Blackdogs

Can't help but think the exact same thing. Why should I identify when you're not willing to??????? I saw that you had listed your location, so I didn't think you'd mind. But if you don't feel comfortable then there's no obligation. It was just a suggestion.

I would prefer not to dislose that for privacy reasons. Not really reasonable to expect other people to disclose pound names if you are not willing to do so Trisven doesn't have to disclose anything she doesn't want to. She may not have the same privacy concerns as I do.

I would prefer not to dislose that for privacy reasons.

I can tell you right now that there are pounds in Victoria that DO NOT release dogs to the general public. They will return them to owners but that is it - if the dog is not claimed by its owner it is shot. It is very, very, very difficult to convince members of the public to send a dog to a pound when they know that if the owners don't turn up it will be shot. I believe very, very strongly that people should always contact the rangers when they find a dog OR take it to the nearest vet (which is what I've always done with every stray dog (or deceased dog) that I've picked up - loads of) BUT there are some Councils that make that a very unpleasant option. As for how many dogs that are impounded get claimed I can tell you that when I was running Albury Dog Rescue and working closely with both Albury & Wodonga Pounds there were no more than 50% of impounded dogs claimed over the course of a year. In fact I'd be surprised if that many were claimed. That is interesting. The pounds around here certainly don't operate like that. Which pounds are they? It would be good to have a list of which ones do this in order to accurately advise. In those cases a description/photo might be better off being sent. Care to compile a list? Things might be different in rural areas, as people tend to find deserted areas to dump their dogs and many rural people tend to bave a more disposable attitude toward animals. Not all country people are like this, clearly, but I found when I lived in a rual area there were certainly more of these types. This might account for the heightened euthanasia rate.

Well done. It's seems us dog people are out in force collecting stray animals. I don't find that funny simply because of the danger stray dogs pose to the public and themselves. It scares the crap out of me seeing dogs run along busy roads. I have picked dead dogs off the road that I haven't got to in time. I have handed a dog into the pound that was PTS. Two cyclists were killed last week because a truck swerved to avoid a dog. I know of a person who is a parapledgic from swerving their car to miss a dog. Dogs that attack people or other dogs are often strays. So yes; if people find a stray they shouldn't keep it and should hand it to the pound. And yes; the pounds could probably lift their game with breed id and the like but the buck stops with us. We are the ones that have the capacity to make sure we have adequate fencing and gates that are locked. We are responsible for confirming correct microchip details and getting our dogs micochip scanned at vet visits. If pounds didn't have to deal with animals that stray due to slack containment and only needed to concentrate on the genuine cases then they might have more time to work on the accuracy of their breed identifications. I don't find strays funny. I find the fact that it's always the same people clodding about, rolling their eyes and fumbling for makeshift leads kind of funny. I am one of those people. :D And as for your second paragraph: glad you agree.

People may be able to put their name on the dog, but that doesn't mean it will be released to them. I am aware of a Great Dane that was taken to a pound recently because the owner of the dog was well aware of where it was but had not collected it over a 3 - 4 day period. When the people tried to say they would take it back if the owner didn't come and get it, they were not permitted to do so. When rescue rang re the dog they were told it have never been at the pound. I'm confused. Did the owners collect the dog from the pound in the end? Why did they refuse to release the dog to the finders? Was the dog still at the pound when the rescue rang? I don't know what happened to the dog, the pound refused to tell the person who had found the dog whether the owner had collected it and when rescue rang they denied ever having the dog. I seriously doubt the owner went to collect it as the dog was on the pound site for its hold period, then dropped off the day I sent the link to the rescue. How strange. Still, this isn't typical. The pound is still the best option for owner recovery. I hope the Dane is safe.

People may be able to put their name on the dog, but that doesn't mean it will be released to them. I am aware of a Great Dane that was taken to a pound recently because the owner of the dog was well aware of where it was but had not collected it over a 3 - 4 day period. When the people tried to say they would take it back if the owner didn't come and get it, they were not permitted to do so. When rescue rang re the dog they were told it have never been at the pound. I'm confused. Did the owners collect the dog from the pound in the end? Why did they refuse to release the dog to the finders? Was the dog still at the pound when the rescue rang?

