Four days ago, the wife and I were sitting on the porch listening to the rain. It had been raining heavily for about an hour, and it looked as if it might go on for some time. While we were sitting, a black dog with a collar showed up, looking for a place to get out of the rain. We called her up onto the porch, as she was soaked and looked rather miserable. She hasn’t left our place since.
After the rain stopped, we tried shooing her off, hoping she’d go home. But she’d not have it. She’d either ignore us completely, or walk a few feet away and then come right back. We even went inside for a few hours, figuring if we left her alone, she’d head home - wherever that might be. However, when we checked the porch, we found her curled up on one of the chairs, looking at the door. We left her for a few hours more, and while she did get off the porch, she just walked around our house, never going more than 50 or so feet away. We thought this was pretty weird, as it appears that she’s either got puppies, or had puppies very recently, as it looks like she was nursing them.
We also discovered that whoever she belonged to trained her to play fetch, as well as how to take a walk properly (that is, go on a walk without pulling the owner’s arm out of its socket). It appears that she was taken care of, so why won’t she go home?
We’re thinking that perhaps someone dumped her, for whatever reason. Maybe they couldn’t afford to feed her anymore; I don’t know. Her being dumped off in an area she’s wholly unfamiliar with is the only explanation we can come up for as to why she wouldn’t leave.
She’s in our dog pen now, with my dog Gandalf. We were concerned that if we just let her wander around our house, she’d get hit by a car. Here’s the problem: we’d like to keep her, but we don’t want to be stealing someone’s dog. I’ve called all of the local radio stations and reported her; they didn’t have any reports for a dog like her. I’ve walked her around the neighborhood, hoping her owners might see her and say “Hey, she’s mine!” No luck. I even asked a few people if they’d simply seen her before; they hadn’t. I’ve also been keeping an eye on the newspaper: no mention of a dog like her at all.
At this point, I don’t really know what to do. While we’d love to keep her, I’d love it even more if her owners would come get her. But I don’t even know if she has owners anymore. And if she does, how long am I supposed to wait for them to show up looking for her? I’m not crazy about the idea of keeping her in our pen for three months, feeding her and caring for her, just for her owners to show up and say “Gimme’!”
What should I do?
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July 14, 2008 at 10:53 am
Joshua J. Slone
Sounds like you’ve done as much as can be expected or more. Having the other people show up three months later would be a bit of a pain, but A) the odds of that happening are quite low, especially if the abandonment theory is true, and B) you’d still have done a Good Thing.
July 14, 2008 at 11:07 am
Edrei
The fact that you’ve treated the dog nicely and done everything in your power to try and contact the owners is good enough. Of course, the longer you keep the dog, the harder it is to let go.
Have you considered giving it to RSPCA or the pound? As much as that would sound bad, it does solve your dilemma of not becoming too attached to it in the case of the owners wanting it back, plus it would solve the expense problem of taking care of another dog, something I would consider if I were in your position.
July 16, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Zeitlos
It’s so nice that you’ve adopted her! Seems like she liked you from the first second.
I would also try to inform the fire department and the pet asylum about the dog (Is that a good idea in the USA? Here it would be the first places I would inform if I found or lost an animal) Did you check, if she has a chip? And I would give her a nice name
July 16, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Cas
It depends what your neighbourhood is like, but posters on lamp-posts saying “we’ve found this dog” with a picture can be useful.
I would also head down to your local vet - people put in calls to them when animals go missing, and you can also get her scanned for a microchip.
After that, it is time to make the pound/not-pound decision. If you do decide to keep her, I would still get the vet to give her a full check-up. Sad though it is, people do dump dogs if they get something wrong with them.
July 16, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Tom
Keep the pooch. If someone cared for her they wouldn’t have let her go missing.
If you like her keep her and give her the good home she deserves.
July 17, 2008 at 12:14 am
Josh
Edrei: Yeah, I’ve considered giving her to the pound or a no kill shelter (we’ve got one here; our cat, Bessie, actually came from there). I definitely won’t give her to the pound, as she’ll just end up being put to sleep there. I was considering the no kill shelter, but she really is a sweet dog, and I really want to keep her. Assuming she doesn’t belong to someone else.
Zeitlos: If we keep her, we’re going to name her Zoë.
Cas: No pound. No pound!
And yeah, a vet visit is definitely in order.
Tom: Well, to be fair, my dog has gotten loose many times. Even after I recently built a pen for him, he’s escaped repeatedly. I ended up having to turn the pen into Fort Gandalf, with various measures to keep him from digging out. Having said that, though, he’s never been missing for days on end, and if he was, I’d be reporting it everywhere I could and driving around looking for him, so…
July 18, 2008 at 6:23 pm
kitt
Keep the dog.
Years ago, we lost a cat. She was our favorite cat ever. Great disposition, friendly, cuddly, smart, knew to snuggle when someone in the house was crying, knew to flee with the kids were feeling ornery. Great cat.
One day, she just didn’t come home. We looked and looked and looked for her, without success. Eventually, we gave up, got another cat, moved on.
Years after that (3? 4?), we spotted what looked like our old cat walking around the neighborhood. We caught her and found half of the tag that we put on her collar. It had broken in the car accident that landed her in the street, to be found by distant neighbors, who took her home, nursed her and let her heal. When we talked to her new owners, they offered to return her. We declined. As far as we were concerned, she found a new home. She was happy in the new place, she was safe, she was loved.
We had done what we could to find her, mourned when we couldn’t, and moved on. That she had found a home as good as our home made finding her okay, without sadness for us.
So, if you’ve tried to find the dog’s owner without success, really want the dog, and can provide a safe, healthy, good home for her, keep her.
Really. Keep her.
July 20, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Josh
Heya’ Kitt,
That’s what we’ve decided to do. I’ve done everything I know to try and find her owners, and have had absolutely no luck whatsoever. I bought a leash-splitter yesterday to make the act of walking her and my other dog infinitely easier. (They kept trying to remove my legs from my body when I walked them with 2 separate leashes…)
Sorry to hear about your cat, but glad to hear she found a good home (not to imply yours wasn’t a good one, of course!)