Lost dog knocked at my door, please all advice welcome

CollardGreens

Good job taking care of the pup OP ~ I wish you could have kept him, you sound like a wonderful loving person.

My black lab was a hunting dog that either got dumped or got lost. From the way she acted you could tell that she had been beat so I never looked for the original owner.

Fast forward 4 years later she is a beautiful frisbee playing healthy beach girl that gets cooked meals and babysitters if I'm gone over 5 hours from home.

We have hunting beagles in this neighborhood and they are skinny with ribs showing, I never heard that you must keep them skinny to hunt?! News to me and I feel sorry for hunting dogs.

I would have taken him if I lived near you (I'm in the States), just lost my 8yo hound/lab mix to cancer over the Christmas holiday and my lab is lonely. People dump dogs where I live so eventually I'm sure one that needs a home will show up like this one did.

God bless you for being so kind! ((hug))

**Vai**

dodderangler wrote: »

Dog has been wandering about
It's gonna look rough but as for it weight issue pointers are lean dogs even a pointer/springer is lean

Looking rough would be having some muck on it or having tangles in its hair, not mange and so skinny it looks ill.

As someone who had springers years ago and having rehomed a pointer last year, I know exactly how they should look and it aint like that poor dog. You're confusing lean with wasting away.

maggiepip

OP - as you have met the owner of this poor dog do you know the location of where he is being kept? If so would you consider ringing the ISPCA and asking them to check out the place and the condition of the dog/dogs? I dont know but its upsetting that the poor thing had to go back to an owner who allows him to be in the state he was in:(

fits

I dunno, I think a dog who's already lean can look thin very quickly, even in just a couple of days.

The sores around the eyes are another thing though. should be treated really. Its not difficult to treat mange either if he has it.

maggiepip

He had only been missing a few hours.

Stheno

fits wrote: »

I dunno, I think a dog who's already lean can look thin very quickly, even in just a couple of days.

The sores around the eyes are another thing though. should be treated really. Its not difficult to treat mange either if he has it.

I'd a dog who was very thin as he was suffering from a digestion problem.

Little blighter went missing for about ten hours, and was found in a house down the road, who out of kindness feed him hamburgers (worst thing they could have done) He of course responded by spraying their garden with the worst watery poo possible, and when we finally found him, we'd to get them to ring our vets to confirm he was sick (he was literally skin and bone as he was just diagnosed)

no excuse for the likes of mange though

CollardGreens

My first thought when seeing the picture was parvo and/or worms. I do hope the man that has the dog will get it medical attention.

Mountainsandh

From what I understood, he was saying they were supposed to do 3 days, presumably from the Friday till the Sunday, and presumably going home in between, but they cancelled probably during that Saturday because of the rain, and as they were heading off some dogs ran the wrong way up the road. They got the others that same day, he must have been ahead.

So yes, the dog had been worked quite a bit by then.

I agree though, to me he was just too emaciated, he was wrecked when he arrived (but I think he had ran 3 km uphill, in the rain, from the road where they were after the day's work) and the skin thing (mange or whatever it might be, I'm no expert) was no good news either.

But again, I couldn't like some people have suggested to me even on Facebook, have kept the dog in my shed while they were searching for it outside.

I feel very bad about it in a way, but a) I simply can't lie or deceit, it's not the way I live my life, b) I have children, we live in an isolated spot, and I just couldn't bring that liability on my home/family, I'm sure I don't need to spell that out.

I do kick myself for not asking where they lived/stayed, and maybe report them on the sly, but realistically, if they were like it has been suggested (and it's possible) lying to me about being with the gun club, they could have very well have lied again or evaded the question. I have tried enquiring around since then, no success yet, but I'm sure there must be a farmer around who knows who they are, so I might be able to do that yet, and I will if I do get details.

I'm female, and was on my own dealing with these people. They did seem very friendly, and they were polite, and genuinely delighted to find that dog. They didn't kick it all the way to the car, the dog headed off willingly. Like all hunt dogs that I have met, he wasn't the jumping on you effusive pet dog, you could say he knew his place in the human/working dog hierarchy , but he was definitly not afraid of humans, and used to being petted, and handled.
You know the way you approach your hand to their head, and fearful dogs withdraw ? He didn't. He let me towel dry him without a fear, and pet him (I wore disposable gloves).

So yes, his condition wasn't great, there's no denying that, but as regards abuse, there was none of that for sure, at least that's a comfort. I guess this way of keeping animals is so deeply embedded (as normal) in some people's psyche, they don't realize they're doing wrong.

Stheno

I think you did the best you could in the circumstances tbh.

DBB

Stheno wrote: »

I think you did the best you could in the circumstances tbh.

+1
And you were right not to draw attention to yourself under the circumstances, and of course you couldn't hold onto the dog in the knowledge that his owners were nearby looking for him. I've had to hand dogs back to owners before that I'd rather not have, but keeping them is akin to theft, when you know who and where the owner is.
For what it's worth, lads like this don't tend to abuse their dogs in a beat-the-crap-out-of-them way: indeed, they'd place a reasonable amount of value, even pride, in a good working dog. But they'd be pretty ignorant on matters of dog welfare and health.
I hope you don't take anything that was said here as criticism of you or how you dealt with it. The posts referring to the dog, the state of him etc is all an aside to the role you played in it all, but not aimed at you at all
He had a lovely night of comfort with you

Brianne

Yes well done on being so kind to the little dog. Makes me sick the way some people treat their animals. But as you say the dog was happy to go with them. It would be great to find out who the owner is and somebody might know the set up.
The law regarding animal welfare leaves a lot to be desired and its time something radical was done to protect our furry friends and prevent animal cruelty taking place.