Do you think she might have dementia? There are some drugs that can help with this if you contact your vet. What sort of cat do you have? There are some pretty easy going purebreds you might want to look into if you were to get another cat. I hear the British Shorthair is a bit of a quiet, couch potato, but there are others as well, like Persians. Although, obviously there are differences in temperament within a breed as well, so you might have to be careful to pick the right cat!

Mine: Two crazy, black devil dogs. Hand them in to the pound now, before they ruin your life with zoomies! Did you mean that the scanner can refuse to scan other chips or that the vets can refuse to scan other chips?

Well done. It's seems us dog people are out in force collecting stray animals.

If other have thought me rude, I am more than happy to discuss grievances with them, but I don't see anyone complaining. I am happy to have my opinions challenged without rudeness. My reasons are not false. This could go on for an eternity! So I'm going to close the book on this particular debate and get back to the original topic.

I'm quite happy to hear alternative opinions, but I don't think people need to be rude in expressing them. ;) There's a fine line between rude and blunt and I think eye rolling is crossing it. There is nothing false about what I said and that is something we'll have to agree to disagree on. Of course different areas and pounds are different in their operation, so that could be where we're coming unstuck. Again, euth rates are irrielavant. People are welcome to put their names on an animal if they are concerned.

Since this thread is on its last legs, I may as well ask an irrelevant question. How dangerous are mountain lions and bobcats towards people and pets? Do they live in close proximity to built up areas? Thanks. :D

I'm not sure what world you live in but yours sure is different to mine. Most pounds do equate to euthanasia although this is changing and some are doing it better than others. As for more being returned, I can't agree with that generalisation either. I live in a world in which I work closely with pounds on a day to day level. Of course pounds do have surrenders who often don't make it, but of the animals that come in lost, most are returned. Really? I guess LDH has picked up its game then. I would add a rolling eye emoticon here but people seem to despise it so.... Victoria is well known the have the most archaic animals laws in Australia and given that microchip identification was only made mandatory fairly recently in the scheme of things, I think you live in a fantasy world. There's really no need to be rude because our experiences differ. Anyway, whether more lost animals are euthed than rehomed is not the point of the thread. People can put their names on animals if they are concerned about that.

This sort of thing really gets to me. I think people involved in these fields really need to know what they're talking about. That kind of flippant arrogance can lead to disaster. Even if they were to utilise a breed chart it would be better than guessing. I regularly scan shelter adoption pages and the number of clear breed misindentifications I see is abominable. How is anyone to find their JRT if it's been labeled a Fox Terrier? I see crossbreeds labeled as staffies, Kelpies labeled as lab crosses (if it's not black and tan with pointy ears it can't be a Kelpie), plain old mutts being labeled as exotic breeds (some that don't even exist in Australia!) . . . it's mystifying. I would hate for my Schipp or my Kelpie to end up in some of these places. I could imagine she'd be a Chihuahua or Pom x and he (boofy headed show line dog) would be called a Shepherd or Lab x. Fortunately, they're not the straying types. However, if they did get out and someone held on to them and if I ever found out who they were I would push for 'theft by finding' and if that didn't work I'd be in touch with my lawyer. I agree with you to an extent, but as someone who has worked in a pound I have to say, about 60% of the dogs that came through where I was working were cross breeds. Pound staff have to make an educated guess a lot of the time. We would have people calling looking for their dog and the only info they could give us was "It's brown". This happened MUCH more often than you would think. We used to tell everyone that they HAVE to come in and look for their dog. It's not enough to just call and then blame pound staff when the dog is destroyed. Yes, some places arent great at breed ID but when you have a cross breed with no ID, what can you do? Also, mistakes will occur, we are humans and we are not perfect and there is always going to be some amount of human error, this is why people need to go in physically. Also in my experience the dodgy breed ID's are much more frequently from Rangers than pound staff. I once had a Ranger with two Chis taking pictures as he was so chuffed to see such small dogs, asking me what they were. It is up to owners to ID their dogs so that when they come into a pound the workers know without question what the dog is. I agree that people who don't have their pets ID are partially to blame. I understand having to guess, though if it is a guess I think it's important to use a variety of descriptors just in case. "It's brown" That would get very frustrating pretty quickly. I hope pound/shelter people always advise people to come in just in case. at least i can say its got brown spots.... and farts.... no one would keep it after one fart! We take a few calls regarding lost dogs and cats and there have been some pretty funny ones, but I haven't had that before. "What does it look like"? "An evil bastard of an escape artist". "So, Husky then"? "Actually, yes". That was a stab in the dark, though. It could have easily been a Beagle or a JRT.

