ANOTHER HEART BREAKING STORY ARR

No excuses for a dog in this condition and the owner/caretaker should have sought help much, much sooner.

Agreed - but we really have no idea what they were dealing with - let's suppose it was a family dog and the husband who was also abusing his wife and kids decided the dog had to live outside because it pooped on the rug one day when they got home late, and he decreed that the wife spent too much time grooming it etc etc. Perhaps there are extenuating circumstances we can't appreciate. People live amazingly difficult lives behind closed doors and may do so right next door to us.

But Kerry's right. We don't want people afraid to voluntarily surrender a dog they no longer want... even if they're in this condition. We don't want dogs left to suffer in this condition until the they eventually die of neglect simply hidden from public view. Or taken out back and shot or turned loose to fend for themselves.

And don't you believe these things don't happen. Circumstances may change and normally acting people can start to act bizarrely. Without appropriate social services networks for children and the ability to require people to obtain available mental health services why should we be surprised?

I do understand this rescues anger on behalf of this dog. I wonder if a family member may have felt compelled to intervene and secretly dropped off the dog in the middle of the night? Maybe they were torn due to loyalties but needed to do the right thing for the dog?? Just considering other possibilities.

And pursuing this person may result int he dog being returned to an owner you don't approve of and may discourage someone in similar circumstances from doing the same thing. And think of this - maybe the dog was stolen or lost by the original owner - now we have a dilemma, do you pursue the owner on the chip (who may be the breeder or the original owner) and reunite the dog with a loving and long bereft family, or perhaps it is the last owner and you are forced to return the dog to a difficult situation. Things are not always as they appear, it is easy to be righteously indignant, and it should be our first reaction, but once you start thinking through the variables, like life, things get messy.

I also wonder when the last time was the breeder spoke with the person who bought this dog as a puppy...

Good question, those of you have dogs form a breeder when was the last time you spoke to the breeder, and did you initiate the contact, or did the breeder?