My new dog has an owner, wwyd?

[AbbieJack]

It's not your dog. The dog has a rightful owner and I think you should give it back.

[~happy2Bamommy~]

I would be inclined to return the dog as long as they are willing to cover the dental care needed and spaying. They would be required to pay that expense upfront as well as having to arrange for transport/pickup.

The time to claim the dog was up. The dog would be dead if you had not stepped in. I'd say legally she is yours but I'd want to treat them as I would hope to be treated had I lost my pet.

[bdhutier]

Originally Posted by AbbieJack It's not your dog. The dog has a rightful owner and I think you should give it back.

Not to pick on you(just the closest) but I have seen the word "rightful "owner many times. Just out of curiosity what does someone have to do before they are no longer the rightful owner? Is there a time limit ,what if the owner waited 30 days or 2 years? Does the animal always belong to the original owner? I guess to me the op is both the legal as well as the rightful owner.

[BoyCrazy]

Originally Posted by Wendylady I think IF the owners are willing to both pay for the spay and drive out to pick up the dog you really should give it back. If they aren't then obviously the problem solves itself. I can't imagine people that would mistreat a dog would be willing to drive 5 hours and pay $100 to get a dog back.

I agree.

[AbbieJack]

Originally Posted by bdhutier Not to pick on you(just the closest) but I have seen the word "rightful "owner many times. Just out of curiosity what does someone have to do before they are no longer the rightful owner? Is there a time limit ,what if the owner waited 30 days or 2 years? Does the animal always belong to the original owner? I guess to me the op is both the legal as well as the rightful owner.

It has been less than two weeks and the owner was out of town. I would suspect the owner was unaware that the dog was missing for at least half of that time if not more. Even if they were aware there is not much one could do out of town. I would say the original owner of a LOST/STOLEN pet is always the "rightful" owner. DH and I had an amazing dog that we loved to pieces when we were first married. We let him out to play (Fenced yard)one day and he just disappeared We are assuming he was stolen . We searched everywhere we could think of for months to no avail . If we found him tomorrow, we would want him back even if he was living with a nice family.

[gehagge]

Originally Posted by AbbieJack It's not your dog. The dog has a rightful owner and I think you should give it back.

But it legally she IS the rightful owner, not the person who originally owned the dog. To me, if she gives the dog back, it should be because she feels the person is a good dog owner, not simply because they had ownership of the dog originally because giving it back would be out of the goodness of her heart, since the law is on her side.

[keen1981]

Let me ask this.

Where do you think your list pet SHOULD go?

Do you have ANY idea what is costs to run a shelter?

Most people who go beyond the 10day holds DO NOT want their pets. Pets can not be held indefinitely. Due to cost and due to the fact that they are not a material item. They have needs.

What happened in this situation was sad. I agree. But I am guessing this pet was not chipped. Nor did grandma look for pet. That is clear. If either of the above things took place, the pet would be with owner. What if owner was on cruise?!?? Owner should have picked a responsible pet sitter who would actually LOOK for pet. The first Step? Call shelters. Everyone knows that.

Now, let's pretend we can 'hold' a doggie until his Owner appears. Who pays that bill? Owner did not 'consent' to the fees. So they often abandon pet anyways.

This is HOW it works people. The shelter did what it could/should to SAVE a life. The previous (not rightful) should be thankful their pet lives.

And also- the term rightful is NOT the previous owner. That was proved in a court of law here. I know that case very well and it was very very similar to this case.

You can not expect anything of new owner outside of loving and caring for her new pet. I find it incredibly sad people are acting like she stole this dog. I work with lots of rescue dogs, shelters and owners turning their pets in or abandoning them.

Don't like the system? Donate money to shelters. A lot of money. So they can hold dogs indefinitely to be sure no owner appears. For that 1% chance that an owner appears after adoption.

[mom2jirms]

Originally Posted by keen1981 Let me ask this. Where do you think your list pet SHOULD go? Do you have ANY idea what is costs to run a shelter? Most people who go beyond the 10day holds DO NOT want their pets. Pets can not be held indefinitely. Due to cost and due to the fact that they are not a material item. They have needs. What happened in this situation was sad. I agree. But I am guessing this pet was not chipped. Nor did grandma look for pet. That is clear. If either of the above things took place, the pet would be with owner. What if owner was on cruise?!?? Owner should have picked a responsible pet sitter who would actually LOOK for pet. The first Step? Call shelters. Everyone knows that. Now, let's pretend we can 'hold' a doggie until his Owner appears. Who pays that bill? Owner did not 'consent' to the fees. So they often abandon pet anyways. This is HOW it works people. The shelter did what it could/should to SAVE a life. The previous (not rightful) should be thankful their pet lives. And also- the term rightful is NOT the previous owner. That was proved in a court of law here. I know that case very well and it was very very similar to this case. You can not expect anything of new owner outside of loving and caring for her new pet. I find it incredibly sad people are acting like she stole this dog. I work with lots of rescue dogs, shelters and owners turning their pets in or abandoning them. Don't like the system? Donate money to shelters. A lot of money. So they can hold dogs indefinitely to be sure no owner appears. For that 1% chance that an owner appears after adoption.

Very well said!

[jamieism]

Originally Posted by Wendylady I think IF the owners are willing to both pay for the spay and drive out to pick up the dog you really should give it back. If they aren't then obviously the problem solves itself. I can't imagine people that would mistreat a dog would be willing to drive 5 hours and pay $100 to get a dog back.

I agree with this

[CaliRoll]

I adopted a Pekingese once. A local dog kennel found her and offered her to me, since I'd taken in another stray not long before. (I worked at a radio station at the time) She was infested with fleas when they found her and they'd had to partially shave her hair off. I took her to the vet, found out she was allergic to fleas, and got her medical needs handled. She was a sweetheart. I named her Marilyn.

Maybe a month later, a strange woman calls my cell phone saying she got my number from the radio station and that I had her dog. She claimed to have been out of town and the dog was at her brother's. It got out and her brother didn't tell her. She claimed to have called the local shelter every day and put up signs, yada yada yada. I called the kennel owner and she said she had personally run ads in the paper and that her close friend worked at the shelter and knew she had the dog and no one ever called for a Pekingese. She told mer that I legally owned the dog, she was licensed to me, and I had zero obligation to return the dog.

Being a softy, I let the woman come to my house to say goodbye to Marilyn. Marilyn got super happy at the sight of the woman and jumped right into her arms. The woman was crying, she was so relieved that the dog was healthy.

I gave her the dog back. Not because I wanted to or because there was any obligation to. I gave Marilyn back because she was so happy to see her owner and it was obvious where she belonged. Looking back, my bet is that the woman had been in county jail and her brother dumped the dog. By the time she got out and tracked Marilyn back to me, over a month had gone by. She gave me $20 toward the vet bill because that's all she had and I was ok with that.

I live in California, in an area where half the dogs in the shelters are Chihuahuas, and it wouldn't shock me if it were our area they were referring to as an armpit.