Great. Our new neighbors are irresponsible dog owners.

[Coventina]

Hubby and I are in the process of renovating an old house.

Yesterday, when my husband was over there, he found two stray dogs wandering the neighborhood. He managed to round them up (with the help of another neighbor) and put them in our backyard. One of them had a collar with an address and phone# on it. He called the number and left a message. He then walked over to the house, which turned out to be just a few houses up the street. No one was home.

So he left a note on the garage door that the dogs were at our house.

He went on working for quite awhile, no one called or came to claim the dogs.

He finally went back to the house, saw that the garage door was open, a truck parked inside, and his note had been moved to the front door! No answer at the door. No answer to the phone on repeated calls. He left several more messages.

Another hour or so went by. It was now quite late, about 8pm. Hubby went back to the house and knocked again. An older woman answered the door, smelling strongly of booze. She explained that her son had come home and "crashed out" with a migraine, which is why he didn't come to get the dogs. But he hadn't told her about the dogs either. She then walked back to our house with my husband and they took the dogs back to her house.

:wtf:

[BrklynLiberal]

1. If it happens again, take the dogs to a no-kill shelter.

You, and the dogs will be better off. At this rate, they are not being taken care of and will eventually be loose again, and be hit by a car.
It is hard to believe that they are being properly cared for by the people in this household.

EDIT: Perhaps you can report these people to the local Animal Police

[IndyOp]

2. You might think about helping the dogs to find a new home --

Either through a no-kill shelter, an animal rescue group, or by putting the word out that two dogs you know need a good home across town.

One day, in the not-too-distant future, when the son has 'crashed out with a migraine' the dogs might just find themselves on their way to a new home.

If you don't know much about their temperaments it might be particularly important that they go initially to a rescue in which the people who foster them will be able to observe them and help a new owner know what to expect.

Their current 'home' sounds hopeless. If they are in good physical condition you might keep an eye out for a few more days to see if the neighbors appear to be any more responsible. If not, then be creative!

All dogs deserve heaven on earth - Thank you for caring about these two!

[Coventina]

3. I spent some time with the dogs, and they seem pretty good

I was there for about 1/2 an hour before I had to go to my evening class.

The little one is a Min Pin. He bit me when I tried to pick him up, not hard enough to break skin or anything, but hard enough to show he strongly disapproved of the picking up. But other than that he was okay.

The big dog, which seemed to be a Heinz 57 was really friendly and affectionate. He is pretty old, though. He has lots of gray hair and he moves a little stiffly. It was he that had the tag and collar on. The little dog didn't have anything. It makes me sad that such a nice dog has such a lousy home.

:cry:

[IndyOp]

4. The mixed breed dog might not be all that old --

My 4-year-old Golden is getting gray. The dog might be moving stiffly as a result of injury or poor nutrition. I bet the Min Pin would be adopted pretty quickly from an all-breed rescue group and affectionate dogs are always popular.

Do a little research into local rescue groups and keep your eyes and ears open - there might be a golden moment of opportunity that opens up...

[Kashka-Kat]

5. wait a minute-- give them 1 more chance

before taking their dogs away--good grief! Migraines can be like having an axe in your skull-- you literally cannot function to even speak a coherent sentence. My vision goes entirely and I couldn't read a note if my life depended on it.

If the old lady is a boozer it still could be the son is a good dog owner. Dogs do get loose you know.

If it happens again or other evidence of neglect then yeah, go ahead, throw the book at them. But why create discord in the neighborhood unless you really have to.