Home Animal Stories Pets: You Found a Stray Dog, What You Should Do Next

Pets: You Found a Stray Dog, What You Should Do Next

by ECT

When finding lost dogs many people with great intentions and great hearts unknowingly break the law and even hinder the animal from finding its way home.

This past week I got into a heated discussion in a Facebook group that is intended to educate about animal related topics. The post was about a dog that was found and rehomed a few months ago (no report was filed) and now needs to be rehomed again.

Red flags immediately went off for me. It makes little sense of how does one rehome a dog that does not belong to them? I sat in horror as I watch people tag others in the post to help rehome or “save the dog from being dumped at the shelter”. More puzzling, people who are directly involved with rescues who should know the law failed to educate the public.

This is a topic that should be discussed because finding a lost animal has a series of steps that should be followed.

  1. First, make sure the animal is okay and look for tags or identification. Do a quick search for the owner or home. If no one is located, take the animal to a Veterinary office or the shelter to be scanned for a microchip.
  2. Next, file a found report at the shelter. If the animal was found in the City of Antioch then report should be filed with the Antioch Animal Services , if it was found in another city the report should be filed at Contra Costa County Animal Services.
  3. An optional step, utilize social media. In East Contra Costa County, Fido Alert is a Facebook Page with a large network—photos and information can be spread quickly to help reunite the dog with its owner. Fido alert says “when filing a report with the shelter it would be very helpful to include a photo as sometimes breeds are misidentified and check back often, don’t assume by filing a report you are covered”.
  4. You may also choose to post flyer in the area that you found the animal and post Craigslist. Fido alert suggested that when someone calls to claim the dog you ask to see photos of the dog before it went missing or even meet at the animal’s regular veterinary office to verify ownership.

In California, the law says animals are considered property and if one does not follow the law and report a found dog to the proper shelter it could be considered theft.

The law states if a member of the public wants to hold an animal during its stray hold they cannot alter or re-home the dog for 30 day from the time that the found report was filed.

There is no shame in taking a found pet to the shelter. Think about it like this, if you lost your pet where would you go to look for it? I’m positive most people would answer the shelter.

So why wouldn’t someone who found a stray dog take it to the one place the owner is expected to look?

For example, Klyed who is pictured above, he Is now home safe with his family because he was at the shelter listed as a stray when his people came looking for him.

I can’t help but think that out there somewhere a family has mourned the loss of a dog who is very much alive, who has been rehomed twice even though he was never homeless to begin with.

I encourage folks to follow the law which is designed to help reunite pets with their owners.

By Kristy Keusch

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3 comments

sara Jun 28, 2015 - 4:20 pm

I’m sorry, but these things are obvious. No one with a “great heart” is going to keep a found animal without taking most of these steps. And, you don’t have to take the animal to the shelter to help the owner find it. In fact, the shelter is not a great idea if you can keep the animal. Animals who have already had their shots will be given their shots again before reuniting with the owner, who will be unfairly charged a fee. Keep the animal and file reports. Take care of it. That’s what I did and the owner didn’t have to drive 30 miles from his home to our local shelter and pay a stack of cash to get it back, instead, he just came around the block to my house. And it gave my kids a great opportunity to do a service for someone.

Norma Jun 30, 2015 - 10:57 am

If you find a stray check with any vet to see if it has been micro chipped if not fill out papers with the Antioch shelter to see if someone is looking for it. if that does not work call one of the non profit pet agency like HARP, ARR, Doggy -911 or any one and they will tell you what to do

Cheryl Jun 30, 2015 - 5:49 pm

I did all of the above! Found a dog in the park May 2014 & no one ever claimed him! We think he was left there on purpose. Poor guy HATES car rides. But he has a forever home with us now.

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