FOUND DOG- NOW REHOMED :)-What to do with a dog we found 2 weeks ago?

Person_one

Please get in touch with the dog warden before you do anything and let them know what you're planning so they can at least keep track of the dog's location in case the owner shows up.

I'm think of poor Sazzy too, someone out there could be just as devastated as she is, and if the dog goes to a rescue and then to a new home its lost forever to its original owner, probably without them ever finding out what happened.

If the dog goes to the pound to do its 7 days, there might be a better chance of them being reunited, and the dog could go to the rescue after that, Would you consider that? Pounds don't PTS when there is a rescue space lined up.

caro100

Person_one wrote: »

Please get in touch with the dog warden before you do anything and let them know what you're planning so they can at least keep track of the dog's location in case the owner shows up.

I'm think of poor Sazzy too, someone out there could be just as devastated as she is, and if the dog goes to a rescue and then to a new home its lost forever to its original owner, probably without them ever finding out what happened.

If the dog goes to the pound to do its 7 days, there might be a better chance of them being reunited, and the dog could go to the rescue after that, Would you consider that? Pounds don't PTS when there is a rescue space lined up.

With respect, I am weighing up ALL options with regard to reuniting this dog with her owner. All the decisions I believe I have made so far, HAVE been in this dogs best interests. I have taken her in, fed and looked after her as one of my own dogs. Had I given her to the dog warden when I found her, she could have done her 7 days and maybe have been PTS already. I gave the dog warden my details and my local council details too- they have not contacted me since so its hardly my fault that she has not been reunited yet. And I do intend to inform the warden when she leaves me.

I am about to do a leaflet drop soon to see if that brings any leads. Please remember this is not my dog, not really my responsibility- I should not be worrying about her, but I am and I am doing my best!

Person_one

caro100 wrote: »

With respect, I am weighing up ALL options with regard to reuniting this dog with her owner. All the decisions I believe I have made so far, HAVE been in this dogs best interests. I have taken her in, fed and looked after her as one of my own dogs. Had I given her to the dog warden when I found her, she could have done her 7 days and maybe have been PTS already. I gave the dog warden my details and my local council details too- they have not contacted me since so its hardly my fault that she has not been reunited yet. And I do intend to inform the warden when she leaves me.

I am about to do a leaflet drop soon to see if that brings any leads. Please remember this is not my dog, not really my responsibility- I should not be worrying about her, but I am and I am doing my best!

The things is, you chose to make it your responsibility. Its great that you did, and I don't doubt you are doing your best where many wouldn't bother, I just think that passing the dog to a rescue after two weeks is too soon.

If you have a rescue place lined up for afterwards then there's no harm in letting the dog do its 7 days now, that's probably the best chance the owner has of finding it. Not everybody is aware of all the websites etc. and pound staff are not always the best at keeping track of found dogs that aren't in their kennels.

Please imagine that your dog was missing, if you found out that someone had rehomed him/her just two weeks after they were lost and that you couldn't ever get them back, how would you feel? You said yourself the dog seems well cared for, someone out there is probably desperate.

caro100

Person_one wrote: »

The things is, you chose to make it your responsibility. Its great that you did, and I don't doubt you are doing your best where many wouldn't bother, I just think that passing the dog to a rescue after two weeks is too soon.

If you have a rescue place lined up for afterwards then there's no harm in letting the dog do its 7 days now, that's probably the best chance the owner has of finding it. Not everybody is aware of all the websites etc. and pound staff are not always the best at keeping track of found dogs that aren't in their kennels.

Please imagine that your dog was missing, if you found out that someone had rehomed him/her just two weeks after they were lost and that you couldn't ever get them back, how would you feel? You said yourself the dog seems well cared for, someone out there is probably desperate.

I HAVE imagined if one of my dogs went missing. That someone may have turned their back and left him/her to wander- maybe left to get run over. That someone handed him/her to the dog warden to do a 7 day stint, only to get PTS. Believe me, I would hope that someone, like me would care enough to think about their well being 1st and foremost.

This dog could quite possibly have been PTS 7 days after it had been found and it's owners would never have been reunited. This hasn't happened because I took it in.
What if the dog was dumped? Doesn't she deserve to have the chance of a new home and be loved? Like I have said before- I CAN'T DO RIGHT FOR DOING WRONG! :mad:

Person_one

caro100 wrote: »

I HAVE imagined if one of my dogs went missing. That someone may have turned their back and left him/her to wander- maybe left to get run over. That someone handed him/her to the dog warden to do a 7 day stint, only to get PTS. Believe me, I would hope that someone, like me would care enough to think about their well being 1st and foremost. Like I have said before- I CAN'T DO RIGHT FOR DOING WRONG! :mad:

You're taking my posts as an attack, they aren't. I'm just trying to suggest one thing you can do, which doesn't involve any extra work or responsibility for you, to help owner and dog be reunited.


You've done well to get her a place in rescue, they're like gold dust around Christmas, so what's the harm in letting her spend a week in the pound just in case the owner is checking there but not being told you have her. It does happen.

caro100

Person_one wrote: »

You're taking my posts as an attack, they aren't. I'm just trying to suggest one thing you can do, which doesn't involve any extra work or responsibility for you, to help owner and dog be reunited.


You've done well to get her a place in rescue, they're like gold dust around Christmas, so what's the harm in letting her spend a week in the pound just in case the owner is checking there but not being told you have her. It does happen.

