There was a dog barking. That was nothing new, on its own. But when the poor dog continued to bark over and over again in a small Connecticut town, neighbors grew worried and contacted authorities.
And it's a good thing they did, because officials
later determined that the poor dog - Rocky the poodle - had been enduring severe neglect!
Sign the petition to keep his previous owner from owning animals again.The poodle's owner had left him at home - alone - for around 24 hours without care. Even worse,
she had locked him up in a crate in the basement, without anyone to look after him or give him relief from his little cage. Poor Rocky was surely panicking as it barked and barked without answer.
When authorities brought the dog to veterinarians, medical experts agreed that the dog had been neglected for quite some time.
He was severely malnourished, with his body wasting away until all of his ribs and other bones showed through his skin. Apparently, for a poodle Rocky's size,
he should have weighed 50 pounds. Instead, we weighed less than half that - only 21 pounds.
Additionally, his body had become
inflamed with a condition called "urine scald" from repeatedly urinating on himself without being cleaned up afterwards. His matted hair had accumulated not only urine, but also feces, leaving him with painful open wounds.
He is slowly making progress under veterinarians' attentive care.
But the woman who owned him before should not be allowed to care for animals again in the future. Sign the petition to protect animals by asking authorities to implement a ban on animal ownership!