Unfortunately yesterday my daughter witnessed a neighbor abuse-severly abuse his dog, I called the authorities, but doubt if they will do anything. My daughter is very shaken up and I am not sure how to help her. What she witnessed was a Shih-tzu kill a duck, the owner of the dog and the duck, chased the dog around the yard, got her (a pregnant her) cornered in her kennel, proceeded to throw and slam her on things and finished her off by grabbing her by the nap of the neck, winded up like he had a softball and threw her to the concert sidewalk. The dog lost all the contents in her bladder,(I was at home and heard the emense yelping) and I think now the dog is going to die. My daughter won't stop talking about it, she hardly got any sleep lastnight because she couldn't stop thinking about it. There were also 2 other children who witnessed it a 7 year old and a 3 year old-not sure how they are doing. My daughter waited in our yard for the Sheriff's dept. to come out to the mans house but they never did. She now feels that it does no good to report it, and is scared that this guy will come and hurt us. This is the first time I have ever dealt with something like this and I don't know how to handle it. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Any suggestions?

Be a good listener when she needs to talk about it. Reassure her that she is safe. If she has trouble sleeping or isn't eating like she usually does, or isn't interested in activities that usually interest her, get her to a counselor asap. You might consider doing that anyway, if you feel ill equipped to deal with this. I'm sure sorry that happened, and that your daughter witnessed it. I sure hope the Sheriff's office pulls their collective heads outta their behinds! You might try calling again, and generally making yourself a pain in the butt until they do something.

I would want to make sure she didn't feel helpless in the face of violence. I'd not only go down to the Sheriff's office and file a complaint so they have to act on it, but I would try to get the dog and have your daughter carry it to the vet with you. Just thinking that if she sees that there are things she can do to help make things right, and that people can't act this way without consequences, it might make her feel like she can make a difference, help put things right.

If the local sheriffs' office won't do anything about it, you can go the ASPCA website, they have a listing of animal abuse authorities for every state.