I haven't definately got a place in a rescue- it was an enquiry, an option that was kindly suggested by someone on here. I have not given details of the dog as I am still hoping to find her owners.

Garry2

Hug him and kiss him and call him George

scraggles

Hi My name is Kelly-joy and I co run Animal Lifeline UK Let me just explain what we do before I answer any threads. First of all we are not a rescue, we are an organisation that was set up a few years ago originally to help rescues with various things such as home checking,Transport,Fostering,Re homing,fund raising, assessing etc the idea was to get people from all over the UK and Ireland that wanted to help animals in some shape or form to enable them to help rescues and us and to train them if they didn't already have the skills to do so. This worked well but as we grew bigger we were asked if we could find rescue placements from people needing to give up their animals, for strays and from the many pounds here in the UK which sadly we are seeing a steady increase of unwanted animals needing our help:(

I am happy to see that you have this dog and it is being well taken care of its people like yourself that we work with to help save animals.

I mean no disrespect to the person posting about letting the dog serve time at the pound for 7 days, but you don't really have a clue about how pounds work. Yes if you are lucky you could land your dog in one of the pounds where there are pound helpers that go way out to contact rescues and organisations like ourselves to find rescues to take these dogs but they aren't safe even if they do get a rescue placement sadly:( we and pound helpers work tirelessly to sort transport to get these poor dogs to safety as many travel miles and miles away to rescues to get them to safety and even then after transport is sorted if it can be sorted as sadly sometimes it can't and dogs are put to sleep, dogs aren't safe:( sadly if a dog shows any sign of aggression they are put to sleep before they can even go to rescue, so as the dog arrives at the pound wheels are set in motion pound helpers give us full details of dogs arriving with pictures we then send an automatic email to all dog rescues we work with in the UK (I must point out we do not work with rescues with a no kill policy) to see if any can take these dogs (of course if the owner reclaims the dog then they go home but we always try to secure a rescue placement and sort transport so that if the owner doesn't turn up everything is ready to get the dog to safety after it has served its 7 days ), Once a rescue placement is secured,pound helpers will post up a transport thread on our site and many other dog sites, we then will send an automatic email to all members in the counties that are on route to rescue to see if anyone can transport the dog, people can then email us back or answer the thread to say if they can help or not, it is completely voluntarily so people can help whenever they want to.

I would first personally contact all local vets,rescues and dog wardens then advertise everywhere local shops,pet shops,local papers and magazines,put posters up,put flyers in doors of your town or village and especially around local dog walking places. Any one that has lost a dog will be pointed to the dog lost site so unless this dog was owned by someone that never goes on the net or is away on a long holiday then I doubt there is anyone looking for her.
If after another week or two you still haven't found the owners then The best option for this dog in my opinion is to go to rescue , that is of course the person who has this dog doesn't want to keep her.
you have our contact details if you do decide to go down the rescue route or need help to find all your local rescues etc please do contact us.

Best wishes Kelly-joy and The Animal Lifeline UK Team:)

krlyr

caro100 wrote: »

I have just received a reply with the following quotes:

As you have kept the dog for over 7 days and you have tried to find the owner and no one has come forward then you can legally sign the dog over to rescue that of course is if you don't intend to keep the dog yourself. Also the dog is classed as a stray as it has no micro chip which means it isn't legally owned by anyone. Dog lost is the best place to advertise a missing dog.....

Do not hand the dog over to the pound as if it doesn't get a rescue placement after 7 days it will be put to sleep sadly.......

It's interesting reading regarding the legal situation. I feel a lot happier now

No offense to the rescue but this doesn't sound right to me. Microchipping is not proof of ownership (afterall, if I stole a dog and had it microchipped, does that prove that I'm the rightful owner? Or if I steal a dog and remove its microchip, does that mean the original owners no longer own it?), and it's not a legal requirement either. The dog is classed as a stray because it is loose without identification (dogs are, by law, to wear collars and identification in public spaces - NOT to be microchipped - so the lack of collar/tags makes it a stray, not the lack of a microchip)
The law clearly states that unless you surrender the dog to do its 7 days at the pound, your duty is to keep it for 28 days, there are dozens and dozens of dog-law related websites and official council websites that state this. Just because the rescue has said what you want to hear, doesn't make it true.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/288/regulation/4/made
"(5) The officer shall inform the finder both verbally and in writing that the finder is obliged under section 150(3) to keep the dog (if unclaimed by the owner) for not less than one month, and that failure to comply with that obligation is a criminal offence."

Sounds like the dog warden failed to let OP the period of time she is required to keep the dog but it doesn't change the law.


To the rescue saying that some people don't have a clue about how pounds work - well, we're not all clueless but different pounds act in different ways. OP could always ask the pound what they do when the 7 days is up, to see if they liase with dog rescues, because I know many that do. At least the dog in question has the benefit of not being yet another Staffie, Dalmatian breed rescues may be able to step in and help, or at least a general dog rescue.

Edit: I see that a rescue place seems to be lined up, I agree that speaking to the rescue and to the dog warden to arrange for the dog's 7 days to be served can be a good idea. With this method, ownership official transfers to the council so if the dog is unclaimed then there will be no issues over ownership in the future. With the 28 days at the finder's method, ownership becomes a civil issue that could be disputed in court in the future - upsetting for the potential new owners.

caro100

Scraggles, thank you for taking the time to post on this thread. Your post is really informative and helpful and I thank you for all you do to help lost/unwanted animals. I will certainly be in touch if I can't find the owners of the dog I found