Found Dogs- What Do You Do?

[Two Best Dogs!]

I am becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Facebook found pet culture I am noticing pop up.

So many people outright refuse to take the dog to the vet/pound because poor puppy will be cold/alone/get put down etc etc.

Personally as someone who uses Facebook a lot I would be fairly likely to see my dog posted as found, but my first port of call would still be our local vets and pounds. I worry though that people might not be part of lost/found pet groups, or might not even use Facebook.

I saw a pup a week or so ago that the finders had been holding for 2 weeks! I would be raging like the crazy dog lady I am if someone had my dog for that long.

I was just wondering what you do when you find an unidentified dog, is it just a select few who hold onto the dogs or is this actually becoming a big shift?

Also happy to add other options to poll if I've missed any. I suspect I have...

Same.. I follow the groups to help our animals but with every day I grow more worried that some stupid, selfish twit with a hero complex will keep my dog if she ever gets lost

So far "reasons" I have seen include:

- TLD = automatically dead (don't take it there then?!)

- council = same as above

- it doesn't "look microchipped" (wtf)

- it will be unhappy in the pound so it's better to keep it in a house environment (how are ppl meant to find their dog in your yard?)

- it's hungry therefore starved/abused/ran away from home so they'll keep it

- it's thin (read, not obese) therefore starved/abused/ran away from home so they'll keep it

- it's scared therefore abused and they'll keep it (because why on earth would a lost dog in a strange place surrounded by strangers be scared? /sarcasm)

- it's submissive therefore abused so they'll keep it

- it's dirty therefore abused so they'll keep it

- "happy dogs don't run away from home" (yes I saw a stupid comment like this last week)

- it "looks sad"

- if the owners were really looking for the dog they'd have seen this one post on this one found dog page on Facebook <- paraphrased, saw this comment today

- EDIT: woops forgot the "save the owners the pound fees/fight the council fees" type reasons.

And they use every single one of these reasons to avoid taking the dog to the vet and getting it scanned. Instead of doing the right thing they make a couple of Facebook posts and call it a day. Suspect most is because they want to be the "hero" who reunites the dog personally or the "hero" who found the "abused stray" and took it in.

(No, you're a selfish thief)

Like a couple of weeks ago someone posted about a puppy the found in a car park and has kept "for a couple of weeks". Turns out it had been two months!! Someone recognised the dog and got in contact with the owners and the person still wouldn't hand the dog over and eventually took it to a vet to be scanned and go figure those poor ppl were the owners.

What is the point even getting my dog microchipped in case her collar comes off if the person who finds her wont take her in to be scanned?!

I have a scared thin dog who is always acting like she is starved and cowers around strangers. If something scares her and she's lost and I'm worried one of those selfish people will find her, decide she's abused and never let her be scanned and go home.

And if this ever happens and I find out who selfishly held on her against her and my best interests... I will press charges.

This is why I was asking over sturdy tags. I don't trust the people in this city to do the right thing at all thanks to the behaviour on lost dogs pages.

And yes if I find a dog I check for collar tag rego details, take a picture, call council ranger to pick up or take to vet/pound of the area then post a picture of it to Facebook list groups. Might pop a few posters up near the area I found it and look for lost posters.

Edited July 21, 2015 by Thistle the dog

[Maddy]

We get the occasional wandering dog hanging around our front gate (because we have rabbits) and usually, I just call the council to come pick the dog up. I wouldn't be comfortable having a strange dog in my yard or house. For me, it's just too much potential risk to the health and safety of my own pets.

I've noticed the same issues in local pet lost and found groups though. The worst one was a dog being offered for give away because after several months of the finders keeping the dog in their house, the owner had not magically appeared. Funny that.

Edited to add..

If ever, god forbid, one of my own dogs got out, I would want them taken to the pound so that I could actually find them. As a child, I lost my cat for several months after someone "found" her (she was wearing a collar) and just kept her. I only got her back because my mum happened to walk past their house and saw her there

Edited July 21, 2015 by Maddy

[_PL_]

What drives me up the wall is people taking dogs to the vet for a scan. No chip; they get sent home with the dog and they just keep it or give it away.

If you arc up, there's 'oh i suppose you want the dog to die' (direct quote from a rescuer) or 'the owners don't deserve the dog back because if they were responsible, it would be microchipped'.

If it were one of mine, firstly they have ID etc, failing that I'd want my dog's photo posted everywhere with a note saying the dog has been dropped off at the pound already. And if not, and I could trace it back to the original finder there would be hell to pay for everyone who had their hands on my dog and did the worst most irresponsible thing there is.

