my neighbor was like that, sassys mom was a little rat terrior and they would just let her fend for herself. especially during the winter i would see her out there in the snow and cold. so i just started putting her in the house. she was skinny and pregnant so i fed her also.those people would just ignore her. the night she had sassy and the other 2 pups, we had a tornado, so fortunatly i had her in the house and she had them here. 3 barks 3 puppies. after i gave them back to them she hid them under my house, because they always left them outside. but they gave me sassy and gave away the other 2 and the mom.