umm that sounds like animal neglect to me! if one of my 'friends' treated their pet like that, I wouldn't be their friend anymore....
My dog sleeps on pillows, is free fed (that means constant access to food) sometimes he even gets *filtered* water, lol. I am not a perfect dog parent, probably don't comb him as often as I should, sometimes sneak him some human food etc.

Your friends ought to punish that kid for not treating that animal better and it's unfair to the dog to not feed it just because their kid isn't doing it, they should literally take the kid by the hand, make her scoop the food and give it to the dog.

My mom sure as heck didn't rely on me as an 8 year old to totally look after an animal all by myself, we looked after my hamster and budgies and fish together. Even when I was 10 I did not have total responsibility for my first dog! We both fed and walked him and stuff.