What do you do?!!

[colsen4]

I don't know if I'm posting in the right thread or not...but anyway...

I work for an organization in which I do home visits to low income families. Many of these families have pets that they should not have. Just today I faced two situations that I felt helpless in. The first....a pregnant woman with three other kids decided to get two Saint Bernards off of Craig'slist. Well...they started being aggressive towards the husband (who probably hit them...I don't know that though) and now they want to get rid of them. I basically gave her a whole list of phone numbers for shelters/rescues in the area and she seemed very sincere about calling. I said if you can't find anyone to help you, please call me. Second situation...I go to a house and they have a puppy tied to their deck. This dog was on just a regular 4 ft. leash. The last time I saw this family it was a different dog tied to the deck. So I finish my visit and go out to the pup and he was soooo excited to get attention. I went to my car to get him some water and tried to pour it in the chewed up container that they had for him, but he was so excited he knocked it over. I don't know if he was thirsty or just excited. This dog was skinny, but not emaciated. I knocked on their door again and said "Oh what do you feed your dog? I have an extra bag of food at home that my dogs won't eat so I'll bring it next time!" Well they did have a big bag of cheapie dog food, which made me happy (because at least he's getting fed). But still...I decided to drive by the trailor again after work and the pup was STILL outside laying under the porch! My heart breaks! What do you do in these situations? I want to go steal all these dogs, but I know I can't! Should I be calling the local shelters and reporting these people? The one time I reported a family was when I saw their emaciated dog, not just skinny, but emaciated. Another time(on a home visit) I came across a stray pup that lived off of garbage and was owned by drug dealers. I got lucky with that one as a girl I knew wanted to adopt a pup. iI was a stealth move, but he's doing great now!

[mypuppyJack]

Since I deliver mail in a low income area I come across these situations often. I've been out since having rotator cuff surgery and really feel so much better not having to see this stuff everyday. I'm dreading going back to work. It's difficult, just remember you can't save everyone. If you can educate people and help some pups along the way that's wonderful. Most aren't terrible people, they just don't know any better.
Any real neglect I report to the local AC and have their number programmed in my phone.
One teen had a pup tied out on asphalt in the summer and he told me it was shady when he tied him out there in the morning. He had no idea the sun moved across the sky. Ya can't fix stupid. Some people shouldn't have kids, some people shouldn't own animals. All you can do is try to help where you can.

[colsen4]

Yeah, it makes me so angry! I'm still really upset about that puppy tied to the porch. I might call the Humane Society at least to see if they can give me any advice, even if it does'nt constitute a report. Also, unfortunately I'm in a tough spot because of the of fact that I have to keep a professional/friendly relationship with these families. If I try to go about educating them about proper care of their pets, even if in a friendly way, people tend to get very defensive and angry and I don't want to lose my job. Any more advice would be appreciated. Thanks!