You experiences with strays

I have lived in this town since I was 5. I'm 22 now. I have lived on this street for 4 years now. All the dogs I find here never get claimed. Their always dropped off.

There was one drop off that made me hate the people that dropped him. I was going to town with my parents and as we were pulling out of my driveway my Grandma says "look at that little fox." It did look like a fox and it went dashing under a tree. I didnt think nothing of it. Well later that night my bfriend's brother came over and he asked if we got a new dog. I said no and he said well there's one outside. I went outside and there was the little fox looking pup. He ran off and I followed him back to the tree he was hiding under. And there he was laying with his head on the body of his sister. Whoever had dumped them ran her over in their hurry to get out of site. Luckily for Ranger(I named him) I found a friend of mine that was more than happy to give him a loving home he deserved after the experience he had. 

Now a couple months ago I found a little dog that we later called Toby. Some of you might remember my post. We looked in the paper and put ad's up. No one called about him. Well my boyfriend's mom took him home with her. She then was going out to of town for a few days and asked if I would watch him. I said yes. A day before she was to come home he got out of the dog kennel and took off running up the road. I couldnt find him. A couple weeks ago I went out for a walk and found Toby. He found his way home and his dad had gotten him a nice haircut and a collar with tags. I am glad he is safe and sound. 

 I have too many to list.  I've never caught a dog, but I've tried plenty, at risk to life and limb at times (like the terrified pup stuck in the median of the freeway).  If nothing else, I've shooed them off the road.  Twice here in my community, I've found the same dog running loose on multiple occasions and was able to find out who the owner was from neighbors and warned them if I saw it again, I'd take it to the pound.  Hmm, never saw the dogs again, hope I was the reason.    I now keep a slip leash and treats in the car and most days there's a soft sided crate in the back of my car, so if there wasn't my own dog in it, I'd have a way to confine it.

Here on my street, I recently had a friendly border kitty  show up on my porch.  Lots of neighborhood cats show up on my porch and hang out   (crazy animal lady's house!) and although I HATE the idea of outside cats, these tend to stay in the yards and out of the streets, so I keep my thoughts to myself.  But this young kitty had just nearly been hit and didn't seem to understand to stay out of the street.  So I scooped him up and locked him in my bathroom.  I put a big sign on my mailbox in case someone was driving around looking for him.  A young girl came to the door and said it was hers.  I told her I'd only give it back if she promised me that she would keep it inside because he didn't understand about cars and he was going to get killed.  I also asked her to have her parents call me when they got home.  I got a call from her dad's girlfriend with a bunch of excuses why they couldn't keep it in the house (it scratches, it tore up some mini blinds, etc etc etc).  And she was upset I'd told the daughter I wouldn't give it back unless she could keep it inside.  I told her I'd rather have the daughter upset about that than to get off the schoolbus and find her beloved kitten squished in the middle of the road and if I saw the cat loose again, I was taking it to the pound.  I also gave her ideas for crating it in a large dog crate during the day when they couldn't be home or setting aside a bathroom w/o a window that he could spend the day in but I don't think she was listening at that point.
 

The mean, crazy animal lady hasn't seen the kitty loose since. 

That's a good idea about tying them up out in front of your house so the searching owners could see.   

ETA: kle, you're breaking my heart this week!!!!  Poor little puppy!  Bless you for finding him a good home! 

I live in the country. The "strays" around here belong to people who just don't think containing their dogs is necessary. I usually don't do a thing about it. There was once a very young puppy (maybe 6-7 weeks old) under our house. I took it to the local shelter.

Once, I was out walking with Jaia off leash (on our property) and we came across a pitbull from down the road. Jaia immediately took off after it and chased it halfway back to its home, then came right back. Haven't seen it around here since...

Then there are "gangs" of 2 or 3 "neighborhood dogs" that get together and run around. They sometimes get into our pasture and when my dogs see them, there's much ruckus! I get a little perturbed at that. Not at the dogs, but because people seem to not care if their dogs are bothering their neighbors...

