The letter I wrote to the neighbor with the barking dog

[avebury]

16. A rental - that puts an even different spin on the matter.

You might consider contacting the property owner who may or may now realize how trashed his/her yard is. The tenants might pose a liability issue for the property owner. Furthermore if the dog is injured, in pain and manages to get out, the dog may pose a risk to the people in the area if it lashed out at someone. You might want to ask the property owner just how much liability insurance that he/she has on the property and if he/she will be able to afford to pay any fines for code enforcement violations.

As to the dog, I would definitely start to document (video or pictures) the conditions that the dog is having to deal with. You just can't focus on hot weather but cold weather too. Illinois can have some really nasty weather in the winter. If it were me, I would not even think twice about calling Animal Control. You are not doing that dog any favors by not doing so. In my last home, I had neighbors that had Animal Control take away every animal they had because everyone was calling Animal Control on them the conditions were so bad for the animals. I ended up going to the shelter and adopting their cat because he was such a nice cat and would have been put to sleep if I didn't adopt him.