How hard does anyone ie: Police,dogs home/rescue centre,dog wardens,your local councils actually try to locate the owners of that lost dog when it becomes their responsibilty ?
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- Thread starter Dar Khan
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I think the best that can be said is that it's pretty patchy depending on where you are, the individual dog warden and the council pound for that area. Generally if you lose a dog it's up to you to contact all the relevant authorities, they won't put a lot of effort into tracking you down.
If the dog is chipped they will normally scan and make an effort to contact whoever the chip is registered to, but so many people chip their dogs and then don't update the information when they move etc that they give up pretty quickly if they can't make contact and the owner hasn't been in touch with them.
Some of the Northern pounds are huge, with hundreds of dogs in residence and dogs going in and out all the time, things get missed or dogs are incorrectly described. I would never take 'no' for an answer over the telephone if I lost my dog, I'd want to go there and check for myself. I took in an old dog from a pound who was described on her card as a 'blind deaf terrier'. She was actually a collie x and she was't blind at all (she was deaf, they got that bit right). I've always wondered if her owners had tried to trace her but been told she wasn't there
The police don't have responsibility for lost dogs any more in a lot of areas. Dog wardens are the only people who can legally take in strays, so rescue centres, RSPCA etc aren't in the loop until the dog has already served their 7 days and can (if they are lucky) be passed on to rescue for rehoming. Sadly in some pounds they pressure for space is so great with more dogs coming in that many dogs are put to sleep after 7 days.
Sorry about the essay, but I think many people don't have much idea how bad the situation is for stray dogs in some areas and what a lottery it is whether they are reunited with their owners, rehomed or killed to make room for the next dog
If the dog is chipped they will normally scan and make an effort to contact whoever the chip is registered to, but so many people chip their dogs and then don't update the information when they move etc that they give up pretty quickly if they can't make contact and the owner hasn't been in touch with them.
Some of the Northern pounds are huge, with hundreds of dogs in residence and dogs going in and out all the time, things get missed or dogs are incorrectly described. I would never take 'no' for an answer over the telephone if I lost my dog, I'd want to go there and check for myself. I took in an old dog from a pound who was described on her card as a 'blind deaf terrier'. She was actually a collie x and she was't blind at all (she was deaf, they got that bit right). I've always wondered if her owners had tried to trace her but been told she wasn't there
The police don't have responsibility for lost dogs any more in a lot of areas. Dog wardens are the only people who can legally take in strays, so rescue centres, RSPCA etc aren't in the loop until the dog has already served their 7 days and can (if they are lucky) be passed on to rescue for rehoming. Sadly in some pounds they pressure for space is so great with more dogs coming in that many dogs are put to sleep after 7 days.
Sorry about the essay, but I think many people don't have much idea how bad the situation is for stray dogs in some areas and what a lottery it is whether they are reunited with their owners, rehomed or killed to make room for the next dog
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the basic thing to do is phone everyone every day for the fisrt few days even if they get feed up of you if you have a greyhound contact the stud book and let them know you have it now if its retired we traced a stray greyhounds owner through the irish stud book were everything elses including anmal wardens said they ahd no reports and yet his owner had been phoning for 2 days everywere including the animal wardens. so dont think cos you ahve reported your dog missing once they take any notice mine were collers with tags on inside the houes aswell as walking collers when we go out with home and both mobil numbers on and address plus vets contact. there all microchiped aswell and i allways get the vet to check teh chips when we go there
Doglost are extremely helpful, not only putting dog on their website but advising who to contact and what to do if you lose a dog. They also have local co-ordinators who can advise on local contacts and help get posters up in the area.
http://www.doglost.co.uk/page.aspx?pg=72
http://www.doglost.co.uk/page.aspx?pg=72
Doglost have been a great help in a certain case where two dogs were stolen .One of the dogs was microchipped and found,scanned then returned to its owner . The second stolen dog however,was spotted in the CW in Doglost.co.uk but had already been rehomed . The upshot of this is my mate cant get his dog back WTF!!!!!
That's the part that worries me ... if a dog is found to be microchipped I think there should be a 28 day time limit on how quickly it can be rehomed ... the thought that I might lose one of mine only to find it living with someone else is beyond bearing.
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I thought that a micro chip or tattoo was proof of ownership and you could get the dog back even if it had been rehomed
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Microchips aren't legal proof of ownership, chipping is just a service to help reunite people and lost or stolen dogs, it has no legal standing. Someone could sell or give away a dog and the new owners may not bother to update the chip details even though the dog is now quite legally owned by them. If a dog is an unclaimed stray for 7 days then it becomes the property of the local council/dog pound whoever it's chipped to.
I agree, in an ideal world dogs who are chipped should be held for longer than 7 days. The reality is that pounds in some areas are full to bursting and dogs are being put to sleep to make room for new strays coming in (over 9,000 killed already this year). That situation would be even worse if some dogs had to be held longer.
I've heard enough scare stories to be fanatical about keeping my dog's chip details up to date, and getting them checked regularly to make sure the chip is in the right place and can be scanned OK.
One other slightly off topic point which really upsets me is that if a dog or cat is killed on the road the Highways Agency (who are responsible for removing the body) don't scan in most areas, so owners may never find out what happened to their pet
I agree, in an ideal world dogs who are chipped should be held for longer than 7 days. The reality is that pounds in some areas are full to bursting and dogs are being put to sleep to make room for new strays coming in (over 9,000 killed already this year). That situation would be even worse if some dogs had to be held longer.
I've heard enough scare stories to be fanatical about keeping my dog's chip details up to date, and getting them checked regularly to make sure the chip is in the right place and can be scanned OK.
One other slightly off topic point which really upsets me is that if a dog or cat is killed on the road the Highways Agency (who are responsible for removing the body) don't scan in most areas, so owners may never find out what happened to their pet
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