That's about it for me.  

ottoluv

I consider myself a neurotic, over the top pet owner, and my dogs still have gotten away once.

THANK YOU for saying that, Kelly!! 

Yes, it *does* absolutely happen occasionally even to those of us who are completely anal about 'being careful'.  So you do your best ... absolutely the best ... and you keep trying to learn and do better. 

But because it's SO easy to screw up (and back when I was younger and far more clueless, I was far less good at keeping them contained ... and, in fact, didn't even see it as being that important!! I know better*NOW*!) -- I try to be helpful to people who have lost their dogs.

Often -- they don't care and don't want to be teachable.  But OFTEN they are ...so I keep trying.

I have dragged in SO many street strays.  My very first dog, Prissy, was a street stray.  Someone had dumped her -- she was about 6 months old (per the vet) and had *already* HAD a litter.  She didn't have most of her 'adult' teeth, but she HAD given birth (they must have drowned the pups and booted her out). 

Not house-trained -- this was up North and she was obviously used to "going down cellar" to do her business!!  *sigh*  I trained her ... but mostly she trained ME.  Thank goodness she was patient! 

Later came more ... Foxy the MOstlie sheltie -- I found him tied to a fire hydrant!!  Yep, took him home too.

Honestly, I'm one of those weirdo people who keeps a noose leash in my car.  My dogs are trained to ride in the back (or where I put them and I always have leashes -- so I would leash mine in the back and put a newbie in the front (and I have done so before).

One time about a year ago I was at the grocery store parking lot -- and  pell mel down the main aisle of the lot comes this little shih tzu!!  He was going in any direction that was .... AWAY!!!  I stopped -- opened my car door and said "Wanna ride?" and he jumped right in!

My first thot was "duh ... NOW what do I do?"  He was right under my feet!!

Then in my back window I saw a woman running ... so I opened my window and it happened to be a neighbor of mine.  "Did you lose something furry?"  Bless her heart -- she was all out of breath.  He'd jumped 'ship' (she walks her dogs MILES a day -- she walks like 10 miles every day for her health and she uses a baby buggy for the dogs because she can out walk them!!). 

The little stinker just got away and ditched his collar, so I handed him over! (lots of doggie kisses THERE for his Mom!!)

Because I tend to "think dog" pretty well, I'm never terribly afraid .... and b/c I'm always overly-prepared ... I stop.  Sometimes I've reunited them with the owner and ... wished I hadn't.  One in particular that I've posted about -- the woman was too stupid -- she just didn't "get it" that dogs didn't need to 'roam' like cats and eventually her little pomeranian disappeared a third time ... and never re-surfaced.  Despite my encouragement for her to keep her contained.  *sigh*  David and I still hope aloud that someone just snitched her ... because she was honestly gator bait for sure down here.  Stupid woman.  *sigh* 

My most notable stray experience was a couple years ago. I was driving to my mom's house and I saw something flopping around in the middle of the road. I thought it was a bag, at first, but when I got closer I realized it was a little dog that had been hit by a car and couldn't get up. I parked my car in the road, so no one else could go past and hit the poor little guy and went out to get him. This kid, who was probably 14ish was walking by and came over and asked if it was my dog-nope-not his dog either, so he held the little guy and I drove us to the vet.
  End of story: The dog was ok. I said I'd take him if his owner couldn't be found. (However, apparently he was a bit of a nasty thing-the vet techs affectionatly called him "Bitey", as he bit them and terrorized the cats who lived in the vet's office.) BUT luckily for him, his owner found him. She was an older woman and he was her campanion-she had been heartbroken missing him. So, a happy ending for all. Even Bitey. Whose name turned out to be Brutus.

