Finders Keepers.

[Baileys mum]

Why didn't you take her to the pound and put your name on her so she didn't get PTS? not having a go, I'm trying to understand

This is exactly what my sister done when she found a gorgeous black cat in her back yard. She knocked on all the neighbours doors first asking if they had lost a black cat or knew of anyone that had. & when she couldn't find an owner anywhere in her neighbourhood she brought her to the pound & told them that if no one claimed her she would adopt her so she wouldn't be PTS....So when the time was up (I think it may have been 2 weeks )for her owner to claim her, my sister got a call from the pound that the cat was hers if she still wanted her...Zelda is now a much loved member of their family, but atleast my sister did the right thing by taking her to the pound to give her owner the chance to find her if she actually did have an owner that cared for her & was looking for her.

[tdierikx]

Being involved in rescue and living in an area bounded by 3 council areas - and thusly has 3 possible pounds an animal could go to - I once took in a dog that had been wandering the local area for 4 days.

I called the local ranger who came and scanned the dog - no chip - and said that we could take her to the pound, or we could notify all 3 pounds servicing the area that we had a lost and injured dog (she appeared to have been tapped by a car or kicked in her back leg, and had a limp) and give permission for them to pass on my phone number to anyone looking for a missing Rotti girl. I took the second option, as the dog needed a nice soft bed to rest her sore leg in rather than a concrete pound kennel - and she got on well with my other dogs nicely.

We notified Petsearch, put ads in local and city wide papers, notices in all of the local vet clinics and the pounds, etc... no-one called...

We do have a reasonable dumpage rate of dogs around this area, and this girl may have been a victim of that - given that she was roaming the local area for at least 4 days and was scared and confused. She was a lovely girl with impeccable lead and house manners. She ended up developing a really evil cancer about 18 months later that we were treating, but sadly she went to the Bridge after a brave and gallant fight.

T.

[WreckitWhippet]

I find it somewhat ironic that some people on this forum have been lauded for doing exactly this.

I find it disturbing that educated DOLers would condone this behaviour, no matter how well-intentioned the finders are.

Ohh believe me they not only condone it but make up evrey excuse in the book as to why they should keep the dog or pup, the most common one being that it looks neglected and is not chipped. Like that some how gives them the right to keep it

[indigirl]

One of my rescue group's foster dogs got out during a storm recently. The foster carers had removed his collar and tag against my express instructions. He was gone for 5 days. Luckily this guy saw our poster which said (truthfully) that the dog was on medication and called. He'd picked him up during the storm and said he had intended to keep the dog, he was on the thin side (Italian Greyhounds are usually) and thought that noone wanted him.

Thank God we got him back.

Oh no. Was the dog ok, having been without his meds for so long?

Yes we did this is him last week in his new foster home with a GAP greyhound

Just to clarify the 2 dogs are never together unsupervised nor are they allowed to run together, just cuddle lol

[Bluefairy]

I had my pedigree, microchipped, female escape our back yard....in 5 years she never jumped the gate, I just thought she couldn't as it was 4ft high, but she did. We rang everywhere, we were finally told she was at the dog catchers home....so we drove out there (small country town), and there was our girl sitting at the bathroom door, waiting for the dog catchers little girls to come out and play. The dog catcher said she was a beautiful dog and so friendly and loved the kids, which she was and more. I explained to the dog catcher I was her owner and Jessie was microchipped, her face just dropped. She then reluctantly checked and double checked I was her owner she said if they didn't find her owner they would have kept her I don't think she had any intention of checking the microchip at all.....I'm just so lucky we found her when we did.

Also I too would be reluctant to send any animal to the pound here. Their turn over rate is quick. The local vets get a bonus for all the animals they PTS. Its the only way they have been making a living, as their reputation as vets have gone down hill through lack of care about animals. They prefer PTS as a solution rather than trying to help.

I'm just so glad Jessie didn't end up at the pound

Lynn

[Odin-Genie]

Many years ago we have had a dog get out and spent days looking for her, posters up, had done the rounds of the vets, notified council, checked the pounds repeatedly etc. People had found her just after she got out and took her home. Despite her being microchipped, and having a collar with contact numbers on it. The wife fully intended to keep her as she was good with the kids and was a well trained polite dog. Thankfully the husband came home on RDO's, he worked away from home, and managed to work out something was not right (wife had taken her collar and tags off), saw a poster and rang us. He then brought her back and apologised for his wife's behaviour. It was absolutely devastating to have lost her and it was clear we would not have got her back if the husband had not come home.