not always fool proof. I worked in a pound/shelter and we had one dog come in. I scanned it, no chip. 3 days later the owner sauntered in and went ballastic at me cause I hadn't rang her to tell her dog was in cause he's chipped you know. I scanned the dog again in front of her, no chip. She insisted there was a chip so nearly 10 minutes later we found it. Scanner was working fine, before and after this dog, no idea why finding that chip was so hard. At least the next time he came in I recognised him and didn't even bother scanning him, just rang his owner who was none to happy to come and get him again! Two of my dogs chips have moved. One after 4 years has migrated, the other was only in a couple of week before it moved, very disappointing when they were supposed to be fixed years ago to stop the movement. And yes, the amount of owners who had no idea what their dog actually looked like when asked to describe it They're certainly not infallible, but i'm glad we have them. I'd like to see the introduction of chips with tracking devices. This would go some way towards curbing theft.

This sort of thing really gets to me. I think people involved in these fields really need to know what they're talking about. That kind of flippant arrogance can lead to disaster. Even if they were to utilise a breed chart it would be better than guessing. I regularly scan shelter adoption pages and the number of clear breed misindentifications I see is abominable. How is anyone to find their JRT if it's been labeled a Fox Terrier? I see crossbreeds labeled as staffies, Kelpies labeled as lab crosses (if it's not black and tan with pointy ears it can't be a Kelpie), plain old mutts being labeled as exotic breeds (some that don't even exist in Australia!) . . . it's mystifying. I would hate for my Schipp or my Kelpie to end up in some of these places. I could imagine she'd be a Chihuahua or Pom x and he (boofy headed show line dog) would be called a Shepherd or Lab x. Fortunately, they're not the straying types. However, if they did get out and someone held on to them and if I ever found out who they were I would push for 'theft by finding' and if that didn't work I'd be in touch with my lawyer. I agree with you to an extent, but as someone who has worked in a pound I have to say, about 60% of the dogs that came through where I was working were cross breeds. Pound staff have to make an educated guess a lot of the time. We would have people calling looking for their dog and the only info they could give us was "It's brown". This happened MUCH more often than you would think. We used to tell everyone that they HAVE to come in and look for their dog. It's not enough to just call and then blame pound staff when the dog is destroyed. Yes, some places arent great at breed ID but when you have a cross breed with no ID, what can you do? Also, mistakes will occur, we are humans and we are not perfect and there is always going to be some amount of human error, this is why people need to go in physically. Also in my experience the dodgy breed ID's are much more frequently from Rangers than pound staff. I once had a Ranger with two Chis taking pictures as he was so chuffed to see such small dogs, asking me what they were. It is up to owners to ID their dogs so that when they come into a pound the workers know without question what the dog is. I agree that people who don't have their pets ID are partially to blame. I understand having to guess, though if it is a guess I think it's important to use a variety of descriptors just in case. "It's brown" That would get very frustrating pretty quickly. I hope pound/shelter people always advise people to come in just in case. I think they're fully to blame, who else could be held responsible? Yes, we had to advise everyone that called to come in, many still didn't though. I also hope other places do this too. I'm going to copy and paste my response to another individual who basically said the same thing: You failed to read this in the context of what I was saying. I was talking about widespread breed misidentification in pounds. Yes, obviously people should ID their pets, but given a big function of pounds is to hold and return pets they should really have a system in place that goes some way towards guarding against this misidentification. Educating staff or using ID charts might be helpful. Yep, they do have a system in place but as I said it only works if the dog is pure. Once a dog is crossed it could be anything, even if it looks like something else, breed charts are usless if a dog is a mix. The onus is on the owner, not the pounds. They do have a system in place? The onus is on the pounds to do everything possible to return rather than euthanise. The example of the Bearded Collie being labeled as an Old English Sheepdog after being informed otherwise is a disgrace. We're going to have to agree to disagree. I think pounds need to take some responsibility for their function as holding and returning facilities and they need to take that role seriously.

