Is it animal abuse to keep a puppy (8 months) in the garage for 24/7?

Depends how you treat the dog but what is most certainly animal abuse is eating meat from animals which are slaughtered and prior to slaughter kept in poor conditions while being force fed sludge. Pigs, cows, chickens are all abused without repercussion but if someone kicks a puppy, suddenly there's a problem. We need to treat ALL animals with compassion.

This sounds awful, and yes, it definitely sounds like abuse. Tell her you can hear the dog cry all night, that dogs are social pack animals and it sounds like the puppy is very unhappy. Calling animal control and explaining the situation is also a possibility. Now that I think about it, this dog is being mistreated and calling them is your best bet. You may want to talk to her (or write an anonymous note) first and call if the situation isn't resolved. My heart breaks for this baby.

Yes!

Especially if it is alone!!

Good grief!

It makes me ill just thinking about it!

So frigg'in sad. Though I don't know exactly how I would handle it, for sure my wife would come up with some way to intervene.

Yes, this is mental abuse of a puppy even if he is being physically cared for. Calling animal control isn't likely to be helpful as I doubt there's any law against leaving a dog in a garage as long as it has water and food.

I recently had a similar situation with a dog who was chained up 24 hours a day outside a house near mine. The dog had shelter and water and was apparently well fed as he appeared fully healthy, but he was out there all alone throwing himself against the chain and barking at passers-by all day. California law prohibits leaving a dog tied up alone for more than 2 hours per day, but my backward county's animal control refused to do anything about it after two calls. The dog disappeared a few weeks ago. I only hope he's with someone who actually wants a dog.

Yes. I would talk to the lady and offer to take the dog off her hands. If she accepts take it to a shelter if you can’t keep it yourself. She is likely overwhelmed. Try to explain to her why what she is doing is wrong. Call animal control if needed. I am sorry you are having to witness this. I have two dogs and can’t imagine treating a pet this cruelly.

Ask her if the dog is a good match for her. It is possibly she is overwhelmed by the care, but feels guilty or ambiguous about finding it a better home. Maybe you can ask to take the dog for walks.

Once I saw a middle aged lady struggling mightily to walk a medium sized shepherd and a huge one. Also went she put them in the yard the two dogs just ignored each other I wanted a dog like the smaller one which was also younger . I approached the woman friendly but concerned about her having trouble managing the two dogs and asked her if she considered letting go of the smaller one if she would keep me in mind. Turns out she was a rescue sitter for the smaller dog and the big one was her long term pet. I got the dog within a week . Raised the dog , which turned out to be great animal with my kids on the new rural property I had just bought for my family.

Depends on the health of the dog and how clean/safe the garage is - but most likely no. Laws are generally pretty lax when it comes to animal abuse.

Just one question: does a weak willed, developmentally challenged runner strike it, repeatedly? Because that's for sure abuse.

As an aside, do you know his 8K PR? Does he have a marathon PR?

My wife did this to the last of three lovebirds (smallest parrots) her sister gave us; she confined her to the garage.. That lovebird committed suicide by pecking her breast.

The good news is that one of the lovebirds escaped. The other died due to a family triangle.

Do we have to question the obvious? It's abuse 100%. It's imprisonment and abandonment. Dogs enjoying being outside. It's essential to them. They can't do without it without suffering.