How can people do that? Do they not realise how heart breaking it can be to lose a pet?

Recently, while walking over to the car park from work, I found two labs walking near the Pacific Highway. No owners around, and no contact details on the collar. So I got hold of the labs, called people at work to find anything that could work as a leash (they made a string of lanyards), and called the rangers. I had to wait for one hour for the ranger to arrive who was extremely happy that I had called him. Apparently the owners had been looking desparately for these dogs.

But the interesting thing was while I was waiting with the dogs, people passing by asked me if they were mine. When I said no and that I was waiting for the rangers, most of the comments were: "such lovely dogs, you should take them home", "why would anyone dump them", "I would take them home if I had enough space".....

It looks like people assume that if dogs are on their own they must have been dumped. Perhaps that is why they feel they can simply take them home?

[Trisven13]

I find it somewhat ironic that some people on this forum have been lauded for doing exactly this.

I find it disturbing that educated DOLers would condone this behaviour, no matter how well-intentioned the finders are.

Ohh believe me they not only condone it but make up evrey excuse in the book as to why they should keep the dog or pup, the most common one being that it looks neglected and is not chipped. Like that some how gives them the right to keep it

I think it is also important to recognise that in SOME rural areas the finder of the dog will be asked to hold onto it for a while, if they're able to, by the rangers. My parents live in Towong Shire which is a large rural shire with the Rangers based at the opposite end to my parents. They found a dog and were asked by the rangers to hold onto it for a couple of days and let everyone in their small village know that they had found the dog. If after those couple of days the owner hadn't come forward then he would come and get the dog. I have previously stood up for people on here who have been told that by their local Rangers. I have also supported someone who found 3 pups and took them to a Council further away than their local - the pups were found in dense bushland at the end of a rural road, were a typical pigging mix for this area (Staghound/Greyhound type) and only about 10 weeks old. Their local pound didn't release dogs to rescue or the general public and still (as of 12 months ago) shot impounded dogs rather than euthanised. They were impounded, given an opportunity for claiming through microchip and allowed to live.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Trisven13

[WreckitWhippet]

I don't find it acceptable for rangers, councils or others to make the rules up as they go along.

[Keira&Phoenix]

I can understand the sentiments of people who want to hold onto a dog being worried that they may be PTS at the pound, in saying that it isn't right, sometimes you just have to suck it up and do the right thing and if you are really worried as others have said put your name on the animal if an owner is not found.

I took this dude to the Emergency Vet last night (only Vet open at that time)

It was the 2nd time in the last week that I had seen him wandering our area. The first time he seemed nervous and I was on my own with my leash aggressive dog so couldn't approach him, I watched him from afar and called the Council to report him. Yesterday I was walking the same dog when I spotted him running around the local park and playing with the other dogs. I ended up calling my parents and getting them to come get my dog and bring a spare leash. I had treats on me (always do when walking the dogs) and approached him, gave him some food and soon we were besties. I walked him home, he was a sweeite, walked well on leash, took food ever so gently, sat on command, shook hands, he was desexed and seemed well looked after. All in all a gorgeous dog, I fell in love, he stole my heart the sweetie. Found out he had a chip when we went the vets (I suspected he did) and I left him there for them to contact his owners. I am going to call them soon to see if he was picked up.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Keira&Phoenix

[Greytmate]

It is interesting, I find many rescue or animal related orgs/groups who go on about not taking dogs to pounds, RSPCA or AWL because to quote 'it will just get put down' so many have a fear of contacting anyone when they find a dog & either want to keep it or hand it straight to rescue. ....

But please people don't create hype so people are fearful about doing the right thing & if you find a dog please contact your council & take the dog to be scanned.

What?

Yes, when I hear somebody saying something like that, I respond like this.

