Well, there’s that, certainly. I’m one who believes we all need a break from our connectivity!
I just don’t see what else the guy who picked up the dog was supposed to do, Found a stray: couldn’t get someone local to take him, at least he found someone not local to care for it.
He obviously didn’t kidnap the dog because he didn’t keep it. So, he “rescued” it but didn’t want to pour his own pocketmoney into it’s welfare: it’s not his dog!
I had a neighbor who would trap/spay/neuter/adopt out any cat that appeared in her yard… No attempt to find the owner. It was explained to her that some people allow cats to be outside occasionally and these may not be strays.
What pet sitter doesn’t immediately get in contact with the owner when the pet is missing?
I have no idea what the right answer is to this issue. I do believe that the owner should get the dog back and the people be reimbursed for care and any fees incurred by adopting the dog.
Such a strange situation and since the dog ended up 300 miles from home, most likely before the woman even knew it was missing makes it hard to even find it.
No way would I just let my dogs go without a fight ( as long as I could afford it).
I have a worse story, but it was in the days before chipping dogs was common.
BFF was barn manager at a big showbarn close to a suburban area. One day, a very nice looking intact male Lab shows up at the barn and just starts hanging out.
Clearly someone’s dog, clearly purebred, polite and well behaved around the horses.
Doesn’t leave.
BFF calls around to animal control, the local shelters and vets. Tells animal control and the shelters she doesn’t want them to pick him up, she just wants help connecting with his owner if the owner calls in looking for him. (This is where I think it went wrong. I think if she had surrendered him, the owner would have likely found him.) She did also put up found dog signs all around the neighborhood.
Weeks go by, no one contacts her.
Significantly, the dog becomes a happy farm dog, is allowed free range of the farm and doesn’t leave.
BFF then says, okay, guess I’ve got a new dog. Takes him to the vet to be neutered and have his shots. Tells the story to the vet, vet agrees that the dog is abandoned and neuters the dog.
Another month passes.
Angry man shows up at the barn WITH A SHERIFF’S DEPUTY. It’s his dog. Dog escaped from its kennel and found the barn. Angry man claims he called animal control and local shelters. I believe him. I think he called, the told him they didn’t have the dog but nobody remembered to say “Hey, there’s this girl at the local barn who called in about a dog that sounds like yours.”
A friend of his showed him one of the “Found Dog” posters and he showed up at the barn. (Sign had a phone number, but also Contact BFF at Blankety Blank Farm. It was the days before cell phones and microchips, sensible way to post contact info for a farm girl.)
Angry man threatens to sue her for neutering his prize stud dog. Leaves with dog after a lot of threats and posturing.
BFF is crushed. Does not get reimbursed for months of dog care, obvi.
Dog returns to life in a kennel rather than a happy barn dog.
Angry man still angry. No one happy.
In full disclosure, I have a similar story. An emaciated and pregnant coonhound showed up at my house. We put up flyers but nobody called. She gave birth to seven puppies, I gave all but one away. A month later there is a terrible accident in front of my house. One of the firemen recognized her as his cousins dog. The guy shows up and you could tell they recognized each other. This was a Monday and she was scheduled to be spayed that Wednesday. Guy took her home, was not mad that I gave away champion hunting puppies and even let me keep the one we had left 
I will say, in my county, if you can prove you searched for the owner and cared for the dog, it is deemed yours after a certain amount of time. This would have covered your friend I think. I am surprised he took it back once it was neutered
@spotnotfarm,
Honestly, I think the whole point of him showing up with the Deputy (who was a friend) was to intimidate her into giving up the dog.
It worked. She was terrified. The angry guy was threatening her with a law suit and other stuff and the Deputy just kinda lurked in the background. I agree, after the amount of time that had passed, and her good faith effort to find the owner (who lived less that a half mile away) and the owner’s failure to contain an intact male (he had gotten out before, I think from boredom rather than sex drive), she probably could have legally kept the dog.
I’m sure the fact the man lived so close (and could intimidate her), and the fact she was caring for horses (making his ability to intimidate her even more of a threat) made her even more understandably frightened!
There are some people who don’t want anyone to have someone which is “theirs” and he sounds like that sort of person, despite the neutering.
If she has proof of ownership, she should absolutely get the dog back. I would be burning down houses if someone took my dog and refused to give it back
It wasn’t in the lexicon at the time, but I am sure he described himself as an “alpha male.” and threatened to have her charged for “mutilating his dog.”
On a more serious note, if I kept a dog in a kennel for his entire life, except for a few brief weekend hunting trips (that’s a big if, I wouldn’t) and I later found said dog living large at a busy barn, lying under the farrier’s truck waiting for hoof trimmings and being spoiled by lots of pony riders, I would hope I would make a decision in the best interests of the dog.