[Flippy Dog]

I used to check loose dogs tags and call the owners and I have taken dogs to the pound or rspca in the past, then I stopped for two dogs one day with no collars, they gave me signs to say don't approach, I got back in my car (my young kids were inside the car) and left. I think I called the pound to search for them. Those same dogs over 24 hours attacked several people and one ended up shot dead. I have never stopped for a stray since. I wish I could but not after that.

I see lots on Facebook which state the microchip is not registered or details not up to date which is sad. Without knowing why a stray is loose its hard not to give owners the benefit of the doubt, once.

I also don't understand why lots of people take the stray home and feed it. So many pets are on special diets and a few extra hours are not going to kill the animal, except in an extreme case in which a big feed probably could kill a starving dog huh, no win situation.

[Little Gifts]

For me it depends on the type of dog. A dog that looks cared for with tags I would endeavour to find the owners details and reunite the dog directly but if this didn't lead to a result in the first half hour (ie phone number not current) I'd be off to the closest vet for a microchip scan and if that didn't work then it would be to the pound. Once the dog was dropped at the pound I'd put photos and messages up on FB and talk to my neighbours as well as call the RSPCA. How are people supposed to find their dogs if the most logical place to send a lost dog isn't utilised? That doesn't mean you can't also use FB but don't hold on to the dog for hours because private houses are not the first place a worried owner is going to check!

If the dog looked unwell, was aggressive and had no collar or tags it is unlikely I would try to catch it myself as I'm not very good at doing it. I'd call the pound but I would also take its picture and put it on FB. I've done that twice before and found information about the dogs and their regular wanderings from neighbours.

Really you can do multiple things but be sensible about it. Sometimes dogs turn up a long way from home and as has been mentioned not everyone uses FB or is even aware there is a pet lost and found network!

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

If it's my local council area - I call the council - they tell me a phone number that goes with the tag... and I call that number and try to arrange the owner to come get the dog. PITA.

If there's no id on the dog I call the council and let them come get it. I suppose I could take it to the local vet too but for some reason I don't think of that first.

Down the beach - it's a different story... usually there is someone who will take it to the local vet who looks up the microchip and phones the owner. Or they call the council if there is no microchip.

If I lost my dog - the first thing I'd do is call the council and the RSPCA, and then I'd door knock the neighbours (she has a couple of favourites), then I'd check out our favourite park...

Pretty sure I would not look on facebook first but I have posted lost dog info on facebook - the big lost dog page and the local burb page.

[Gallomph]

All of this is very well if you live in a city.

I live in a rural area. The nearest vet is an 80km round trip. The council pound is a 160km round trip. Not easy or cheap to get to, especially when you work and you need to get the dog to them in business hours. The council won't come out to pick up found dogs.

So I have hung on to dogs for several days because there is no other option. I call and notify the 3 closest vets and the council as soon as they are open. I put notices on the two community notice boards at the nearest town. I put them up as found on a couple of websites. And I put a sign up at the rest stop across the highway from me, (which is where people seem to stop to dump their dogs.) I have never had one inquiry, for any of the 5 dogs I have found over the years. On saturday morning when I am able to get them to the vets, I take them to be scanned. None has ever had a microchip. The council pound will take the dog if you can get it there in business hours, which does not include any time on weekends. So often I hold the dog for a further few days until I can arrange to get someone who is going into the city to drop them at the pound.

The whole thing is a nightmare.

So just remember that the rules and facilities differ in different areas of Australia. It's not always as easy as "just take the dog to the pound".

[_PL_]

Good point Gallomph :)

Can't remember where but someone wrote their experience here once, it was remote (VIC or Qld) and the deal was that you let the pound know but they were ok if you held the dog (as long as they knew about it) because there was so much distance involved... and I suppose you'd just be taking the far away from where it originally strayed.

Very different to other places where there is more convenient access to the pound system but people make up excuses not to use it.

I admit we are lucky with Sydney pounds, Australia wide we still have pounds run below even basic conditions and operating almost as if they are determined to make sure the animal is not reclaimed or rescued. Which gives people no motivation to follow the law.

[WreckitWhippet]

I live with no after hours ranger service so we call the vet and more often than not drop the dog into the kennels. There are no council drop off pens and our poor vet keeps the dogs until they either locate the owner or the ranger eventually comes and picks them up a few days later.

I've taken a small kitten home, had him scanned (no chip) and opted to call all vets and rangers in the area and post on social media. He was reunited with his owner via social media, as a stray entire kitten (male) without a chip he would have been euth'd straight away.

Under no circumstances will I keep a dog, it's straight to the vet/pound as it's the best place for an owner to locate their animal. I always post on social media.

It makes me sick to the stomach to think that if one of mine ever got out, someone would think it's ok to keep it.

