# Stray dog.



## Augustine (Feb 10, 2015)

I was recently made aware of a stray dog that has been wandering around here for at least a week or so now. (probably longer) It has no collar, is severely underweight, and nobody has made any attempt to take care of it, let alone claim it.

I saw the dog myself for the first time yesterday, and was able to introduce myself to it after it hesitantly approached me. It's timid, but friendly. Definitely gives off some very submissive vibes (my own dog is the same) but naturally I am still being careful in case the dog displays any signs of fear aggression. 

Anyways, we drove back home to get a leash and collar, but it was gone by the time we got back. (someone was walking their dog and it's a somewhat high traffic area, so I imagine it scuttled off) People usually see it around at least a couple of times a week so I intend on going back there until we find it again.

Once we have the dog I will take it home and notify the local shelter that we have found a lost dog. However, I would prefer the dog stay with us, as the local shelter is.. well, not really the best shelter around. So I know it would be much better cared for here.

Problem is, we have 3 cats and 1 GSD puppy. All of our animals are good with dogs of all ages/sizes, but I'm worried about the stray being the one to have a problem with them (i.e. the stray is aggressive/predatory towards or cats and/or dog). In which case we will be forced to turn the dog over to the shelter right away.

If the dog is fine with our animals, however, there is a good chance we'd like to adopt it in the event that their owner is not found. In this case, our plan would be to care for the dog, get it to our vet to be evaluated, scan for a microchip, etc. We'd also hang up "found dog" flyers and check out lost dog posts online and around town.

*Long story short:*

My question is basically this: would a shelter allow us to keep the dog at our house during this 30-day period? And if the dog's owner is not found and it could legally become our dog, do we have to adopt it, or will ownership technically be transferred to us since we have been caring for the dog this entire time?

Oh, and is there anything besides records of the dog's vet visits that I should keep copies of? I want to have everything in order in case we find the owner, or in case we need to prove we've been looking after the dog or something. (since a neighbor suggested we might need this in order to claim ownership of it?)


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

It depends on your shelter's policy for stray holds. 

The ones in my area do allow people who have found strays to hold them per the shelter's stray hold period for an owner to claim it. 

If a person finds a dog or any other animal, they should contact their shelter, provide details of the animal and give their contact info in case a person comes forward to claim it. 

If you're able to get this dog, I would take it to a Vet and have it scanned to see if it has a Microchip. 

The shelter's in my area, usually ask the person to take the dog to be scanned for a chip, place a found ad in the local newspaper, this is usually a a free service local papers provide. 

You can put an ad in Craigslist, notify all Vets in your area, contact Lost and Found dog groups in your area, you usually can find them listed if you do a Google search, a website may come up, many have FB sites too. 

You can probably find the info about your shelter by visiting their website if they have one or give them a call. Some shelters do require stays be turned into them, it all depends on your city/county/state ordinances.

The shelters in my area if the owners do not come forward or they are not found to claim this dog within the required stray hold time, then the person who has found the dog can keep it, surrender it to a Rescue group, rehome it, etc.


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## Anon-2130948gsoni (Apr 12, 2014)

First of all, thank you for caring about this poor little dog.

How old is your GSD puppy and has he/she had all its vaccines? If not, it may be best to let the shelter handle it?

If your dog is vaccinated and you can gain the trust of the stray, regardless I would first take him/her straight to the vet before going home to check for parasites and overall health.

You could call the shelter and ask...unless they're worried about liability in saying it's okay for you to harbor a stray I would think they'd be thrilled to have one less dog to try to rehome.

The fact that it seems submissive but will eventually approach a stranger is a good sign. I don't know about where you live, but when I volunteered at the shelter here spring was always the move and dump the dog season. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's happened here.

Good luck!


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Our shelter allows you to file a list report and keep the dog in your home. Also see if there is any facebook pages for lost and found dogs in your area.


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## Augustine (Feb 10, 2015)

CAROLINA MOM said:


> It depends on your shelter's policy for stray holds.
> 
> The ones in my area do allow people who have found strays to hold them per the shelter's stray hold period for an owner to claim it.
> 
> ...


That's what I plan to do. We've already called out vet and notified her that we will likely be coming in with the dog sometime soon. We plan to have her scan for a microchip and give the dog a basic evaluation to see if there is any immediate problems that need to be taken care of. 

The dog seems like it might have hip/joint problems and given how underweight it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it is riddled with worms. So we're setting aside some money to help pay for those treatments/tests if need-be.




Noreaster said:


> First of all, thank you for caring about this poor little dog.
> 
> How old is your GSD puppy and has he/she had all its vaccines? If not, it may be best to let the shelter handle it?
> 
> ...



Butters (our puppy) just turned 6 months old and is up to date on all of her vaccines. 

That's definitely going to be our first course of action. Next we want to notify the shelter when we've got the dog, and see if they insist on us handing the dog over, or if we can care for it at home instead.

I've also got a good introduction plan lined out if we are able to keep the dog with us for the time being. The dog definitely appears to be friendly, just a bit wary of people. But the dog seems to warm up pretty quickly so I imagine it just needs to get used to being around people again.

The hard part is finding out if the stray is okay with other dogs/cats. Butters has been introduced to a number of dogs using similar methods to the one I plan to use, we've had tons of other dogs come visit, etc. So we'll carefully introduce them on neutral territory, and if that goes well, slowly ease the dog in to living with us, and see how the dog is with our cats.

And, if worse comes to worse, we're prepared to take the dog to the shelter right away. We'd still like to help them look for the owner and can even continue to take the dog to our vet if needed. 

I feel so horrible for the poor dog.. it seems sweet and would probably be an amazing pet with the right family. :/ And I can't believe that nobody around here has even attempted to care for the poor thing. (we've asked) The area the dog wanders around is literally right next to a number of houses. But they said they just don't bother with strays. Which baffles me, because most of these people are fellow dog owners. But no.. none of them have even bothered calling a shelter or even animal control. They know it's there and they just let it wander around, no food, water, nothing.

It makes me sick..


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