Several years ago a fellow COTHers dog went a mile down to the local truck stop and was taken home by an interstate traveler. Luckily for her the dog had a medical condition and needed care, and the well meaning person took him to their vet, who found a chip. But this well meaning person drove hundreds of miles away. Hundreds! No turning around and surrendering it locally, which mightn’t been the best thing anyway if they’d headed to the neighboring county. And whose to say they would have taken it to the vet purely to be scanned either.
No black and white answers, for sure.
I can see a truck stop being a known dumping ground, and someone assuming a collarless dog found there was abandoned 
Just this week, we had a client bring an older cat they found to our vet clinic. They had found the cat in a parking lot, never tried to find the owner, brought the cat to us 1.5 hours from where they found it. Our rule is we scan any strays before doing anything. Cat had a chip, registered. We called the owner who promptly started bawling. He had been missing for months and they had been searching. He escaped when someone left a door open. Our client was miffed as they wanted to keep cat, but they did end up agreeing to meet the owner and bring the cat back. The owner had been checking their area, but the cat was moved out of that area. Thank goodness for chips.
A couple of years ago, I fell in love with what I thought was a feral. My sister has a colony she feeds. but this cat was friendly, and she allowed me to scoop her up. We went straight to the vet. She was spayed and chipped and I found that her people had lived across the street from my sister, but they had died a year and a half before and the people who took over the house threw her out to live with the ferals. My repayment for saving her is constant warfare around here. She HATES every other living thing here. She and Bugaboo do battle when ever he sees her. I would love to give her away but she needs to be in a home with no other animals. And everyone I know is up to their necks with cats. She, (Puddin’), seems to love me as she wants to be in my lap constantly. I do not know however if it love or for protection from Bug.
Interstate travelers aren’t in the best position to make a judgement about a truck stop being a known dumping ground.
Half the dogs running around that truck stop without collars belonged to the drivers anyway and were getting their potty time.
So far, no real update. The she said the shelter told her they would contact the adopter. So, if the adopter chooses not to, then it is pretty much over. I am sure she will get another dog and hopefully keep it contained and chip it.
So how does the guy prove the lab is his dog?
I’d be livid and want proof its his dog.
Interestingly, microchips do not generally prove ownership in court. Things can get crazy if a person presents an animal that they have been caring for and the microchip is registered to someone else.
I found a dog in my neighborhood, young (probably about 9mos-1yr) intact larger breed dog. Drove around a bit with it asking people in the area if they knew it or had seen someone looking for a dog. Took it to a vet office close by to be scanned. No chip. Tried to take it to animal control and they wouldn’t take it. I told them it didn’t have a chip but they never offered to rescan it. They told me there was a better chance of it being reunited with an owner if I kept it at my house and put it up on FB, nextdoor, etc. There was no way I could keep it at my house (3mo baby, 4 yo toddler, another dog, and cat) so I called about 4 rescues to see if they could take it. Ended up taking it to the humane society about 30 minutes away and even then I basically had to beg them to take him in. The eventual adopter found me on FB through his found ads and said he was a great dog.
Animal control and shelters these days are overrun. And vets offices generally can’t/won’t take things in. So I’m not surprised this guy took the dog with him. He probably didn’t feel like he had many options. I got turned away by several places.
I will get strays scanned for chip and will not try to adopt out, but any cat that shows up at my place is going to get neutered. Yep. If they are on my property and once I can get hands on them, they get fixed. I have no doubt I have neutered other people’s cats.
Mom’s second husband said that he once years prior dumped a stud pony at an auction. One of his daughters had a mare, and the stud lived up the road and came to visit every time she was in heat, making a racket and trying to get through the fence. They reported this to the owners many times and had him retrieved. One night, second husband just got tired of this cycle. A local auction was running about 20 miles away, and he and a friend took the friend’s trailer and delivered the stud to the auction. They did not stay to collect the price, just had him put in the pens at the back, then drove off. He always wondered who bought him and what happened, but the stud never turned up at their property again. I’m not sure I approve of that, but it did sound like this had happened a dozen times before, and owner had plenty of notice to improve confinement.
Changing subject, totally crazy story about the lab. Showing up with a deputy as first contact? I know some men take the subject of neutering personally.
So, the shelter contacted the adopters, who do not wish to return him. Also, screen shots have appeared where the dog was kept mostly outside and roamed a lot. Hopefully, the girl will keep her next dog contained and chipped.
As I read this thread, I keep returning to what @dressagetraks shared about a nuisance stud. How often on COTH is the advice to SSS or drive a nuisance dog out of state and turn it in as a stray?
The owner isn’t telling the whole story.
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