Long Version 
emo:
On the way home from work last Wednesday, the car in front of me slammed on his breaks, and a dog darted out from in front of it. Stray dogs are a common sight where I work (ghetto), and having a couple dogs of my own, I always feel guilty just driving on. So, this time I stopped, called to him, and opened my passenger door. He came right to me and put his paws up on the seat, so I hoisted him in. I hopped back in the driver's seat and started back on my way, and asked myself "wtf do I do now?", because every other stray I've seen just barks and runs away from you, so I had no expectation he would come and be tame enough to get in the car.
He had no collar/tags, so I drove to an afterhours clinic near my home and had him checked out and scanned. Was not microchipped (surprise). Gave him meds for fleas (just in case) and took him home. Wife took him to the vet the following day, and he turned out to have roundworm, so we gave him his first dose of dewormer (all told, spent about $200). My wife had been scanning craigslist for a 'lost dog' notice, but had not seen any. He got along ok with our dogs (other than being a bit jittery/fearful, which we attributed to an unknown amount of time spent lost in the ghetto), so we made arrangements with a local rescue to have him placed.
The night before we were going to deliver him to the rescue, my wife finds an ad on craigslist for a lost dog matching his description. There are a few grainy pictures, but it's a pretty convincing match. Posting said he had a collar/tags, but dog that I picked up did not have any. I contact the poster and ask for a few more details and better pictures to verify it's the same dog. They provide a couple details, but no pictures, and eventually we just agree to meet and she says she'll bring proof of ownership.
We meet at a police station (the husband/wife and their son, my wife and I), they produce some pictures on a phone, show me vet records and whatever else. At this point I am pretty sure it's their dog. During the conversation though, it comes out that the husband works right down the street from where I found the dog (and right down the street from where I work). Warning bells should've gone off right there, but I didn't make the connection. They thank us and offer to pay the vet bills; we decline. They thank us again and we go our separate ways.
A couple days later, I have had the chance to think about it. What are the odds the dog traveled at least 6 miles (distance from their house to where I found it) in 2 hours, managed to lose his collar/tags, crossed no less than 2 major streets and dozens of minor streets without getting hit, and of the thousands of place he could have ended up that are 6 miles from his home, miraculously turned up just down the street from the husband's place of work? Remote enough that I am now convinced that the husband dumped the dog here (I suspect without the wife's knowledge, otherwise why would they be looking for it).
My wife thinks we did what we had to do, and that I should just butt out now, but I can't shake the feeling of guilt for potentially delivering this dog right back to the person that abandoned him. I am wondering what (if anything) I should do (ie, try contacting them and offering to find the dog a home if it's not wanted).
He was a cool little dude:
Cliffs:
- Found a dog on the way home from work.
- Was about to hand it over to a local rescue for placement when my wife found a craigslist ad w/pictures matching his description.
- Returned dog to owners
- Now suspect owners (husband) may have dumped/abandoned the dog.
emo:On the way home from work last Wednesday, the car in front of me slammed on his breaks, and a dog darted out from in front of it. Stray dogs are a common sight where I work (ghetto), and having a couple dogs of my own, I always feel guilty just driving on. So, this time I stopped, called to him, and opened my passenger door. He came right to me and put his paws up on the seat, so I hoisted him in. I hopped back in the driver's seat and started back on my way, and asked myself "wtf do I do now?", because every other stray I've seen just barks and runs away from you, so I had no expectation he would come and be tame enough to get in the car.
He had no collar/tags, so I drove to an afterhours clinic near my home and had him checked out and scanned. Was not microchipped (surprise). Gave him meds for fleas (just in case) and took him home. Wife took him to the vet the following day, and he turned out to have roundworm, so we gave him his first dose of dewormer (all told, spent about $200). My wife had been scanning craigslist for a 'lost dog' notice, but had not seen any. He got along ok with our dogs (other than being a bit jittery/fearful, which we attributed to an unknown amount of time spent lost in the ghetto), so we made arrangements with a local rescue to have him placed.
The night before we were going to deliver him to the rescue, my wife finds an ad on craigslist for a lost dog matching his description. There are a few grainy pictures, but it's a pretty convincing match. Posting said he had a collar/tags, but dog that I picked up did not have any. I contact the poster and ask for a few more details and better pictures to verify it's the same dog. They provide a couple details, but no pictures, and eventually we just agree to meet and she says she'll bring proof of ownership.
We meet at a police station (the husband/wife and their son, my wife and I), they produce some pictures on a phone, show me vet records and whatever else. At this point I am pretty sure it's their dog. During the conversation though, it comes out that the husband works right down the street from where I found the dog (and right down the street from where I work). Warning bells should've gone off right there, but I didn't make the connection. They thank us and offer to pay the vet bills; we decline. They thank us again and we go our separate ways.
A couple days later, I have had the chance to think about it. What are the odds the dog traveled at least 6 miles (distance from their house to where I found it) in 2 hours, managed to lose his collar/tags, crossed no less than 2 major streets and dozens of minor streets without getting hit, and of the thousands of place he could have ended up that are 6 miles from his home, miraculously turned up just down the street from the husband's place of work? Remote enough that I am now convinced that the husband dumped the dog here (I suspect without the wife's knowledge, otherwise why would they be looking for it).
My wife thinks we did what we had to do, and that I should just butt out now, but I can't shake the feeling of guilt for potentially delivering this dog right back to the person that abandoned him. I am wondering what (if anything) I should do (ie, try contacting them and offering to find the dog a home if it's not wanted).
He was a cool little dude:
Cliffs:
- Found a dog on the way home from work.
- Was about to hand it over to a local rescue for placement when my wife found a craigslist ad w/pictures matching his description.
- Returned dog to owners
- Now suspect owners (husband) may have dumped/abandoned the dog.
