If You Find a Stray Dog, Here’s What You Should Do…

stray dog

So you've captured a stray dog. Now what? Before you take the doggy home, you should visit your local animal shelter first. They can check to see if anyone has contacted them about a missing dog and also look for a microchip on the dog.

If they do decide to turn the dog over to your care, make sure you have all of the supplies you need such as dog food, flea shampoo (you don't know if the dog is infected), and other supplies such as a doggy bed. To find Fido's rightful owner, you can look online for any information and flyers around in the area. Hopefully, in time, the pooch you found will be reunited with his owner or given a new forever home!

For more information about how to handle stray dogs, please go to Cesar’s Way.

Safety first
If you are driving and see a loose dog, react as calmly as possible. Slamming on the brakes could get you in an accident or scare the dog into running away or into traffic. If you are not in a situation where you can safely pull over near the animal, take note (or have a passenger take note) of where you saw the animal and either come back around and pull over safely or call animal control and give them as much detail as possible about where you spotted the animal.

You have the stray or lost dog—now what?
If the animal is safely approachable and friendly and you feel you can safely take her with you, entice her to come to your car with friendly commands or the promise of a treat. At this point, you can decide whether to take her to the local animal shelter or home with you.

If you decide to take her home, we still recommend swinging by the shelter first. If the dog is collarless or tagless, the shelter can scan her for an embedded microchip with the owners’ contact info. You can also ask there if anyone has reported the dog lost.

Most shelters will also keep a picture of the dog and your contact info in the event you take her home, in case the owners turn up looking for their pet.

Going the extra mile to help the stray or lost dog
If the shelter has released the animal into your care, you can follow some of the tips we outlined in “What to Do If Your Dog Goes Missing.”

You can post flyers, hit the Internet, whatever you can think of to get the word out to the dog’s family that their loved one is safe and sound and ready to come home.

Again, think about what you’d want someone to do if they found your dog.



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