Found dog - dilemma

alison_q

a dog followed my boyfriend home yesterday while he was walking our dog in the park. he is a lovely springer spaniel, quite young. he had no collar on him so we took him in and brought him to the local vets to see if he had been chipped - which he hadnt. i then rang the three surrounding garda stations to report the dog found but noone had rang to report him missing in the first place. i also rang the dspca and emailed ashton & dunboyne pounds.
this morning i called the dog warden who told me that i would have to surrender the dog to the pound before he could advertise him on their site.
i dont understand why as i thought the pounds are full to capacity? i am not trying to keep the dog (or in a position to even consider it)
i dont understand why they wont list the dog when i offered to hold onto him until the owner is found.
i am doing everything in my power to make sure the dog is reunited with his owner (including putting signs up) but i dont like the thoughts of putting him in the pound.
what should i do?

seamus

Strictly speaking he's correct as the dog has to be signed in the register and kept in the care of the warden for five days before he's free for rehoming. However, this rule is often bent and there are a number of posters on this forum who have managed to get local pounds to let them keep the dog for the five days.
Most rescues also have a similar arrangement that allows them to hold onto found dogs for the five days.

So it's not a hard and fast rule. Maybe someone here who's done it before is better able to advise.

Toulouse

Am familiar with the SDCC pound and the wardens there will not let dogs do 5 days with finders or rescue unless seriously ill coming in as other wardens sometimes do.

At least with Dunboyne there is a good rescue working with the pound, I will pm you the details. They'll advertise on their fb page and as they had less than 6% pts rate at the pound for 2010 and 2011 he'll be in with a really good shot of getting reclaimed, homed or rescued from there.

toadfly

As far as I know you dont get to choose what pound the dog goes to, each pound are responsible for a certain area so depends where the dog was found.

Toulouse

The dog was found in SDCC catchment area according to the lost ad up so would go to Dunboyne.

questionquick

Keep the dog for a few days if you can.. put up loads of flyers etc..

Put a picture of it on facebook, ask your friends to share the picture on their facebook...

Is there a forum for the town you found the dog/live in? Post about it there as well.

alison_q

well thats the problem, i cant keep him tonight but a friend has volunteered to take him (but he will be brought down to the country tomorro evening) if someone calls me, by all means i will bring him back but because of work commitments it could be a week or so before i could get him.

Toulouse

Can I ask what will happen if the owners don't come forward?

serfboard

My experience with this issue was as follows.

A lovely friendly white puppy came around the house as we were outside and tried to come in. We closed the door, and the dog wandered off. Later we heard other dogs in the neighbourhood barking like mad and it was clear they were attacking the pup. We chased them off and brought the pup into the house.

We contacted the local vet and he hadn't heard of any dogs going missing. We kept the dog overnight but were not in a position to hold onto it long term. Eventually the next evening, with great reluctance we brought it to the nearest pound (Galway City), but they re-assured us that the dog would be re-housed.

The following morning, some people called to the door with dogs that looked exactly like the one we had found. Turns out that the pup was a pedigree and had been stolen from their house. Our next door neighbours daughter told somone in her class about the dog we had found, and her friend had heard about the dog being stolen and put two and two together.

The dog owners asked us had we contacted the guards. We hadn't because we honestly thought that they wouldn't be bothered with that kind of thing, and we hadn't realised that the dog was stolen. Anyway, AFAIK, the owners went to the pound and got their dog back.

Anyway, the point of telling this story to relate it to your own, is to tell as many people as possible. Someone, somewhere is probably looking for it.

alison_q

the friend who has volunteered to take him would keep him. if the owners come forward however, he would obviously give the dog back.

alison_q

if anyone was wondering the dog owner got in touch with me after seeing signs that i put up. turns out they didnt want him anymore so they said my co worker can keep him. at least he'll be looked after properly now, he is an absolutely lovely dog.
i think it was a case of getting a pup for christmas without thinking about the fact that he was gonna grow into a big active dog.

alls well that ends well though!

DeeRottie

Really glad there is a happy ending. Just annoyed that someone turfed their dog out so a kind-hearted soul like you ended up putting in so much time and effort when the dog wasn't even wanted. Thanks for the effort you put in for this dog and getting him rehomed, if one of my dogs ever went missing I would hope they would end up in the hands as someone as thoughtful as you.

alison_q

im just happy to know that someone isnt out there trying to find their dog. i know if my boy went missing i would be devastated!