sleep many hours a day in dens. You should not say anything to your neighbor about this.

a walk 4 times a week is not enough for a german shepherd puppy. people who never had large, energetic dogs, don't seem to get it.

That dog should be getting walked twice a day.

OP said it was a German Setter. Either way 4x a week is not ideal--but 2x a day is not always possible. My dog gets 3x a day but I know that is a lot--I work from home so I can do it.

When we got our puppy we crate trained him, so that meant he spent most of the day crated. I took him out every 2-3 hours in the beginning. We went for walks 3 times a day in addition to the pee breaks. Gradually he was let out of the crate for longer periods of time and by the time he was 6-7 months old he was uncrated when we were around only crated when we went out or sleeping. At about 10 months he was uncrated when we went out and crated only for sleeping and by the time he was just over a year the crate was put away. We can count on 2 hands the number of accidents we had while training him.

The confinement doesn't sound cruel to me, but the lack of exercise is the bigger issue to me. A puppy needs exercise or it will become destructive and a puppy can be destructive even when he gets lots of exercise.

My lab mix dog now gets an average of 2 long walks a day, one includes a trip to the dog park and a couple of short walks a day and he will be 2 around Thanksgiving.

Anonymous wrote:You could offer to take the dog for a walk around the block if you want, but unless you have experience with dogs and are good at training them it may not be something you can handle.

I guess what I'm saying is, *I* would offer to do that. But I grew up with a dog, have read dog-training books for fun, and am comfortable asserting my authority and establishing dominance over a dog.

Oh, geesh, one of those people.

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to dissent and say this is no life for a dog. Four walks a WEEK? Confinement in a mud room? Sounds awful to me. My dog gets four walks a day and has freedom of the house. Okay, I know that's a lot. But I would never, ever, confine an animal to either a crate or a room except for an hour or two and only if that animal were destructive (if it had separation anxiety and was known to tear up the house). This is not right, OP.

How long have they had him like this?

+1 but I know I'm in the minority on the issue. Now, 4 walks a day isn't necessary, but the dog should be getting about 2, especially that breed and especially a puppy.

That said, I don't think that the OP's neighbor's are guilty of abuse.