Help me, I have a bit of a situation here. A colleague of my flatmate has recently moved to Ireland, but he left his dog in his apartment in Paris. This happened in early December and since then colleagues at the restaurant where they work have been taking it in turns to tend to the dog, walk her and feed her.

Yesterday I happily volunteered my services as a capable dog-lover and carer and went round to the apartment. When I got there I found her locked in the bedroom, laying on a ripped mattress covered in urine stains and surrounded by her own fæces. Her water bowl was empty. The dog didn’t know me at all but all she wanted to do was be as near to me as possible. She was desperately crying out, craving for any form of attention. After walking and feeding her we settled in a chair, her on my lap. I eventually had to leave, though the devastating cries coming from the bedroom as I locked the door were enough to test the emotions of any man.

This morning when I returned the situation was much the same as I fed her her breakfast and took her for a walk. We stopped by a pet shop and I treated her to a rope toy and some biscuits. Back home I inadvertently fell asleep on the sofa of the cold, deserted apartment and woke up with Hurley curled between me and the back of the chair, softly snoring as we shared each other’s warmth and company.

I’ve known the dog less than 24 hours but I know she is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and it’s not fair for such a beautiful creature to be locked up in that place with very little affection, company, food or sanitation.

All the better half of me wants to do is contact the SPA to get this dog into some proper care as it deserves, but the problem lies in that the dog belongs to a colleague of my flatmate, so what repurcussions would something like that have on her? Also, apparently ultimately the plan is to take the dog over to Ireland, but no body seems too certain on when or indeed how this will take place.

What should I do? For now I’m just going to keep going to see the dog and make sure she is well. That’s all I can do and will do in a humane sense, but more morally I can’t let this dog live like this for much longer, can I?a