Two days ago this happened on DOL, and you did not advise this. You advised that the ranger would "just put to sleep". What an annoying topic this is, in so many ways. I must have missed this thread. Did someone do this recently?

I'm not sure what world you live in but yours sure is different to mine. Most pounds do equate to euthanasia although this is changing and some are doing it better than others. As for more being returned, I can't agree with that generalisation either. I live in a world in which I work closely with pounds on a day to day level. Of course pounds do have surrenders who often don't make it, but of the animals that come in lost, most are returned.

This sort of thing really gets to me. I think people involved in these fields really need to know what they're talking about. That kind of flippant arrogance can lead to disaster. Even if they were to utilise a breed chart it would be better than guessing. I regularly scan shelter adoption pages and the number of clear breed misindentifications I see is abominable. How is anyone to find their JRT if it's been labeled a Fox Terrier? I see crossbreeds labeled as staffies, Kelpies labeled as lab crosses (if it's not black and tan with pointy ears it can't be a Kelpie), plain old mutts being labeled as exotic breeds (some that don't even exist in Australia!) . . . it's mystifying. I would hate for my Schipp or my Kelpie to end up in some of these places. I could imagine she'd be a Chihuahua or Pom x and he (boofy headed show line dog) would be called a Shepherd or Lab x. Fortunately, they're not the straying types. However, if they did get out and someone held on to them and if I ever found out who they were I would push for 'theft by finding' and if that didn't work I'd be in touch with my lawyer. I agree with you to an extent, but as someone who has worked in a pound I have to say, about 60% of the dogs that came through where I was working were cross breeds. Pound staff have to make an educated guess a lot of the time. We would have people calling looking for their dog and the only info they could give us was "It's brown". This happened MUCH more often than you would think. We used to tell everyone that they HAVE to come in and look for their dog. It's not enough to just call and then blame pound staff when the dog is destroyed. Yes, some places arent great at breed ID but when you have a cross breed with no ID, what can you do? Also, mistakes will occur, we are humans and we are not perfect and there is always going to be some amount of human error, this is why people need to go in physically. Also in my experience the dodgy breed ID's are much more frequently from Rangers than pound staff. I once had a Ranger with two Chis taking pictures as he was so chuffed to see such small dogs, asking me what they were. It is up to owners to ID their dogs so that when they come into a pound the workers know without question what the dog is. I agree that people who don't have their pets ID are partially to blame. I understand having to guess, though if it is a guess I think it's important to use a variety of descriptors just in case. "It's brown" That would get very frustrating pretty quickly. I hope pound/shelter people always advise people to come in just in case. I think they're fully to blame, who else could be held responsible? Yes, we had to advise everyone that called to come in, many still didn't though. I also hope other places do this too. I'm going to copy and paste my response to another individual who basically said the same thing: You failed to read this in the context of what I was saying. I was talking about widespread breed misidentification in pounds. Yes, obviously people should ID their pets, but given a big function of pounds is to hold and return pets they should really have a system in place that goes some way towards guarding against this misidentification. Educating staff or using ID charts might be helpful.

