What to Do if You Find a Dog

Many Many people are reluctant to take a found dog to the humane society or local animal shelter when found for fear the dog won't be reunited with its owner and be euthanized.

What else can you do?

If you do take the dog to the humane society or animal shelter, you can leave your contact information with a note that if the owner is NOT found, to call you as you will consider adoption. From there, you can decide what you want to do.

Alternatively, here are some other things you can do to try to find the dog's owner.

# Start by checking the dog for a tag or microchip. Tags should be obvious as they would be on a collar. Most humane societies or emergency clinics will have a scanner and will scan the dog to identify a microchip. If they find one, they will try to contact the owner.

# Contact your local humane societies, animal shelter, local veterinarian's office, and local animal emergency clinic. Fax or take them a flyer to post on their bulletin board.

# Create a flyer. Include information about where the dog was found, the date it was found, a description of the dog, a photo of the dog and your contact information.

# Posting signs or flyers in the neighborhood where the dog was found (posting photos with the information on telephone poles, your local library community board, at the grocery store, ice cream parlor, etc).

# Place an ad in your local paper or papers (since it is free!) Even if the owner doesn't read it - a friend of theirs might!

# Walk the neighborhood. Take a walk and ask around if anyone lost a dog.

This article was posted in Dr. Jon's PetPlace Newsletter at www.petplace.com, the definitive online source for pet news, health, and wellness information."

For a list of rescue shelters in your area please go to PGAA's Rescues Listings By State. Click on "Go Directly to State Rescue Listing" and you will see a listing of states. Click the appropriate state or states to see if there is a rescue group in your vicinity. If they are a No-Kill Rescue a "Yes" will appear in the right hand column. They are listed by "type of pet" -- birds, cats breeds, cats and dogs, dog breeds, etc., and are by no means the complete listings in a state. They are being continuously updated. If you can't find a rescue in your area e-mail ita408@comcast.net with the dog's description and your City, State and Zip Code.

To find a vet near you who can check for microchips visit Local Vets.com

Rescue Links

E-mail us. We'd love to hear your comments and suggestions!

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