Joined
·
278 Posts
Thursday evening when I came home from getting groceries, a stray sheltie was running in my yard. I jumped out and called him over. He was very skinny and scared to death. He had a black collar on with no tags. I hooked him to our garage..we live near a very busy main road and I didn't want him to run and get hit. I immediately called our radio station and also put an ad on our local online free classifieds. I called the dog warden to ask what the laws were regarding finding a stray. I didn't get a call back until the next morning which a covering dog warden told me he could pick him up right then and they would take him to a shelter 2 hours from my home. I asked if it was possible to keep the dog over the weekend since I hadn't even had him 24 hours and I'd hate for the owners to call and then have to drive 2 hours to go see if it was even their dog. This dog warden agreed and said that was completely understandable. He also mentioned that if we decided to keep the dog that was fine just to let them know. I stated that I would not be keeping the dog, but my grandparents live next door and have taken quite a liking to him, how long could we keep him without licensing him. He stated there was no "set" timeframe, but obviously there came a point when we could no longer claim him as a stray. This morning (Monday) I get a call at 8 a.m. from the original dog warden that I left a message with that he could be here in 10 minutes to pick up the dog. Over this past weekend my grandfather decided that in no way was this dog going to a shelter to possibly be put down. I asked the dog warden what my grandfather would have to do to claim the dog and mentioned the conversation on Friday with the other dog warden. This guy says it is unlawful to keep the dog. He could turn him into the shelter and adopt him from the shelter, but he is not allowed to simply keep him. I asked why this was and he said if the owner would come back and claim the dog it could go to court. I said I understand that, my grandpa is not trying to keep the dog from his owner, but if there is no owner my grandpa would prefer to adopt him than have him go to a shelter. The dog warden said well he can drive the 2 hours to this shelter and fill out an adoption like everyone else. I have a problem with this. I understand that not everyone is responsible enough to have a dog, but why is there a difference of opinion between the 2 dog wardens? I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the law with my grandparents but this seems unfair to the dog. Any advice?