What would you have done? What should I have done?

[capt_noonie]

We saw two smallish dogs on a main street, walking into a neighborhood. OF COURSE they had no collars on. We followed them in the car. They were def friends, walking close to each other. They finally stopped at a house in the driveway, and laid down in the shade (not by the front door but by the sidewalk). One was a white curly guy (looked really matted but still fairly white) the other short haired like a rat terrier or min pin.

I could tell if I asked them to jump in the car, they would have. They looked back at us several times and seemed very friendly, not scared like the little white dog I saw get hit several months ago. Very comfortable with their surroundings, not stressed and running about.

So I knocked on the neighbors door, but no answer.

If I call animal control, chance is they will pick them up, and if no collar or chip, will be put in the shelter and high chance they will be put down.

If I do nothing, there's a high chance they will be hit.

Or, there's the chance that they are waiting for their owners to come home, and that was their home, but those idiots let their dogs roam free during the day. Then I think they should not have dogs, so I would like them taken away from them.

But me already with a dog and a rescue, I can't keep them here, and turning them into a shelter just increases the chance they will be put down again. Putting up flyers and ads on craigslist? Time consuming. Is it bad of me to think it's too much of my time, esp my day off? I feel guilty.

What should I have done??

[chachi]

Thats one of those damned if you do danmed if you dont type of situations that I wouldnt know what to do either. I would either have to leave them there or take them to a shelter my Husband wouldnt let me bring anymore in the house. A couple yrs ago he let my daughter bring in a stray cat and now we have five she was pregnant so no more for him

[capt_noonie]

If the Simpson's taught me anything it IS, "you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't". You are so right Chachi.

[Teresa Ford]

This is a tough one. It sounds like the dogs lived there. I probably would have left them there. I have stopped and knocked on a doors before and asked 'hey is this your dog?' Once I boldly opened the door to someone else's screen porch and put two wennie dogs in. I was sure the dogs lived there as I could see the hole dug under the fence. Once my hubby and I left a note on a neighbors door that said we had their dog in our fenced yard, with our phone number. They called and said it wasn't their Boxer. We kept the dog two weeks and put adds in the paper, flyers, and called Vets and so on (no one could prove she was their dog) No one ever claimed her ! It was expensive and difficult to keep the big dog. Two vet visits and stiches on her right front leg later, we finally placed her with a family our Vet knew that had lost their Boxer to cancer. I wonder where she came from and to this day wonder if some family is still greiving for her. Our Vet said she was in excellent health except for the cut leg, about 3 years old and had been spayed, no worms, fleas etc. She was friendly and sweet. I wonder if she was stolen then escaped. It is so hard to try to do the right thing, when you are not sure what the right thing is.

[CouversMom]

I have experienced a similar situation... Around here, a bunch of people let their dogs roam. Often they will have collars, but other times they don't... You don't know how many dogs I have tried to chase down lol. There is a pomeranian on my way home that hangs out in front of a house... Sometimes lays in the curb across the street, and it really upsets me. I have been tempted to pick him up (even though I know he lives there) because he shouldn't be out roaming around...

I just know that if I tried to grab every stray dog there is around here... My house would be full of dogs. I do my best when I see an injured dog or cat... But when they seem to be fed, not injured and not running in the middle of the street... I usually let it go.

[capt_noonie]

This is another reason why I am a freak about having collars with tags on at all times. I think the chance of my dogs getting them caught on something is slim, since they aren't puppies anymore, but the chance of them getting outside without my knowing is a bit higher. I wonder if these two dogs just got out somehow and were waiting for their people to get home and let them back in. If they had collars on, I could have known for sure. But the fact that they walking in from a major street down to the end of their street had me wondering if they really knew where they were going.

[MamaZiggy]

Hmmm, maybe leave a (nice) note on their door informing them of the problem. maybe they dont know the dogs can get out.. thats what i would do first

[yorkietalkjilly]

It sounds like two "escapees" probably waiting for mom & dad to come back by the way you describe their behavior. Two dogs out together acting familiar with each other & companionably smacks to me of pets that found a way to get out when the owner was distracted or something. Probably if you'd called Animal Control they would have picked them up, scanned for microchips, if any, & notified any owner or held them. If they were truly pet escapees, the parents would have very likely called AC to see if they had the dogs, paid the fine & picked them up. Whenever I see well-fed, clean, tidy dogs quietly walking around, lying down & not acting frantic or lost by dashing here & there, I usually assume the dog got out of its yard or scooted out the door without being missed somehow & usually do nothing but check outside to be sure they are staying safe. I always think maybe the owner got an emergency call from the hospital in the wee hours & dashed to a loved one half frantic, not realizing the dog was right behind or something like that. If a dog is skinny, limping, acting sick/injured, scared or wild, I usually call AC as I fear it's likely to run into traffic in its frantic state or just run far off and probably needs immediate help. It's a hard call to make as whatever you do, not really knowing the situation, could be either right or wrong. And I'm like you, I think about it over & over afterward, whatever I did/didn't do about it.

[Deadbug]

I think you all just need to do what I did.

Move across the street from the Mayor.

There are NO stray dogs or cats in my neighborhood. When you live in the neighborhood with the guy that runs the town, you don't break the leash laws! Even he is owned by a doberman pinscher and I have to say it's WELL trained.

