So Eva, of course, spoke to those people when they lost their dog

[conuly]

(again)

You know, I've been going back and forth on how bad I feel about the way we got Finn. Right now I'm firmly back on the "not bad at all" side, because apparently the kids told her that he got out while they were bringing in groceries, and instead of catching him or chasing him (and as an older dog, he just doesn't move that fast, even when people do bother to trim his toenails so they aren't digging into his feet!) they decided to finish with the groceries first. This task must've taken quite a while, because it was a good 45 minutes between Finn arriving at our door and them arriving at our door to ask if we'd seen him.

Honestly, it seems this is the bare minimum of responsible dog ownership. Just a day or two ago, I caught somebody's dog for them. The dog bounded into my arms, and I held her still as the owner trotted up. That woman had chased after her dog for three blocks! But they couldn't bother to get their not-very-fast dog before they brought in the potatoes? Potatoes don't go anywhere!

Comments

[kitcatwoman]

That's ridiculous! Honestly, I will never understand why people even bother to have pets if they're not going to take care of them.

[conuly]

Yeah...

You missed the full story. Long story short (very short, because I will rant about this at the drop of a hat), back after the last snowstorm of the season, the girls found this bedraggled toy poodle. Matted fur all over his body, hair in his eyes, long toenails... and underweight. There are two poodles in our neighborhood that have been missing a month, and honestly, I thought he must have been one of those two.

(We know about those poodles because the owners put up signs. He wasn't one of those two.)

A week later one of the kids on the block tells the original owners the situation, they show up at the door, we get into a screaming match (not my finest moment, and I may have made their children cry....) and I conclude by saying that the next time I see this animal out without tags, I'm taking it to the shelter. (Highlights of the conversation: Apparently, it was morally wrong of me to take this poor animal to the vet, and it's ridiculous to expect the owners to make any effort to locate their animal, such as putting up signs. Nor is it reasonable for me to say that if your animal has "gone missing" three or four times already, you need to supervise it better.)

Anyway, the day before Good Friday he showed up at my back door, scratching and whining to be let in. True to my word, I took him to the shelter. But they did make an effort to look for him this time, so I felt a little bad. Sooo... I left an anonymous note saying I "thought" he was at the shelter, because there was a poodle on their website. (Also, their fence is wholly inadequate to hold a dog, but I didn't say that in my note.) And they didn't pick him up, so we adopted him. And now he is legally ours. And even if they didn't see my note, and even if I hadn't said I'd take him down there, they still ought to have checked the shelter.

So it's all awkward, and I still need to talk to them and inform them that I have the dog and that if they see me and the kids with the dog, they should leave us alone because I will call the cops if I get harassed (but the kids are welcome to visit with the dog, because none of this is their fault). I don't know a good way to, you know, say this. I'm hoping to fob this task off on somebody else, hopefully somebody intimidating.

But I do tend to get on my high horse, and I can be really judgmental, so I've been worrying off and on that maybe it wasn't that bad. But honestly, if this story is correct - it was that bad.

[kitcatwoman]

Omg, you actually gave a damn about the dog that couldn’t be bothered to deal with. You monster! Anyway, I’m glad he has a good home now. :)

[conuly]

Yeah, I couldn't even find a response to "Why would you take him to the vet? He's not your dog!"

Uh, he didn't look too hot, I had no idea where his ostensible owners were, and I wanted to a. check for a microchip b. trim his nails and c. ensure he had a rabies shot.

And it's not like we're the bestest dog owners ever. We're minimally competent, and we snuggle him if he gets lonely, and we plan to take him to the groomer to get shaved. This isn't a very high bar.

[archangelbeth]

*waves*

1: Hi, I think I'm one of the random people you followed a bit ago! (I am bemused, not bugged.)

2: WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT "WHY DID YOU TAKE THE DOG TO THE VET!" AS YOU SAY, MICROCHIPS ARE A THING! And then if they don't have one and you have the funds to do this thing, then why the heck not! Dog looks abandoned/neglected, might wind up being your dog, y'know?

Now you can sing the "We got a bill of sale right here" from Pete's Dragon to them and wave a photocopy of the Humane Society Adoption Papers at them. (And they can thank their stars you didn't report them for animal abuse. Grrrrrrrrr.)

Ahem. I am Team People Who Actually Take Care Of Pets. So.

[conuly]

1. Well, you know, everybody seems so active lately, and my reading page has been 99% feeds, so I figured "what the hell, this is how I made most of my LJ friends".

2. THANK YOU. I mean, like, I legitimately thought the poor boy had been lost a long time. I should've taken pictures before I clipped off the worst of the mats, though. I really could've used that documentation.

