Should I do anything more?

[Sabine]

Please excuse the long story.

I live in a townhouse in a large apartment complex, and I take my dog out on a leash for a walk every evening around 8. Often, there are a group of neighborhood girls who play in our common yard area who run up to pet her. Well, tonight, as soon as I walked out my door, the girls ran up with a little cocker spaniel who immediately ran up to my dog and cornered her against our door. I quickly got my dog in, but from what I made out from the girls, they had found that dog.

So after I got my dog inside, I went back out to see what was going on. The girls had chased the dog a long ways down the path and it was out near a busy road. I went up to them and they explained that they knew the people whose dog it was, but the owners weren''t home. They were petting and carrying the dog already, but it was pretty heavy for even the oldest (I''m guessing 7 yrs old), and when she put it down, they were chasing it into the street, so I knew I needed to do something. So I picked up the dog, saw right away that it didn''t even have a collar, and tried to find out from the girls where the dog''s owners lived. A guy came out to help with a leash, but we couldn''t do anything with it since there was no collar. One of the girl''s mom''s came out to help, and she informed me that this dog''s owners had put in a pet door in their back door so the dog could get out into the little fenced backyard area during the day, but that the dog had gotten under the fence before.

She and I walked the dog to the owner''s door, and no one was home. We were able to get the door to their fence open and get the dog back inside, but we could see that although the owners had blocked one opening in the fence, the dog had gotten through another, smaller one.

I waited around for a good half hour to see if the owners would come home and to make sure that the dog didn''t get back out, but the owners didn''t show and the dog went back through it''s doggy door into the house. The mom who helped me assured me that she knew the owner and would make sure they know about how the dog was getting out. I also told her to please mention that they should really get a collar and an i.d. tag for the dog.

Now I''m wondering if I should do something more. The owner obviously cares about the dog because they tried to fix the problem the first time, but it was really unsafe for that dog to be running out on the street, not to mention to be luring the little girls out with it. Plus, I felt REALLY weird about carrying it around when it had no tags (probably shouldn''t have done that, but I couldn''t stand the thought of the dog getting hit by a car). I could probably let our office manager know, and they could warn the owners that dogs need to be registered with all the correct shots, etc., but I also don''t want to get the owner in trouble. What do you think I should do?

 

[Haven]

I would have brought it to my vet''s office so they could scan it and see if he had that microchip-locater implant. When you do this, the vet will hold on to the dog until the owners return, and they would certainly tell the owners about the tags.

I''m not sure if there are laws about registering dogs in all cities, but we have to register our dogs and have their rabies vaccination info on file. I know you said it seems like this owner cares about her dog, but I have to disagree. They leave the dog outside while they''re away all day? The dog has no tags? Does not sound like a responsible owner to me.

If I were you, I''d get my hands on that dog the next time I see him running free, and bring him to a vet''s office.

Good for you for intervening!

 

[LaraOnline]

I would just put the dog back in the yard, maybe with a little note saying that the dog got out through the new gap in the fence, and leave it at that.
But I don''t live in a high density city, I ugess.

 

[aprilcait]

Could it be possible that the dog had a collar but it came off (i.e.: the girls could have removed it, the dog is a little canine nudist/naturist, the collar fell off or came off, etc.)? I know my parents' cat is a little feline nudist/naturist and can be quite the skilled escape artist from his collar (luckily, he is a indoor kitty). Just a thought.

 

[loverocks]

I live in a very suburban area but happen to be in a pet friendly townhome complex. I often come across unleashed/collard dogs and it is one of my biggest pet peeves (no pun intended). Really, this is not a rural area so you really can't do that for everyone's saftey.
I would assume that they are good people and the dog probably has all it's paperwork and vaccines in order. They probably just figured that the dog would only be in the house/yard so no problem. They have a doggie door probably because they think it is kind to the dog to allow him to go in and out during the day rathern then being cooped up in the house.
I would leave a note in their mailbox expressing your concers. Especially about a collar with proper registrations and tags just in case of escape. I think if this is the second time they will probably do something elaborate with fencing him in or just keep him inside period. Poor doggy.

 

[dragonfly411]

Did you block the smaller hole with something?

 

[Sabine]

Thanks for the ideas! Dragonfly, we didn''t block the hole in the fence because we couldn''t find anything to do it with...
Loverocks, that''s what I was thinking/hoping too.
Aprilcait, it''s possible it got out of the collar, that''s a good point!
Lara, I''m not actually in a city at all, but cars still go down the street outside the parking lots of the complex pretty often!
Haven, I think the vet is the best idea. If I happen to see this dog again and it''s owners aren''t home, that is definitely what I will do because the vet will have the authority to make sure they get the dog taken care of in case it''s not already.

I went outside to check for the dog later, but it was still in the house and the owners still weren''t home, so hopefully the owners will take care of the hole in the fence ASAP.