[Guest Clover]

Strait to the pound or I get the ranger to come pick the dog up. Occasionally I find dogs with tags but if there is no answer or voice mail option then it is off to the pound.

[Kajirin]

I used to say please take the dog to a vet/pound...but got lambasted too many times - saying I was cruel to even mention the word pound, so I remain silent now. Infuriates me no less when people keep animals and just post online.

The few dogs I have found up here either have contact numbers on the collar or a rego tag [often an out of date colour by a few years], but have always managed to find the owners and the council has contacted them to collect from here [just have to keep them well away from my dogs]. If I can't get a quick owner find then I would be send the dog to the local pound/vet. Dogs I've found wandering in the streets with no collar, I just take straight to the closest vet, they're happy to take in/scan etc.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Noishe

[MavericksMission]

Dogs need to go to pounds, that is where their owners will find them, not in peoples backyards.

I'm sort of uneasy about people posting found animals on Facebook since last week we (I work at a shelter) had a pure bred entire British Bulldog brought into us as a stray and the finder had posted on Facebook with a photo and full description of the dog and where he was take to, he wasn't microchipped and we ended up with 5 -6 calling up saying that he was their dog, some providing google stock images as their proof.

We are only a holding facility for strays and he was transferred to the appropriate pound but it ended up very messy.

I personally will call numbers on tags and door knock and then take to a vet clinic/pound to be scanned for a chip.

[Justrace]

Our local vet recommends that if people are putting pictures on Facebook, where the dog is to be kept at the vets overnight as it's too late to call the pound, that you don't put which vets it is until the morning. People have been known to break into vet clinics to get their dogs back (or steal someone else's dog)

[Kajirin]

Our local vet recommends that if people are putting pictures on Facebook, where the dog is to be kept at the vets overnight as it's too late to call the pound, that you don't put which vets it is until the morning. People have been known to break into vet clinics to get their dogs back (or steal someone else's dog)

Gah some people are shocking

[Dame Aussie]

Dogs need to go to pounds, that is where their owners will find them, not in peoples backyards.

I'm sort of uneasy about people posting found animals on Facebook since last week we (I work at a shelter) had a pure bred entire British Bulldog brought into us as a stray and the finder had posted on Facebook with a photo and full description of the dog and where he was take to, he wasn't microchipped and we ended up with 5 -6 calling up saying that he was their dog, some providing google stock images as their proof.

We are only a holding facility for strays and he was transferred to the appropriate pound but it ended up very messy.

I personally will call numbers on tags and door knock and then take to a vet clinic/pound to be scanned for a chip.

Yep. It can cause a total sh*t storm for the pound!

[cannibalgoldfish]

- it will be unhappy in the pound so it's better to keep it in a house environment (how are ppl meant to find their dog in your yard?)

- it's hungry therefore starved/abused/ran away from home so they'll keep it

- it's thin (read, not obese) therefore starved/abused/ran away from home so they'll keep it

- it's scared therefore abused and they'll keep it (because why on earth would a lost dog in a strange place surrounded by strangers be scared? /sarcasm)

- it's submissive therefore abused so they'll keep it

- it's dirty therefore abused so they'll keep it

This. My dog is old, scrawny and shy around people he doesn't know. Must be abused!

Don't know about you, but If me dog ever went missing I wouldn't go looking in someones back yard, I'd go to all the vets and pounds in my area.

[denali]

I thankfully only had to do it once, as all other dogs I've ever found have had id tags on.

I phoned all the local vets, to lodge him as found and to see if any owners had called, then the council and RSPCA. Checked the lost and found things on fb.

I took him to the vet i work at to be scanned for a chip, he had one, but the phone number was disconnected. So he stayed at work for two nights and a day, the owner contacted us- their house sitter let the dog out and they were overseas, then came and stayed with me for a few days until they were back.

If the owner hadn't contacted us the vet holds them there, then rehouse after a period of time.

Edited July 29, 2015 by denali

[ronja]

I run a local lost and found page on Facebook in Canberra. On average we reunite 40 pets a week through or page alone.

We always always recommend people take pets to be scanned, notify the RSPCA and the pound. If no owner is found we recommend they take pet to RSPCA or the pound.

We also educate people as some people have no idea what a registration tag is, or they say things like "I can't feel a microchip". We tell them what number to call for rangers, what vet is open nearby etc.

So far I feel like we are providing a good community service.

[Cody]

I worry about my dog getting out as she's nervous around people so she'd be hard to catch. But I'd much rather her be looked after by someone or at the vet instead of the pound.

[Dame Aussie]

I worry about my dog getting out as she's nervous around people so she'd be hard to catch. But I'd much rather her be looked after by someone or at the vet instead of the pound.

How would you find her if she was being held at someone's house though?