"Would you pick up the papers please?"

came the request from our neighbour. 
He's Chinese and we don't have a great deal to do with him. He speaks good English but his wife speaks almost none although she has now lived here for some years. (I offered English lessons but they were turned down.)
But R.... speaks excellent English and he likes to keep up with the news. He does a great many financial transactions via the internet. The back room of their house has multiple computers and clocks - each dedicated to a financial hub somewhere in the world. I have never bothered to inquire precisely what he does or how. It's none of my business.
And yes, he gets the papers - more than one paper. It helps him keep up to date apparently. 
Yesterday he told me he hadn't cancelled them in time for the holiday so please would I pick them up. No, he didn't want them. I could read them if I wanted to. As the Senior Cat still likes to get an actual paper we get the state one but I read the rest I need to read on line.
None of that was my concern though. Our neighbours have a dog. It is a small, yapping chihuahua. It is not a nice dog at all. It isn't friendly in the least. I do not in the least blame the neighbourhood cats for all learning the trick of sitting on the fence and making it bark in frustration - however annoying the barking may be.
What, I inquired of my neighbour, were they going to do with the dog? I was appalled to discover that they planned to leave it there "with food and water" - from this morning (Friday) to Monday afternoon. 
Now if it was a friendly sort of dog I would have been happy to help out. I would have fed it. I would have spent some time playing with it in their garden even if I couldn't take it for a walk. (It almost never gets a walk.) It isn't that I actually have the time to do those things but dogs are not like cats. They need company. You can't just leave food and water for them and hope they will be okay. Cats can regulate themselves. They can hunt for food and water if they really need it. Dogs don't do that. What if the dog upset the water bowl - or the water ran out? A dog won't pace the food either... most cats would. And dogs are pack animals. Cats are generally solitary. Dogs need company. Cats will seek out company if they want it. 
I know that our neighbours know very little about the care of dogs. The dog was wished upon them and I suspect they would prefer to be without it.  Still, in all fairness to the dog, I gently suggested that it might not be wise to leave it alone. R...seemed startled. I told him that a dog is not like a cat.
I don't know what he plans to do but I hope we are not in for four days of barking.