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What To Do When You Find A Wandering Dog.


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What is the general procedure and who is responsible in these instances?

I picked up a dog that was wandering the street today and took him to the nearest vet as I've done on numerous occasions. (different dogs to different vets)

Usually the vet scans the dog, takes my details and and keeps the dog to either be collected by the owner or I guess the pound. Easy process all round.

Today was different. They scanned the dog, he was chipped and they went on to contact the owners. During doing this they made it clear that he couldn't stay there and asked if I mind retuning him.

The owners weren't answering the phone so I asked what will happen if they can't contact them, The answer blew me away. "you'll have to take him back to where you found him"

Anyway they finally got in contact with the owners and I ended up returning the dog to them, the owners were grateful.

So what should have been a 5-10min of me going out of my way ended up being 45mins. Lucky I had the spare time today.

Needless to say all of this could have been prevented if the dog had a tag, but thats another issue.

Are vets obligated to hold the dog, until they can be picked up? If I pick up a dog, does it become my responsibility?

This is the only time I've had this sort of response from a vet clinic, generally I find they are quite happy that you've gone to the effort to get the dog to safety.

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It may depend on the state/local council. I've never had a vet refuse to take a dog and contact the owner, though I understand in Victoria vets are now obliged to take the dog to the local pound. I did once have someone from Canberra Connect tell me to let a dog go if I didn't want to take the dog to the pound (which was closed), which I fairly well blasted them for but these are call centre people.

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What is the general procedure and who is responsible in these instances?

I picked up a dog that was wandering the street today and took him to the nearest vet as I've done on numerous occasions. (different dogs to different vets)

Usually the vet scans the dog, takes my details and and keeps the dog to either be collected by the owner or I guess the pound. Easy process all round.

Today was different. They scanned the dog, he was chipped and they went on to contact the owners. During doing this they made it clear that he couldn't stay there and asked if I mind retuning him.

The owners weren't answering the phone so I asked what will happen if they can't contact them, The answer blew me away. "you'll have to take him back to where you found him"

Anyway they finally got in contact with the owners and I ended up returning the dog to them, the owners were grateful.

So what should have been a 5-10min of me going out of my way ended up being 45mins. Lucky I had the spare time today.

Needless to say all of this could have been prevented if the dog had a tag, but thats another issue.

Are vets obligated to hold the dog, until they can be picked up? If I pick up a dog, does it become my responsibility?

This is the only time I've had this sort of response from a vet clinic, generally I find they are quite happy that you've gone to the effort to get the dog to safety.

They seriously expected you to just put him back on the street? :eek:

I don't know what the 'legal' obligations are, but surely their moral obligation is to keep the dog safe and not tell someone to put it back where they found it :mad

I'm glad you had the time to wait for the owners, I hate to think of those who might not have the time and might do just at the vet advises.

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Vets are not obligated under NSW law to hold a stray dog or even contact the owners.

The general "rule" is that if you pick up a stray, you either contact the council to have one of their rangers collect the dog, or you take it to the pound yourself.

T.

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Vets are not obligated under NSW law to hold a stray dog or even contact the owners.

The general "rule" is that if you pick up a stray, you either contact the council to have one of their rangers collect the dog, or you take it to the pound yourself.

T.

Thanks for clearing that up, It is hard to take them to the pound as it's 50km's away and it's generally when you're on your way somewhere that you'll find a dog so hanging around for the council sometimes isn't an option.

It's good to know what the reality is.

In future I'll just avoid going to that vet with a stray, I'll always pick up strays, I just can't go past a dog wandering the street.

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Vets are not obligated under NSW law to hold a stray dog or even contact the owners.

The general "rule" is that if you pick up a stray, you either contact the council to have one of their rangers collect the dog, or you take it to the pound yourself.

T.

Interesting. I wonder how many people know where their local pound is (I don't, maybe I should look it up :laugh: )

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They seriously expected you to just put him back on the street? :eek:

I don't know what the 'legal' obligations are, but surely their moral obligation is to keep the dog safe and not tell someone to put it back where they found it :mad

I'm glad you had the time to wait for the owners, I hate to think of those who might not have the time and might do just at the vet advises.

That's what I thought.

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Actually I think that might be incorrect. The companion animals act states you have to deliver stray dogs to your local pound, have the local ranger collect or deliver the dog to the nearest vet. That would mean the vet is obligated to take it.

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How could a tag change anything? When my dogs wore tags it only gad a phone number.

Because the person who finds the dog can ring up the owner straight away without needing to go to a vet first to get it scanned. It's more for convenience than anything. I found a BC in my front garden the other day, she had a tag and could call up her owner straight away, other wise it would of been a drive into town to the vet to be scanned.

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Vets are not obligated under NSW law to hold a stray dog or even contact the owners.