I stop and try to catch them.  But I'm not that great at it.  If nothing else I get them away from the road.  Usually when I do manage to catch one they have a tag and I call the owner.  There was a husky DH and I cought roaming town after church, no collar.  We drove around w/ him and when we saw people outside we stopped and asked if they knew anyone who owned a husky.  One person did so we went to the house that they said, but it turned out not to be that persons dog.  We went home and tried to put the dog in the yard so we could change clothes, but he flipped out the minute we were out of sight.  So we put our dogs in the yard and took him inside (DH was in *love*).  We took him to Petsmart to see if anyone regonized him and there were some people there from the animal shelter taking care of the cats.  They said we could take him to the shelter and even though it was closed there was someone there that could take him in.  My step-sis works at the shelter so we asked about him.  She said he was cage aggressive but his owner did come and claim him.  Unfortunately, they ended up getting him as a stray again and this time no one came for him and he was PTS due to the aggression.

I used to bring strays home when I was a kid. My folks would then take them to the pound.

The strays at the beach usually belong to someone who is just letting them run loose.

I had a dog show up on my porch once. Fortunately it had a tag on it's collar with the dog's name and owner's phone number. I love it when owners purchase tags like these in addition to the required tags.

Almost all of my cats have been strays, including my current one we found in the garden about a month ago. I once had a mamma cat and three kittens show up under my deck.

denise m

I'm sure most members have at one time come across a stray dog. I know it can be a dilemma as you often have to act quickly and usually you would not have an extra leash or piece of rope handy to restrain a dog. If you have your own dog with you at the time, that can create another problem. So lets share how some of us have handled the situation and how it worked out.

Well, as a child I came across too many to count.  I grew up in the inner-city during a period of gang wars, fun fun.  Pitts and rotts were everywhere and everyone had dogs chained in their yards or roaming free.  My mom has pics of me in my little snowsuit kissing a shepherd mix.  There were too many to catch and deal with, plus my parents never had the time or money for dogs even though we all wanted one.  We did find a purebred English Setter once and we showed it to my dad hoping to use the bird hunting dog angle to convince him.  We wanted to keep it, but it appeared very sick and my mom said we had no money for the vet.  My parents called AC and they came and picked him up.  We swore we saw him advertised in the weekend paper where they feature a shelter dog. 

In college I found one stray dog outside my house.  Someone came down the street looking for him, so that was a quick fix.

A few months ago, I was pulling onto my street when I saw this little Bichon running around.  I followed him in my car and when I was convinced no one was looking for him, I quick went home and got Kenya.  I figured he'd be attracted to another dog if he was scared by me.  We caught him and took him home.  He was totally crusted with ice and snow and it was supposed to be an exceptionally cold night.  I was nervous about bringing him right inside but I had no choice.  I don't even like Bichons but I couldn't leave him there.  Neither of my dogs really cared about him.  DH and I drove around until we found a flyer posted about a lost Bichon.  We called them, but they said they already found theirs.  I called the shelter and they said no one was calling about a Bichon, but encouraged me to bring him there so they could handle the claim and educated the owners.  It was too late to get to the shelter at that point, so we kept him home.  I bathed him and discovered several lumps on his chest.  He was also peeing very frequently and peeing blood.  We went out to the e-vet during a blizzard to have them scan for a microchip, but there was none.  I posted him on Craigslist and got a lot of responses form people who WANTED him.  We let him sleep in our bed with us.  The next day DH called at work and said he was concerned about the dog's health.  We decided to take him to the shelter b/c they have a vet staff.  Our shelter requires you to pay to surrender a dog, even a stray, and in return the dog is NOT euthanized unless it has a severe behavioral problem or is in pain/near death.  I volunteer at this shelter and small dogs are adopted within minutes of being posted.  I e-mailed DH a detailed document about where I found him, what health problems I noticed, etc and the shelter staff was appreciative.  We paid the mandatory donation plus a little extra.  They had to hold him for a week b/c he was a stray.  I checked PetFinder and found a posting I am almost sure was him (no picture) and it was gone almost immediately.  Hopefully he was treated for the infection and instantly adopted.

Most of the other dogs I've encountered were not really strays, just off leash dogs being allowed to run amuck.  Most recently, I was chased by a small dog while riding my bike on vacation.  That dog was FAST and hell bent on taking a large bite out of my ankle.  I've also encountered loose dogs while walking Kenya.  Honestly I just go about my business as usual.  If someone else's dog is following me there's not a lot I can do about it.

