We have a slight issue with the neighbors. What would you do?

[Missy Vixen]

We've lived next door to the same people for the past eight years. We've gone out of our way to be friendly, helpful, all that stuff. We'd like to be on good terms with the neighbors. Let's just say that we're acknowledged when they want something, and dead to them when they don't. I really don't think they read DU, but frankly, I'm disguising details, just in case.

The neighbors got a purebred Big Dog puppy a few months ago after a somewhat overaggressive door-to-door salesman came through. I told my husband that the dog wouldn't last a year. The male neighbor is clean to the point of OCD. (They can't have a cat; he's afraid Kitty will "get on the counters", for instance.) He also has little to no patience with the antics of an active puppy. The female neighbor is 48 and has NO common sense. (First rule of survival as an adult: Do not tell a door-to-door salesperson any of your business, which is why her husband freaked out and produced a "guard dog" within two weeks.) Sure enough, the very large and rambunctious dog caused an accident with his dog mom that left her significantly injured. She is having surgery in two weeks to fix the injury, and probably a protracted convalescence as a result.

The dog mom mentioned to us two weeks ago that they were thinking about getting rid of the dog. We immediately offered to take him. We love him. He's a sweet boy that just needs a bit more exercise and some consistent training. It would be tough at first with the felines, but we've wanted a dog for a long time, and we're prepared to do the training, etcetera, that will come along with introducing him to the household. So, for the past two weeks, we've been taking care of the dog. After all, if we want him, we need to take care of him, don't we? This was all done with their blessing. When we've not been doing that, we've been running the wife all over town. She can't drive as the result of her injuries.

The male neighbor met Mr. Missy Vixen in our front yard about an hour ago. They've given the dog away to someone else. He's getting picked up tomorrow. After all, it would "hurt them too much" to have him just next door. They never even talked to us about it before now. How convenient. Let's put it this way -- nice to know that our feelings in this matter are completely unimportant.

So, if you were in our shoes, what would you do? Would you say something, or would you remain silent? One thing's for sure: Playtime's over. I think it's best to pull up the moat, so to speak, and move on.