WWBTD - To call animal control or not to call animal control

In my experience if the dog is not a stray, Animal Control will not put the dog down from one phone call. In my area at least, we have to have video or photo of the dog harming someone/thing for them to take it away. Chances are if you call they will issue a warning to the owners, maybe a fine. Assuming of course that someone else has not already called about the dog.

If it is a stray and has acted like you describe to others you can rest assured someone has probably already called so you will not be the first. But then you can not assume that he will stay at the location you saw him in last. Now there is the possibility that he will roam into a more populated area putting other people at risk from his aggressive behavior.

I would call.

When in doubt, call.

just my 2 cents.

I agree - especially if you've seen that the dog wasn't being treated and cared for properly.  If nothing else, the dog owners will get a visit from the authorities with maybe a warning, or they will remove the dog from a bad situation. 

my puppy gets those marks around her neck, and i assure you i don't abuse my dog.  she gets really excited easily and pulls against it, she also likes to slip out of her collar so i keep it tighter than i do on my other dog.  her skin just gets red and irritated easily as well....she gets a bright pink belly when she plays with her cousin! 

this is a case where i would not get involved, there are no real signs of abuse here.

also, i'd like to commend you for not splitting the infinitive in your thread title.  personal pet peeve

Ugh, until your post I was convinced to call!  Now I'm all torn again! 

And right after I wrote that I decided to call and see what they suggested...they said they can always go out and just check on the dog to make sure the damage I saw to the neck wasn't a dug in collar or something...they don't jump right to fines or whatnot...

Hopefully the owners of the house didn't memorize my license plate...

It doesn't hurt to have called.  It might be nothing and the dog may be fine... it might not and you may have just done the dog a favor.  If the dog is fine, no harm no foul. If he isn't fine, then he'll be getting treatment soon.

Thanks for starting this thread. I was in a bit of a do I or don't I call situation the other night. It was bitterly cold and windy, in the negative single digits (Fahrenheit) when my husband and I left the gym at 9 PM. We heard a pitiful, non-stop whining from a dog but couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from. Sounded like a hurt and scared dog. We walked along the river and around the building, then Nick (my husband) looked across the street up the hill and saw a dog outside in the yard.

We hate to be "that guy" who tell others what to do with their pets, but the dog sounded so miserable, and we were cold walking around in our parkas, mitts, winter boots and hats. We couldn't imagine what a small dog was feeling. So we walked over and knocked on the door.

After a couple minutes, we heard a door in the back of the house slam, and the dog stopped crying. No one ever came to the front door, so at first we thought, okay, guess they took the hint and brought the dog inside. We walked around the house to leave, and that's when a really BIG dog came running towards us, stood up against the chain link fence and started barking. The little dog was still outside. Soo...this owner's response was not to talk to us, but to send out a bigger dog. We took the hint and left. Now we both feel terrible because there are two dogs outside freezing their tails off.

I looked for a house number and debated calling someone (who?) but didn't find a house number. It's Vermont...it's not exactly easy to describe which house you mean when the directions are, "up the hill, on the bend in the road, where the trees part". That about describes any house. Anyway, we thought a phone call would only result in the animals being brought it temporarily and punished later. I shouldn't assume that, but that's where my mind went.

Sorry, I had to just get this story off my chest. I don't know why anyone put their dog outside in weather like that, even if it had peed on the carpet or eaten some throw pillows. Anyway, what I'm taking away from this thread is that I should have called someone, because at least the police or animal control or a shelter would know better about what to do.

Who would a person call in this situation?

And to to OP, it is a hard call about those marks. I have lots of friends who take great care of their dogs and they are happy and fine but have those marks around the collar. I've seen some dogs scratch at themselves there, making it sore and not too pretty looking, but they are fine. Not sure about that dog's aggression though. I feel for you - stray dogs and cats tug on my heart strings. I think you feel that way about every dang stray because you feel for those who can't always help themselves. Not a bad quality to have in a person.