I do not handle strays or bring them onto my property. I have children, and limited facilities for maintaining kid/dog separation without putting my own dogs at risk. I have intact bitches and breeding dogs, and I do NOT need to take risks with Brucellosis.

I call Animal Control.

My first experience with a stray dog was the neighbor's dog. He was an escape artist and he had gotten loose, was in their front yard. No one was home - I visited regularly, knew them well, knew the dog somewhat and was too young to know better. I figured I would just go open the gate to their backyard and let him in to the yard. As I reached for the gate, he stood on his hind legs, put his front feet on my shoulders and showed me all his teeth. I froze, he got down, I went home. Lesson learned.

My second experience with a stray was a baby squirrel that was being stalked by two cats from down the road. My sister and I chased the cats away and, thinking we had done our good deed for the day, headed home. We were followed all the way home (4 houses up the road) by the baby squirrel. We ended up keeping it in a box on the front porch (enclosed porch).

My next experience was again with the neighbor's dog across the street. I saw the dog a few blocks away while on my way home from school. I made no attempt to approach him, but I went home and called the owner and left a message telling them where I had seen him. They found him close to that location and then came over to give me a gift.

The next was a young GSD mix that was left tied to a stop sign. It was late, dark, I didn't know much about dogs and couldn't read his body language. I changed my route (I would have walked right past where he was) and a couple blocks away ran into a police officer (small town, everyone knows everyone, local police handle the stray dog calls). The officer stopped to say hi, I told him about the dog, he went to go get the dog.

Another was a dog that had already been picked up by the police as a stray. I saw her tied up outside the police station (which is where they kept them while waiting for animal control; the police station is right next to a park I hung out at.) I recognized her and was able to contact the owners who came and got her.

The next stray was a bird. I was hanging out at the park (the park that's next to the police station) with some friends and one of the officers came outside and called me over. I was looking at him, confused. He laughed and reassured me that I wasn't in any trouble. He then handed me a box. With a baby bird in it. I wa slike WTF?? He told me it had walked into the police station, and for lack of any other ideas, they were going to shoot it if I didn't take it. (**He was kidding, BTW**). I rolled my eyes and explained that I know nothing about birds and couldn't take it, and had he called AC? He said there was no point in calling AC, they wouldn't come out that late at night, and that the bird would be fine with me - I worked with animals (yea, horses...). I take the box and return to my friends. WTH am I going to do with a baby sparrow?? My friends and I look at the bird for a few minutes and discuss our options. I walk into the police station - no sign of the officer that had given me the bird - and I ask the dispatcher to please call AC. 10 minutes later animal control shows up. The ACO looks at the bird, spreads out a wing, declares it a fedgling who will be fine in a couple days and leaves with the bird.

     My experience w/ strays? Oh boy, here goes

     They find me. There can be zero stray dog pupulation in the area, yet somehow I end up across the street from one. Oh, and not just any stray, the PITIFUL ones. I find that having another dog with me is actually an advantage if I want to pick one up. Several years ago had a Shepherd/Rottie mix quite literally follow me every step of the way off a parkway to my house when I was walking my dog. A neutered male, apparently, is quite the attractant for a horny intact male ... I did use my own dog's leash to coax him into the house, tho.

     If I don't have another dog with me, I call to them, and yup, they come over and follow 99% of the time. Usually, the old, tired ones cross my paths. In that case, I have time to grab a leash and just go over and leash them. They are usually grateful. Right after Christmas we got a Boxer mix off the streets that way. Just stood there, waiting for the leash, lol. There was, probably about 3yrs ago, a Rottie mix that we got that way also. He had severe hip problems tho, had to be put down. Rocky. Nice dog.

