I believe in the serenity prayer and I have been saying it a lot lately. Our 1st lock out in 30 years of landlording is Wednesday and I cannot wait for it to be over. These people have rented from us for over 4 years and it has become a Jerry Springer show since his wife left & asked to be taken off of the lease a year ago. I asked her kindly to help with the removal of a dog & couple of cats, suggesting that they be taken to the shelter in the county in which she now lives since our county is a kill shelter. She did not respond because I believe they belong to her sister that lived with her ex after she left until they all had a major public on FB blowup that would have made the devil blush. Fast forward to today when my husband had to check on something else in that neighborhood & wanted to see if by some chance he had left already. Well, he found the dog dead, tied on a short chain outside. It had been dead for a "while" but he knew it was alive & barking about ten days ago.

This is so horrible I can't describe how bad I feel for the poor dog. The sister has left around here & moved out of state now. So I guess he'll say it wasn't my dog.

A strict NO pets allowed, would have prevented this mess.

Several years ago one of our tenants was arrested for drug dealing. We were the ones who reported him and they arrested him when they went to the house. I contacted his parents who lived close to our property. They told me they would go the next day and get his stuff. Well they did, they took all of his flat screen tv's, and everything else of value but left the dog there so when we entered the house we found him dead from dehydration and starvation.

We called animal control who came and took the dog and then charged the parents with animal cruelty.

Sometimes I just don't understand how people can be so heartless. It's been about 9 years and just thinking about it still upsets me.

In my county we now have a "no tethering" law. Dogs cannot be tethered outside without owners being present to monitor this.

Can the remaining tenant be charged with animal cruelty for what they did to their dog?

Pat,

Sounds like a doozy!

Keep your attitude in tact and be patient to ride this out. It will be over soon.

Were things OK until the split?

Whenever we get in a pickle like this we start back with their application and look for what we missed.

This works best while we are agitated about things going wrong. We see it with different eyes.

Pat,

Re-reading your post.

I see a PEOPLE problem, not a pet problem. The deceased dog is sad but that dog did nto kill himself. His PEOPLE let him starve or dehydrate.

There is also the chance he was sick and it was his time. Dogs do die from age or illness.

Can they be reported for cruelty to an animal ? I know there is no proof but this is a crime with increasing public support and improving laws.

Which to me shows at least a percentage of our society is evolving towards a better way ! As a landlord and human I would have a very hard time with turning my head and ignoring this.

Yes, I did report it. A lot of people seem to look at animals as easy come, easy go. They are discarded like the trash that discards them. Of course we have had responsible pet owners over the years but I can see why so many ads say no pets & no smoking.

I will accept pets. People who have a pet, sometimes for years. People who take care of their animals. Not people who are thinking of getting a pet because they can.

I have dogs and cats, they are part of the family. We have a huge responsibility to our animals. I would have a hard time renting to someone who would easily give up a pet in order to get my unit. They are not disposable. (now if they could not take care of it anymore, that is a different situation).

I've had a strict no tethering clause in my lease for years, and I believe our county now has one too.

Why is it looked down upon when I say I want to TAZZZZ irresponsible idiots?