Finders Keepers.

[~Anne~]

You are right. The function and value of pounds really needs to be made clearer. Many people equate pounds with euthanasia. Of course it happens, but I'm sure many more lost dogs are returned than euthanised.

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.

[Blackdogs]

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.

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.

[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.

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.

[Blackdogs]

You are right. The function and value of pounds really needs to be made clearer. Many people equate pounds with euthanasia. Of course it happens, but I'm sure many more lost dogs are returned than euthanised.

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.

[Blackdogs]

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

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?

[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.

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.

[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.

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.

[Rebanne]

Thank dog for micrchip!

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

[Maddy]

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.

Another part of the problem is the difference in colour naming between breeds.

We've actually had a call from a vet before, asking if we wanted a "brown" greyhound that someone had brought in. Given how unusual duns are, we went out there.. it was a black greyhound with kennel coat :rolleyes: (we took Josie anyway)

While it's easy for those who are knowledgable about a breed to recognise colour/breeding (pure, cross)/other things to look for (in greyhounds, ear brands, for example), those without that knowledge just to have base information on what they can see. I have no doubt that this can sometimes lead to owners calling pounds and pound staff honestly believing that they haven't seen the dog in question.

Unless owners keep accurate records to refer to (markings are a good way of identifying individuals, for a lot of breeds), they really can't expect pound staff to be performing miracles based on vague information such as "black and white border collie" or.. "yellow labrador".

[tdierikx]

My old girl Zeddy's chip seems to have gone deep - it where it should be, right between the shoulders, but you have to scan over the area a few times to find it. It was inserted over 12 years ago and might be getting old... ??

T.

[DobieMum]

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.

3 years ago my two got out, they were a red staffy and a red dobermann, they ended up at the pound, but were there for 3 days before I found them. I had been ringing at least twice a day since day one, but kept getting told "No their not here" Turns out they were, none of them had seen a red dobermann before. Still charged me kenneling fee for all 3 days but.......

[starreys]

i forgot to add when i got my bully back i took him straight to the vet and had him scanned they found the chip right where it should be it hadnt moved at all.

[wuffles]

Thank dog for micrchip!

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

My girl's chip has moved down to her leg, so I worry about this

[Blackdogs]

Thank dog for micrchip!

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.

[voloclydes]

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.

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!

[~Anne~]

You are right. The function and value of pounds really needs to be made clearer. Many people equate pounds with euthanasia. Of course it happens, but I'm sure many more lost dogs are returned than euthanised.

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.

[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.

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.

[Blackdogs]

You are right. The function and value of pounds really needs to be made clearer. Many people equate pounds with euthanasia. Of course it happens, but I'm sure many more lost dogs are returned than euthanised.

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.

[wantsapuppy]

I don't understand how people can do this.

I was driving home a couple of days ago and found this beagle near the side of the road ( 100KM road at that) so i stopped took it home with me and rang the number on the tag . This was a well looked after pet and i would of felt terrible if i had of left it and it got hit. It was clearly a loved animal. The guys came and picked it up within the hour and im hoping that she has been reunited with her owner.

[~Anne~]

If you don't want alternative opinions, don't post.

Btw, I am not rude, just blunt. Whilst it is ok to say that people should follow the law (I totally agree with this) it is not ok to give them reasons why they should follow the law that are false.

Dogs do die in pounds and more dogs are lost than are ever found again.