OP: It's a tough call. Just remember that while your heart may feel bad, you can't save them all. Contrary to popular belief, some of them are capable of saving themselves. I'm pretty sure my dogs are smarter than most of my clients.

[yavenay]

It's funny you should start this thread. The same thing just happened to me on Tuesday of this week. I saw a dog almost get hit not once but several times. He was standing in the middle of a very busy 2 way street barking at a woman who was walking by. At first I thought it was her dog but it wasnt. I pulled over and tried to coax him out of the street. Once he focused his attention on me he started barking at me which was what I wanted so that he would not run back out into the street.

He was definitely not approachable but he did have a collar on but I couldn't tell if he had tags on. At that point I called animal control because I would not have been able to grab him. He was not letting me anywhere near him. I kept him barking at me to divert his attention so that he would not run back out into the street while i was on the phone with animal control.

At that point another man pulled up who lived on the block and thought it was one of the neighhbhors dog but he couldn't tell for sure. He went into the house to get some dog treats so that we can try and detain him until animal control arrived. But the dog took off running in another direction and we lost sight of him. The guy said he would keep an eye out for him. I can only hope that the poor little guy didn't get run over.

Even though there's a likely hood that a dog can be put down, they almost face certain death if left alone. Or even worse, some mean and evil person could abuse and torture them before killing them. At least at a shelter they may have some chance of being adopted. We have several no kill shelters in Delaware that I would of call. The humane association here is a no kill shelter and I would of taken the dog there if I was able to get a hold of him.

[gracielove]

This is something that has happened to me so many times. Many people do let their dogs run free even though it is against the law in many towns and cities. I live outside of town so when I encounter a stray dog I usually know someone has dumped it just like the many cats. If I find a dog inside of town that looks like it is in some sort of distress I will try to get it to come to me. If there are houses near by I ask if anyone knows of the dog. Sometimes they don't really know the owner but have an idea of where the dog lives. If no one can tell me anything and I feel the dog is in danger I take it to a friends house that is more equipped to deal with dogs than I am. We will contact the police and shelters, place ads in papers and put up posters, etc. Many times it is heartbreaking to have to return them to the owner as it is obvious that they are not getting the care they need. But most of the time we do get them spayed or neutered if they need it before a search is put out. It may sound shady but we have a low cost spay/neuter clinic here. Most times the owner doesn't care we had it done. They just never would have done it themselves. We always determine the condition of the animal before making decisions like that.

More than half the time no one calls for the animal and we have to find a home. Some of the harder cases (like the really big dogs) we have had to take to the shelter. We have a private no kill shelter that does the low cost spay/neuter clinic. There are a lot of fools out there breeding larger breeds also. I guess it is some sort of an ego trip for some. So many of them end up in shelters because the people do not know how to train the dog.

Several years ago I had a Honda Accord hatchback and came across a huge Great Dane! He was obviously in an area where he did not belong but he did have tags on his collar. I was kind of scared when I got up close to him but he turned out to be very friendly. The trouble was fitting him into the back of that little car! Even with the back seat put down he took up the whole area! He was such a good boy but I was kind of awe struck by his size. Found out later that the owner was notorious for letting the dog get away but I had to let him go home. I had found him more than 5 miles away from where he lived and he was on the other side of the river at that!

I say when in doubt think of the best interest of the animal first. If it does belong to someone then rescue it and try to find the owner later. The animals are not supposed to be running loose on the street anyway. What are they going to do? Accuse you of being a dog thief? They should be grateful that you wanted to help.

[gracielove]

Originally Posted by yavenay

It's funny you should start this thread. The same thing just happened to me on Tuesday of this week. I saw a dog almost get hit not once but several times. He was standing in the middle of a very busy 2 way street barking at a woman who was walking by. At first I thought it was her dog but it wasnt. I pulled over and tried to coax him out of the street. Once he focused his attention on me he started barking at me which was what I wanted so that he would not run back out into the street.

He was definitely not approachable but he did have a collar on but I couldn't tell if he had tags on. At that point I called animal control because I would not have been able to grab him. He was not letting me anywhere near him. I kept him barking at me to divert his attention so that he would not run back out into the street while i was on the phone with animal control.

At that point another man pulled up who lived on the block and thought it was one of the neighhbhors dog but he couldn't tell for sure. He went into the house to get some dog treats so that we can try and detain him until animal control arrived. But the dog took off running in another direction and we lost sight of him. The guy said he would keep an eye out for him. I can only hope that the poor little guy didn't get run over.

Even though there's a likely hood that a dog can be put down, they almost face certain death if left alone. Or even worse, some mean and evil person could abuse and torture them before killing them. At least at a shelter they may have some chance of being adopted. We have several no kill shelters in Delaware that I would of call. The humane association here is a no kill shelter and I would of taken the dog there if I was able to get a hold of him.

I do keep dog treats in my car. Even tame pets act very differently when they are outside of their home zone. Sometimes they will act aggressive or fearful even though they are friendly as can be at home. Many of the dogs we have taken in change their fierce stance once they are offered a tasty treat. Wish we had an animal control to call that would arrive within a timely fashion and not a couple of weeks later.