Partially? Are such people under the misapprehension that their dog can talk.....& will provide finders/pound with the contact details of its owner? Having said that, there's always that one -off when a dog goes missing before its collar can be put on after a bath....or has slipped its collar. That can happen for the most responsible owner. Thankfully, microchipping now provides the ultimate safety ID cover. So it's wise not to assume that, because a found dog is not wearing collar ID, that the owner has not been responsible. You failed to read this in the context of what I was saying. I was talking about widespread breed misidentification in pounds. Yes, obviously people should ID their pets, but given a big function of pounds is to hold and return pets they should really have a system in place that goes some way towards guarding against this misidentification. Educating staff or using ID charts might be helpful.

Thank dog for micrchip!

Council registration of dogs....with tags to wear on collars... pre-date microchipping by decades. ID disks on dogs' collars have been around since Adam was a chap. I read where King Edward VII's dog, Caesar, had an ID tag which said, 'I'm the King's dog.' Even the king of England was prepared that his dog might get lost. Was there any reason why the 2 dogs you've posted about, did not wear either or both registration tags and ID tag? I don't have sympathy for owners who lack the foresight to imagine what might happen if their dog gets lost....without any form of identification. I have sympathy for the pets. Sometimes dogs slip their collars. I hope, despite your lack of sympathy that you would still do the right thing and take the dogs to the pound.

This sort of thing really gets to me. I think people involved in these fields really need to know what they're talking about. That kind of flippant arrogance can lead to disaster. Even if they were to utilise a breed chart it would be better than guessing. I regularly scan shelter adoption pages and the number of clear breed misindentifications I see is abominable. How is anyone to find their JRT if it's been labeled a Fox Terrier? I see crossbreeds labeled as staffies, Kelpies labeled as lab crosses (if it's not black and tan with pointy ears it can't be a Kelpie), plain old mutts being labeled as exotic breeds (some that don't even exist in Australia!) . . . it's mystifying. I would hate for my Schipp or my Kelpie to end up in some of these places. I could imagine she'd be a Chihuahua or Pom x and he (boofy headed show line dog) would be called a Shepherd or Lab x. Fortunately, they're not the straying types. However, if they did get out and someone held on to them and if I ever found out who they were I would push for 'theft by finding' and if that didn't work I'd be in touch with my lawyer. I agree with you to an extent, but as someone who has worked in a pound I have to say, about 60% of the dogs that came through where I was working were cross breeds. Pound staff have to make an educated guess a lot of the time. We would have people calling looking for their dog and the only info they could give us was "It's brown". This happened MUCH more often than you would think. We used to tell everyone that they HAVE to come in and look for their dog. It's not enough to just call and then blame pound staff when the dog is destroyed. Yes, some places arent great at breed ID but when you have a cross breed with no ID, what can you do? Also, mistakes will occur, we are humans and we are not perfect and there is always going to be some amount of human error, this is why people need to go in physically. Also in my experience the dodgy breed ID's are much more frequently from Rangers than pound staff. I once had a Ranger with two Chis taking pictures as he was so chuffed to see such small dogs, asking me what they were. It is up to owners to ID their dogs so that when they come into a pound the workers know without question what the dog is. I agree that people who don't have their pets ID are partially to blame. I understand having to guess, though if it is a guess I think it's important to use a variety of descriptors just in case. "It's brown" That would get very frustrating pretty quickly. I hope pound/shelter people always advise people to come in just in case.

This sort of thing really gets to me. I think people involved in these fields really need to know what they're talking about. That kind of flippant arrogance can lead to disaster. Even if they were to utilise a breed chart it would be better than guessing. I regularly scan shelter adoption pages and the number of clear breed misindentifications I see is abominable. How is anyone to find their JRT if it's been labeled a Fox Terrier? I see crossbreeds labeled as staffies, Kelpies labeled as lab crosses (if it's not black and tan with pointy ears it can't be a Kelpie), plain old mutts being labeled as exotic breeds (some that don't even exist in Australia!) . . . it's mystifying. I would hate for my Schipp or my Kelpie to end up in some of these places. I could imagine she'd be a Chihuahua or Pom x and he (boofy headed show line dog) would be called a Shepherd or Lab x. Fortunately, they're not the straying types. However, if they did get out and someone held on to them and if I ever found out who they were I would push for 'theft by finding' and if that didn't work I'd be in touch with my lawyer.