rock and a hard place?

[nicodemus]

so.... there is a family that lives down the road from us, and they "own" a small pit bull. i use the term own in a loose sense, since they call her by name, and she lives in their general area, but to my knowledge, the family dont let her inside, and generally, dont take care of her. the dog is allowed to roam free day, and night, and as i type this i have just fed her , while she was out on her nightly foray, searching for food.my dillema is thus..... " baby girl" ( dogs name) had puppies recently, and as of today, from what i have heard from the neighborhood kids, baby girls family moved, and did not take her with them. the rumor is that they are " comming back " for her, but i have SERIOUS doubts about that, since , obv, if shes left to care for herself, they dont give a **** anyway. my original plan, was to wait till i saw her tommorow, feed her, and somehow collar her, and call animal control. im concerned about her puppies! i dont know where they are, or if she would lead me too them..... give me some opinions please! you should know that baby girl, is a sweet , loyal dog. everyday she will follow the kids to the bus stop, and then return for them when they arrive, she is not to my knowledge, dog aggresive, since my nicco will just greet her enthusiatically, and she reciprocates in kind. i would not be calling animal control if it were not for the fact that she is not only a thief ( she has stolen my kids baseball gloves, my neighbors cat food, and cat food bowls, and dragged them down under the house she "lives " at ) but also, on several occasions when i have come across her eating, she will growl, and act as if shes ready to defend that food with voilence if necesary ( proly cause she has to forrage ) .... kinda torn here.... do i wait and see? or do i call the dog catcher.........?

[arycrest]

Why not call A/C and explain the situation including the fact that she might have a litter of puppies somewhere.

[ozzymama]

I don't think there's too much of a rock or a hard place, you have an intact bitch at large in your neighborhood who may have resource guarding issues. You have a litter of puppies somewhere, the puppies likely need to feed frequently, an experienced A/C or rescue should be called and brought into the situation. Make sure they get the forwarding address for the owners so they can be charged with abandonment. Unfortunately if you don't do it, someone else might and they may not have the compassion you do.

[nicodemus]

yeeeea.... i just called a/c, i just cant let her wander around anymore. it breaks my **** heart that shes not taken care of, and shes such a sweet girl. just needs somebody to take soime time with her.ive seen her get clipped by a car on her wanderings, she just shook it off, but next time she might not be so lucky.....ugh..... anywho, a/c is on thier way so, guess its outta my hands....

[weber1b]

You still did the right thing. Hopefully they catch her and the pups and get them to a better situation.