[pepe001]

I have a potentially very sad story - before microchipping. One day I saw a cream Bearded Collie running along a busy road. I grabbed him and took him straight to the RSPCA. I told them he was a Bearded Collie and even wrote it on the form. Someone with their superiour dog breed knowledge corrected my form to say Old English Sheepdog. A few days later I was contacted by the owners and given a bottle of wine and box of chockies and they came to met me. They explained their dog had escaped after a bath and they were frantic. The rang the RSPCA and were told - no Bearded Collies here. The RSPCA thought they meant Rough Collie. After ringing and visiting pounds etc for a few days they decided to check the RSPCA in person. There was their dog called an Old English Sheepdog. They almost lost him - due to a breed-id-error and not checking in person. To me and to them he was so much a Bearded Collie but I guess they are similar to an Old English Sheepdog.

When I found a staffy bitch once (again pre microchips) I rang the pound every day to check on missing dogs and went through the RSPCA lost lists in person. Both the pound and the RSPCA told me to keep her at home as they were both over-run with dogs and no room. She was beautifully trained, fat and healthy, an obvious inside-dog but elderly. We never found her owner after 3 months but I managed to find her a good forever home.

[OSoSwift]

I am thankful to say our pound down here has come ahead in leaps and bounds of late.

They do not put down any dog unless it has bad medical issues or major temperment issues. They now release dogs to SAFE - desexed prior to leaving and the fuel of the person coming to pick them up is covered (400kms each way) and they are given a donation with the dog. The also have up for approval with the shire, all dogs leaving the pound are desexed.

Now I know many pounds aeround the place already desex before leaving but up until the last little while and a progressive team of rangers ours was basically a hold facility, some got kept longer to find a home but the euth rate was high and eventually their time did run out.

Years ago we did at times get asked if we could keep the animals at our place or the vet hospital and they were officially impounded, ranger came out to look etc as the pound was crap and very often full.

All found animals irrespective of condition and people thoughts on where they came from should be taken to the pound and scanned.

[corrie]

I agree the dog should be handed in and fact is dogs do escape and get lost from even the most pendantic owners but far too many people just have got a she'll be right attitude and are either too lax with containment or completely underesimate a dogs ability to get over, under or through a fence (or gate).

I am so over the amount of animals I find wandering and it makes me angry (maybe unreasonably so) but they should be given the best chance at finding their rightful owners.

[Pollywaffle]

I am thankful to say our pound down here has come ahead in leaps and bounds of late.

They do not put down any dog unless it has bad medical issues or major temperment issues. They now release dogs to SAFE - desexed prior to leaving and the fuel of the person coming to pick them up is covered (400kms each way) and they are given a donation with the dog. The also have up for approval with the shire, all dogs leaving the pound are desexed.

Now I know many pounds aeround the place already desex before leaving but up until the last little while and a progressive team of rangers ours was basically a hold facility, some got kept longer to find a home but the euth rate was high and eventually their time did run out.

Years ago we did at times get asked if we could keep the animals at our place or the vet hospital and they were officially impounded, ranger came out to look etc as the pound was crap and very often full.

All found animals irrespective of condition and people thoughts on where they came from should be taken to the pound and scanned.

what a heartening story..so good to see that pounds are starting to take the initiative and not just kill....hopefully other pounds will follow suit? I think I heard of a similar initiative here in Qld..at Ipswich so it's all progress.

[k9's-mum]

nearly 5 years ago we were visiting a small local ( 40 mins by car away ) town, we were at the river and found a small pup, he was skin and bones, it was near dark, so we door knocked the few properties that were close by, a local had been trying to get a ranger to come and get him for the last week.called the ranger, got a message service.so with no options we took him home with us, we wernt about to leave him there to starve to death.

the next day i called the council,they didnt want to know, left yet another message for the ranger

took him to my vet ,no chip was present, the vet diddnt think he would survive, he was that malnourished

called local radio station and placed him on their lost and found, placed ads on the local supermarket notice boards

finally heard from the ranger nearly a week later, he told me that if we didnt want to give it a home we could either , surender it to my local pound, and due to his condition he would be PTS, bring back to him, and he would have him PTS

we decided to give him the home he needed,

i have found other animals, they seeem to like coming over when they cant find there way home,i walk them down to the local vet, or call the ranger, and they deal with them.

[Blackdogs]

It seems irresponsible rangers and shelter staff also have a lot to answer for.