The general "rule" is that if you pick up a stray, you either contact the council to have one of their rangers collect the dog, or you take it to the pound yourself.

T.

Interesting. I wonder how many people know where their local pound is (I don't, maybe I should look it up :laugh: )

If you come under Leichhardt or City of Sydney councils, your "local" pound is the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home at Carlton, minimax...

If you live where I live, depending on which street your pet is found, we have 3 different pounds it can end up at... how's that for confusion?

T.

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Vets around here don't even let you take the dog after being scanned for a chip. Chip or no chip, the dog stays at the vet and they rind surrounding vets and council pounds. If they can't find the owner it goes to the pound of the council where the dog was found and waits there.

This has been my experience with 4 different vets upon finding dogs.

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Vets are not obligated under NSW law to hold a stray dog or even contact the owners.

The general "rule" is that if you pick up a stray, you either contact the council to have one of their rangers collect the dog, or you take it to the pound yourself.

T.

Interesting. I wonder how many people know where their local pound is (I don't, maybe I should look it up :laugh: )

If you come under Leichhardt or City of Sydney councils, your "local" pound is the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home at Carlton, minimax...

If you live where I live, depending on which street your pet is found, we have 3 different pounds it can end up at... how's that for confusion?

T.

I'm Canada Bay, so oddly enough it's Blacktown :confused:

I'm such a city/inner westie girl, I couldn't even point to Blacktown on a map, so let's hope if I ever find a stray dog my vet takes it or I find the owner :rofl:

Edited by minimax
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How could a tag change anything? When my dogs wore tags it only gad a phone number.

Because the person who finds the dog can ring up the owner straight away without needing to go to a vet first to get it scanned. It's more for convenience than anything. I found a BC in my front garden the other day, she had a tag and could call up her owner straight away, other wise it would of been a drive into town to the vet to be scanned.

Excactly. Returned many dogs with a simple phone call.

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What is the general procedure and who is responsible in these instances?

I picked up a dog that was wandering the street today and took him to the nearest vet as I've done on numerous occasions. (different dogs to different vets)

Usually the vet scans the dog, takes my details and and keeps the dog to either be collected by the owner or I guess the pound. Easy process all round.

Today was different. They scanned the dog, he was chipped and they went on to contact the owners. During doing this they made it clear that he couldn't stay there and asked if I mind retuning him.

The owners weren't answering the phone so I asked what will happen if they can't contact them, The answer blew me away. "you'll have to take him back to where you found him"

Anyway they finally got in contact with the owners and I ended up returning the dog to them, the owners were grateful.

So what should have been a 5-10min of me going out of my way ended up being 45mins. Lucky I had the spare time today.

Needless to say all of this could have been prevented if the dog had a tag, but thats another issue.

Are vets obligated to hold the dog, until they can be picked up? If I pick up a dog, does it become my responsibility?

This is the only time I've had this sort of response from a vet clinic, generally I find they are quite happy that you've gone to the effort to get the dog to safety.

They seriously expected you to just put him back on the street? :eek:

I don't know what the 'legal' obligations are, but surely their moral obligation is to keep the dog safe and not tell someone to put it back where they found it :mad

:eek: geez! I can imagine less cluey people dropping the dog back off, what if then the dog got run over etc? Would the person 'returning' the dog be held responsible?

I would be horrified and very angry if one of my dogs was treated that way :mad

Wile it might not be their obligation, I've always found the vets in my local area to be always happy to scan a dog and hold onto them until the contacted owner can come and pick up the animal.

I've always assumed that all vet practices would do the same.

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Vets are not obligated under NSW law to hold a stray dog or even contact the owners.

The general "rule" is that if you pick up a stray, you either contact the council to have one of their rangers collect the dog, or you take it to the pound yourself.

T.

Interesting. I wonder how many people know where their local pound is (I don't, maybe I should look it up :laugh: )

If you come under Leichhardt or City of Sydney councils, your "local" pound is the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home at Carlton, minimax...

If you live where I live, depending on which street your pet is found, we have 3 different pounds it can end up at... how's that for confusion?

T.

I'm Canada Bay, so oddly enough it's Blacktown :confused:

OUCH!!! That's a bit of a hike!

The 3 pounds that service the areas around me are, Canterbury (nice and close, just around the corner from home), SDCH at Carlton (still not much of a hike at about 10k away), and Renbury at Austral (take a cut lunch for the long 35k drive each way... lol!)

T.

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The worst thing is finding a stray outside of pound, council, or vet business hours... then my friends, you are on your own!

T.

Or finding one during opening hours and the local pound refuses to open the gates because 'we decided to shut 2 hours early today, put it in the overnight cages'.

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The problem with vets holding strays until the rangers get around to picking them up is all about disease control... it's not the fact that they can't be bothered - some are just not designed to be able to hold strays in their clinics is all.

T.

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