What do you mean a: A Stray?
Where do strays come from? Many of Last Hope dogs were strays. They actually came from Animal controls where the dog catcher picked them up running loose and the owner did not claim them. We don’t know what kind of owner they were but we can guess on the training and condition of the dog and behavior of the dog. We can tell their age by their teeth, eyes, coat and behavior.
Why do dogs become impounded and not claimed? The impounds (dog catchers) hold them for a minimum of 5 days by state law and then can do with them as they please. Some impounds have known to sell them for profit, some put them down automatically on the 6th day and some take them to the humane societies and let them decide what to do with them and others call rescue groups because they don’t want anything bad to happen to the animal. It is their choice because they were hired by their city or county to do so.
We work with many animal controls in this area. Each Animal control works with more than one city or county. In all, we service over 15 cities and 4 counties! We cannot take them all. They get approximately 8 stray dogs a week and the majority are big dogs. We are short of fosters on big dogs and cannot take them all unless we get 8 new big dog fosters that will continue to foster! We do the best we can and take 2-3 of these a week. We pick the best and easiest to place. If we can find a dog a home quickly, then it makes room for another. If we take a dog with major behavior issues, we can place it but it may take months. Volunteers do not want to commit to the same dog for months; it is hard enough to get a foster to commit for 3-5 weeks in a row! We look at temperament and breed first. We don’t care if it jumps up, is not housebroken or barks when it sees people. We do care if it growls when you put it in the car or snaps at other dogs for no reason.
Why don’t people claim their dog?
1. Do not know where to look.
2. Don’t have the money to pay for the “dog at large” fine
3. Believe the dog will come back on its own.
4. Believe that their dog sitter is responsible and don’t know their dog is missing
5. Gave their dog away and the new owner got it for free so doesn’t care to look for it.
6. They should not have had a dog in the first place. ( 16 year olds and mom said no, people in apartments that do not allow dogs)
7. Dump it in the country on purpose because a farmer will take it in. ( it is still done today)
8. Illegal residents do not want to get caught.
9. They can get another one for free, so why do anything with the old one. It got too big anyway.
10. They believe someone kept it and it is in a better home than theirs and they may be right!
Why do people claim their dog?
1. They will do anything for their dog
2. They put up posters, call every city, county and police stations
3. They call every rescue group and check many websites listing dogs
4. They care and they find their dog
5. Put ads on Craigs list and other websites.
Does Last Hope ever unite an owner with their lost dog?
Yes, it has gone through animal control, we fixed it, gave it shots, put it on pet finder website and 20 days or longer, after it was missing, the owner calls. This happens about 1 out of 150 strays. If the owner is willing to pay the adoption fee or the vet bill whichever is less,(they don’t have to pay dog at large fee), and they are a good owner, we adopt the dog back to them. We do not have to adopt back to them, however, since the dog is now legally ours.
We encourage them to microchip the dog with their name so they will be called right away. Godd owners are willing to pay the adoption fee and get their dog back current with shots, and spayed or neutered! This is not very common. Sometimes, once the owner finds out it is fixed, they don’t want it because they intended to breed it or was part of their breeding stock and don’t want it back. Some don’t want to pay the adoption fee and shots because they did not authorize it, however, if Last Hope did not take it, it would have been dead and it is legally our dog now and not theirs. They do threaten to sue however the law is on our side and they would lose if they tried. We have spoken to many attorneys and they have verified it in their interpretation of the law.