     Wasn't a stray, but an abandoned purebred Rottweiler that I got off the streets about 5yrs ago. Funny story ... well, if you consider this is how the money that goes to animal control is spent, it's pretty sad ... Was passing by a Vet's office (was my Vet, I knew they'd closed hours ago) and saw a Rottie tied outside. All the other stores on that strip were closed, and being it was nearly 8pm, they had been for some time. So, we asked around in the park across the street, and found out the people had seen that dog there for several hours. We decided to go back home, since I had my dog with me at the time, and would return later on that night. When we got back, we see the neighborhood association patrol car alongside an animal control van. Four grown men were standing plastered against the truck, two from AC, the other two old farts from the neighborhood association. All a good 6' tall, strong guys. One had the catchpole in his hand ... I swear if I hadn't known better I'd have thought he was crazy glued to the side of his truck @@ Mind you, I'm a scrawny 95lb 4'10", lol. This dog outweighed me.
     You would have thought that animal control guys would have peeled themselves off the side of their truck long enough to do their job when I arrived again. Nope. They explained the Vet found the dog abandoned and called them 4 hours before ... unbeliveable @@ If I wanted to take the dog, I was more than welcome to. He was a friendly thing, stump tail wagging, very inviting expression, not acting aggressive at all. Not even barking. Somebody threw away one lice lookin' Rottie. Their loss. Anyway, the guys from AC were pretty much ready to jump in their van they were so terrified of this dog. He was like trying to control a small horse, but I untied him and got myself one of the best dogs I've ever had. Of course, after I'd untied him, AC guys were acting all brave - went up to the dog and saying how beautiful he was. This is where our tax money goes. Ugh.

     So anyway, that's how I get my strays. If they take off, I wouldn't bother with them, but my luck, they never take off. Most have been re homed privately. One is still upstate - he is a convent guard dawg, lol. The nuns spoil him rotten :) The Rottie was apparently abandoned because he had tumors all over his body - we had him 4-5 months than had to put him down. 

     BTW, all strays are kenneled outside - I dont want them around my own hounds. I give them their vaccinations and a worming with panacur the minute they step foot on my property. Get them neutered for $25 and usually find a home for them in a 4-6 weeks ... we also do temperament testing and obedience training with any stray/other rescue that comes thru here.

So long as it's safe to stop, (ie, the dog is on the same side of the highway as me and there's a breakdown lane) I will stop and try to collect ANY stray dogs I see.  Having Gracie in the car always makes it harder, so I end up engaging help.

One time I was stopped at a gas station next to a VERY busy street in an urban city in MA.  A sweet pitty was just forlornly walking around, looking up pitifully at people.  After asking everyone whom the dog belonged to, and learning it was a stray, I found another equally concerned person.  She had NO dog experience, but between my phone calls to track down the nearest open no-kill shelter, and her willingness to follow directions, we got the pit leashed up and loaded into her car, with the shelter anticipating her arrival.

It saddens me that people still think it's ok (or even GOOD for their dog) to run free at night. "But he always comes back" just isn't a good answer.

I cannot list them as it would take me forever. I am one who always stops for strays, it drives me nuts but I cannot help it. I have been late to important meetings and have driven my family crazy but for me the dog running down the street with that fearful lost look on his face could be mine someday and I pray that someone will stop and save them should they ever get lost.

 My most recent stray find was a little terrier who was disoriented and lost roaming about the mesa near my home. It was about 80 out at the time. I called to her but she ignored me and would walk a bit and then lie down. I took water to her and got her to drink, put a leash on her and started toward my house, she could not walk so I had to pick her up. I got her home and got he comfortable and started calling neighbors from a chair on my back porch. No luck, no one knew who she belonged to. Her tag was for a vets office in Pa and I live in NM, I left a message with them. I then noticed one of the neighbors in the back about 500 yeards away walking around her house and she appeared to be looking for something so I jumped in the car and drove over there.

 Sure enough it was her dog, a senior dog who was blind and deaf. Her owner had workmen over doing an estimate and she told me that normally she had to carry the dog outside to do her buisness so she had not even noticed when the dog had slipped out. The dog would sleep most of the time so it was over three hours since the workmen had left before she noticed that her older dog was not in the house. They had just moved in and their fence was not up yet. This old dog would have died had I not taken the time to assist her, and calling for her would have done no good since she could not hear.

 If you see a stray do your best to stop and assist, it just might be your beloved dog one day.