[lovemymutts]

Whenever people post somewhere that they've found a dog I tell them to ring every council around there area but even then it's still hard because a ranger I know works in a town along a major highway & the amount of times he's had a dog brought in from places sometimes 4hrs away is incredible! He does usually try to get in touch with the council area the dog came from but sometimes you just don't know where the dog has come from. I just don't know what people think when they find dogs

[Blackdogs]

I have a potentially very sad story - before microchipping. One day I saw a cream Bearded Collie running along a busy road. I grabbed him and took him straight to the RSPCA. I told them he was a Bearded Collie and even wrote it on the form. Someone with their superiour dog breed knowledge corrected my form to say Old English Sheepdog. A few days later I was contacted by the owners and given a bottle of wine and box of chockies and they came to met me. They explained their dog had escaped after a bath and they were frantic. The rang the RSPCA and were told - no Bearded Collies here. The RSPCA thought they meant Rough Collie. After ringing and visiting pounds etc for a few days they decided to check the RSPCA in person. There was their dog called an Old English Sheepdog. They almost lost him - due to a breed-id-error and not checking in person. To me and to them he was so much a Bearded Collie but I guess they are similar to an Old English Sheepdog.

When I found a staffy bitch once (again pre microchips) I rang the pound every day to check on missing dogs and went through the RSPCA lost lists in person. Both the pound and the RSPCA told me to keep her at home as they were both over-run with dogs and no room. She was beautifully trained, fat and healthy, an obvious inside-dog but elderly. We never found her owner after 3 months but I managed to find her a good forever home.

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.

[mita]

Brisbane City Council has a good option, if a finder has picked up a dog wearing a current registration tag. An officer at the call centre gives one option where the finder can hold the dog temporarily while the council phones the owner. This may only take minutes. The officer then switches the owner thro' to the finder and they both can make arrangements for the owner to come collect the dog.

We live near a shopping centre, with nice 'smells' that attract dogs that get loose, so have found quite a few lost canines trotting by. Most of them, thanks to the council's option, have been returned to owners who've arrived within an hour or so.

Only odd one was when an owner of a Ridgie was switched thro' , by a Council officer, only to tell us they were out of town at a country wedding. We happily agreed that the Ridgie girl could stay the night. On the dot, her owners arrived next morning to get her.

Tho' another one was also a bit odd. When the council officer contacted a Staffy's owner, he was actually in Melbourne on a business trip. The owner, after being switched thro' to us, then organised for the Staffy to be dropped into his mother's house (which was near us). We were happy to oblige.

In all those cases, the dogs had been responsibly registered by their owners (& most were also microchipped tho' that hadn't been necessary to check). Owners who've made sure their dogs have identification of this kind, deserve every assistance in getting their pets back safe & sound.

And the Brisbane Council does their bit, by allowing the pets to by-pass the pound system, if they have a registration tag. It's not surprising for some finders to have qualms about what might happen to a dog or cat passed over to the pound system....especially if checking shows no registration tag/microchip/ID tag.

I have no time at all for owners who do not register/ID/microchip their dogs and cats.

Edited December 14, 2011 by mita

[Dame Aussie]

I have a potentially very sad story - before microchipping. One day I saw a cream Bearded Collie running along a busy road. I grabbed him and took him straight to the RSPCA. I told them he was a Bearded Collie and even wrote it on the form. Someone with their superiour dog breed knowledge corrected my form to say Old English Sheepdog. A few days later I was contacted by the owners and given a bottle of wine and box of chockies and they came to met me. They explained their dog had escaped after a bath and they were frantic. The rang the RSPCA and were told - no Bearded Collies here. The RSPCA thought they meant Rough Collie. After ringing and visiting pounds etc for a few days they decided to check the RSPCA in person. There was their dog called an Old English Sheepdog. They almost lost him - due to a breed-id-error and not checking in person. To me and to them he was so much a Bearded Collie but I guess they are similar to an Old English Sheepdog.

When I found a staffy bitch once (again pre microchips) I rang the pound every day to check on missing dogs and went through the RSPCA lost lists in person. Both the pound and the RSPCA told me to keep her at home as they were both over-run with dogs and no room. She was beautifully trained, fat and healthy, an obvious inside-dog but elderly. We never found her owner after 3 months but I managed to find her a good forever home.

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.

Edited December 14, 2011 by Aussie3