Dogs

My DS2 wrote a heartbreaking account of neighbors who totally ignore their dog. We had just such a sitch recently when our NDN's to the west kept a dog outside on a lead.
"Bones" is a beautiful dog, big and strong, with a sweet personality, well-hidden behind his fierce and sad exterior.
They don't have a fence, and I was surprised they had a dog at all, since their prior experience with ignoring dogs wound up with the gas meter reader suffering a nasty bite and the dog being euthanized.
So Bones was kept on a heavy chain in the backyard. He often wound it round things so that he, too, couldn't reach his food or water. When he could reach his water, he often flipped it so that he was in a huge puddle of mud, piss and dung.
He barked incessantly. He needed attention. Water. Food. Our summer days get long and hot and the 5-gallon bucket they filled with the hose was easily flipped. I longed to buy him a kiddie pool, totally unflippable, but hated to get involved. These neighbors are hostile and resentful.
About 2 weeks after he arrived, I approached the husband, the more approachable of the family, and shared that DH was having trouble sleeping during the day after working all night, as the barking was incessant. He said he'd take care of it.
Nothing happened.
Next I approached the adult son, who actually owned the dog. He had moved home after his trial with work/apartment/independence had not been so successful. He punctuated my every sentence with one statement: "It's temporary."
It was temporary for three years.
Undaunted, well, daunted but not yet beaten, I finally called the wife, who really resents me.
I called her on the phone, chicken that I am, and told her I really needed her help. I explained that DH works nights a lot and Bones' barking was interfering with his ability to sleep. "We don't hear a thing," she lied. "...and we don't even have nice storm windows like you do."
Hmm.
One Sunday afternoon Bones had barked for over an hour when I saw the husband on his front porch and mentioned it. He walked round to the back yard and ... KICKED THE DOG IN THE HEAD. The dog stopped barking. I never complained again.
The oddest thing we noticed over the three year sentence was that he had three distinct barks. He had the angry, I'll-eat-you-alive bark that he gave when he was trying to do his job for the owners.
He had the plaintive, look-at-me-I'm-just-a-playful-pup bark he gave when any of their family were outdoors. He'd flip the empty food bowl and it would bonk! back to earth. Bark! Bark! Look at me! Am I not the cutest? This bark was more of a cheerful, happy YIP!
And then there was just the normal bark, bark, bark, bark, please come outside and feed me, rub me, give me water, anything, just let me off this heavy chain for a minute.
During extremely rainy weeks they would chain him on their back porch, mounds of feces piling on the decking.
We endured, we fretted, we filled water and trembling, took it to him.
I never thought to offer to walk him. I can imagine the look I would have gotten if I had.
I admire DS for his ingenuity. It's a tough situation.
The adult son moved out about 6 months ago and Bones was sold to another family shortly thereafter. I hope they are taking care of him.
Good luck.