Question:
I found a dog that was running around our apartment complex. He is a little chi or chi mix. According to the apt. staff, he's been running around for about 5 days! He has a harness on but no leash and no tags. He kept running around the same building over and over and I found out that a couple in the building had been feeding him for a few days, but couldn't bring him in because of their dog. He was really, really HARD to catch! It took both me and Mike, along with the other neighbors to finally get him, and when Mike picked him up, the dog urinated on him! I was able to get Ollie (my cat's) leash on him and he immediately calmed down and seemed relieved to be caught! I went to the apt. office and they said they couldn't do anything besides call Animal Control. I talked one of my neighbors into taking him in for the night because she doesn't have any pets, and Oliver abosolutely hates dogs so I can't really keep him here. I contacted the rescue I got Jasmine from and I'm going to see if I can reach some more. The neighbor said she might keep him and I'm really keeping my fingers crossed!

Well the rescue just called me back and said they don't take strays - they only rescue from the shelters. I guess I'll try some others and pray that the lady will keep him! I'm sick right now so its really hard for me to deal with this. I've been running around trying to catch him for an hour and then talking to everyone. I feel so sorry for the poor little guy. He's a sweet dog and is just really scared and tired. I will keep you guys updated.


Answer:
I hope the little guy gets a good home. That was so nice of you to take care of him like that, same goes for your neighbor and Mike and the rest of the people.


Answer:
I work in the Lost & Found Dept at our Humane Society. Please call the area animal shelters and leave a Found report with them. Call Animal Control and leave a description and call area Vet clinics to see if they recognize him. Take him to a vet or shelter and get him scanned for a microchip. Put an AD in the newspaper and flyers up around the area. Please don't assume nobody is looking for him and try to find a new home for him immediately... If he was your pet that accidently got lost from you, wouldn't you want the finder to do everything possible to try to find his rightful home??


Answer:
Sorry, I forgot to add that I did call the Animal Shelter and I left a found report. (I'm sick so I'm not remembering to write everything, sorry!) I will put flyers around here too. The thing is that he's been running around for about a week and no one has claimed him. I don't think he lives in this complex because his owners would have contacted the office by now. I can put some flyers up in the surrounding neighborhoods. The thing is, I need to see if I can get him into a rescue asap, unless my neighbor agrees to foster him for awhile longer.


Answer:
Good news. It sounds like my neighbor is willing to keep him for awhile so we can post signs. She's going to call me tomorrow and let me know how tonight went. So hopefully I won't have to find him a new home right away and maybe we can find his family, if he has one.


Answer:
Originally Posted by veggiegirl
The thing is that he's been running around for about a week and no one has claimed him. I don't think he lives in this complex because his owners would have contacted the office by now. I can put some flyers up in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Good idea.. There are alot of ways pets can end up in a different area from where they were lost.. I've seen it all!
Hopefully you can locate this poor pups owner.. they must be frantic! Check the newspaper everyday for Lost reports..
Also, before placing the dog in a Rescue, check with the Animal Shelter to see what the recommended 'time-frame' is before re-homing a found pet.. you don't want to do it too soon b/c sure as heck, as soon as you find the little guy a new home, you'll find the real owner and then what?? Our shelter recommends 10-14 days..
If your neighbour can't hold onto the dog while searching for the owner, you'd be best to take him to the Humane Society..
Good Luck!


Answer:
Steph don't think that no-one is looking for him! Biscuit got away from my p's when I was on holidays last year and an hour later they had a phonecall from a guy. Biscuit had jumped in his car when he opened the door at the hospital. she was two suburbs away and had crossed a major highway. My p's never would have thought to look that far for her so quick, they were looking around the streets in their suburb...they wouldn't think she could cross four lanes of very busy traffic and not get hit. Lucky for us she has a tag on with both my and my p's phone number. It might not hurt to put an ad in the paper too.


Answer:
ditto to what everyone else said.

i'm so glad you helped the little one out!


Answer:
Guys...please don't jump on me. I'm not saying that no one could be looking for him. Its just, a new home is better than being euthanized...and I didn't know if that lady was willing to keep him for awhile so we could try to find his owners. Like I said, now I know that she is willing to keep him, we are going to put up signs. Unfortunately this dog's owners did not put a tag on him, so we are doing the best that we can, which is pretty good considering he's been wandering for a week and no one did anything until I found him and caught him (I hadn't seen him wandering for a week).


If your neighbour can't hold onto the dog while searching for the owner, you'd be best to take him to the Humane Society..
Our Humane Society is horrible and there is no way I am taking him there. I'll call them and leave a found report like I did with the shelter, but I'm not taking him there. Hopefully someone will see one of the signs or found reports, otherwise he will go to a no-kill rescue, or stay with my neighbor.

Keep in mind that people dump their animals around here. All four of my cats were either dumped or left behind. Two of them were thrown in the trash. One of them was left behind when his family moved. It happens all the time.


Answer:
Steph, I fully agree with you about not sending him to the Humane Society! I support everything you have done so far to help this little boy out. And, like you said, he has absolutely NO identification whatsoever. You are going about this the right way. If nobody claims him and your neighbor is willing to keep him, I think that is pretty darn good considering he was wandering around the complex for an entire week by himself.