[archangelbeth]

1: Works for me! (And if you get tired of me, I am no-drama if you un-subscribe. O:> )

2: I bet the vet will be happy to give you any "here is the poor condition this pup was in when the person brought him to us" documentation they have! "Hi, the vet says he was neglected and underweight, and it's all recorded. You try to get this dog back and we're reporting you for animal cruelty. DO NOT TEST ME."

Or possibly there's always, "Oh, yeah, we liked the poodle so much we got one of our own. Poodles do look alike, don't they? But ours isn't so skinny." (Extra credit: have the poodle-clippers dye the pup a different color. >_> )

[conuly]

I actually considered dying his fur, but rejected it on the grounds that this was silly.

[archangelbeth]

...It is possible I am a slightly silly person at times. (Doooo eeeeet! O;> )

[conuly]

It's not gonna work. I want to dye his tail to be flaming, and that is hardly an effective disguise.

[archangelbeth]

Dye the rest of him a warm tone, and then the flaming tail! Bandit mask optional. (...I'm no help, am I...)

[conuly]

Or we could go with an electric blue + lightning bolts combo.

[archangelbeth]

...don't make me link my Flight Rising dragons here... ^_^

[conuly]

Oh, you know you want to.

[archangelbeth]

ELECTRIC BLUE AND LIGHTNING BOLTS WOULD BE GREAT! [/enthusiasm]

[rahirah]

Sounds like Finn is infinitely better off with you, even if confronting his old owners will probably be unpleasant.

[conuly]

It promises to be extremely unpleasant, and I do feel bad about the kids. None of this is their fault.

[rahirah]

Yeah. :/ I remember when I was a kid we had a dog who got out and ran away a lot (he was unaltered, because it was the 1960s and he was my dad's dog and it would have been unthinkable to my dad to have a neutered dog.) He caught distemper or something, and was terribly sick and thin, but Dad wouldn't take him to the vet because then he'd certainly have to be put down... and I remember once driving with Dad to the house of some people who'd found him to take him home again, and just burning with embarrassment because they gave us super suspicious looks over his condition. I loved that dog, and at the time, I didn't know what else could be done for him, but in retrospect I think it would have been way better for poor Mike if some other family had kept him.

[conuly]

Poor dog :(

But you were just a kid. You couldn't help it.

[sitonmyinterface]

Yeah, that would be pretty upsetting :/

[conuly]

I've been upset about this since the first time we found him :)

Every new detail sets me off again, is all.

[silveradept]

Mmm. Sounds like you care more about the animal that they ever would, so very glad he's yours and not theirs to lose again.

[conuly]

Seems self-evident to me that the dog belongs to the people who are willing to put in the minimum effort to care for him, but some people disagree. Honestly, you don't want to have to take care of your pet, get a pet rock!

[willnot_willso]

Taking in this dog probably made these people mad because it highlighted their neglect. Bringing the kids over to shame you wasn't really the high road, was it? If they wanted Finn back, better behavior might have worked. Like, "Oh, I'm so glad you took him to the vet. Our son/daughter was going through a crisis, and we had the vet trip on our calendar for tomorrow."

[conuly]

You know, after the yelling, the dad came back to talk and to look for his bloody watch. (That's not English slang. I mean it apparently actually was covered in blood.) He tried the "we're taking him to the vet tomorrow" line. I didn't believe it then, and I know for darn sure it didn't happen now.

[novel_machinist]

As someone who helps out with dog rescues I can say that it's sadly common. I'm glad that you guys have him now.

[conuly]

I don't know how they could have a dog like this and not want to take care of him! He's so smiley and snuggly, and he's so sad when he's ignored!

(After they reclaimed him the first time, their children took him out to the space between our houses - turns out, they're right behind us. This is the only time I ever saw any of them with that animal, and I suspect the kids did it to assert their ownership. My younger niece, Eva, came to me in tears because they were picking him up and dropping him, and because when he barked, they yelled at him instead of cuddling him. So I guess everybody's kids cried, but theirs cried because I hurt their feelings, and ours cried because they hurt the dog.)

[novel_machinist]

That makes me livid. We're doing a rescue event this weekend and it's so sad to see these really amazing, loving creatures mistreated. At least he's safe now and not in the hands of little sociopaths in training. :(

[conuly]

I'm sure the children aren't that bad. They just don't know better, because nobody bothered to teach them.

[novel_machinist]

True point.

[sabraka]

Whoah, I seem to be going through something of a similar situation with who I believe to be my neighbor's neglected dog. I'm glad to hear he's got someone like you around who cares to look after him!

[conuly]

Take the dog to the shelter. At least that'll give you some legal backing if you then adopt him from there.

Alternatively: find a new home yourself, one far enough away that they won't track it down.