Conflicted.

[TMF]

To the OP, my wife and I have gone through this several times. Over the past 8 years we scooped up at least 20 stray dogs. Some of them we were able to find the owner simply by keeping an eye on the classifieds (craigslist). We also register them at animal control in case the owner looks there.

Of course, we've come across several dogs that had obviously been neglected. The last one like that I decided would not go back to the owner. The compromise was that we did register him to be adopted through the human society, and he found a wonderful family. The previous owners did not deserve this dog.

I will say, I've had several strays that had kicked dog syndrome when taking them in, almost to where I felt they might not be adoptable. There was one in particular, a pit bull mix, who was so skiddish I couldn't get him to eat for almost two days. Once he warmed up he was an amazing dog. So affectionate and happy. It's like he understood. We found a great home for him out in Cadiz with a lovely older couple.

I would recommend registering this dog with the humane society and foster her until they find a new home, if you can. Otherwise, put her up on craigslist or a local classified and SCREEN potential families. Don't be afraid to say no to scuzzy people. I've adopted out a whole buncha dogs this way. Some times it takes a little while, but it's better than knowing they're gonna be out to sleep.

[QuietDan]

I'd pass this by the professional animal shelter. They'll scan for the chip, and probably would be able to do an overall professional assessment. I don't think you'd want a circumstance from the previous life to create an incident for you; the risk involved could include a child biting incident, and one of those would significantly complicate your life, you know, one of those little rewards for trying to do the right thing. Eyes open. . . .

[SithL0rd]

I don't post here much. Just a professional lurker.

 

We had a little 15lb mutt for 17years while I was growing up. He moved everywhere with us, Utah, Mississippi, England, Kansas, then back to Mississippi. After he passed(my dad cried) he said no more dogs for us. So bout 8 years ago a friend of his was having to give up their little black lab. Dad decided it was time for a dog again and he got Alex.

 

The next year a skinny skittish rottweiler with no collar started hanging around my parents house. After a week or so my dad felt sorry and decided to start feeding her. She would not approach the bowl until he went inside and any sudden moves or noises and she was gone into the woods. This went on for a few weeks and she would actually eat with him standing there and he was able to pet her so he figured it was his dog now my niece named her Precious  and moved her into the fenced back yard with Alex. It was a good year plus before anyone other than my Dad could pet her.  Well during all this she had gotten pregnant and when she finally had the puppies it was the middle of a cold November night and when Dad found them in the morning only one puppy was still alive. My Mom started bottle feeding her and named her Miracle.

 

This is how my parents who swore off dogs in 1994 ended up with 3 BIG dogs in about 6 months in 2006.

 

My Mom died of cancer in 2009 and within a few weeks the mother dog Precious started getting into vicious fights with the daughter dog Miracle. Precious just passed last year with some sort of cancer. So now my 8yo Miracle is the last link to that skinny rescue from all those years go and to my Mom.

 

tl;dr   dad kept a stray and I now have her only child.

[peejman]

I think you've gotten lots of good advice here.  If you want to keep the dog, fine.  Apartment life with a busy work schedule isn't necessarily conducive to owning a dog, but lots of people make it work.  Pit's aren't necessarily for everyone, clearly there's a stigma that you'll have to deal with going forward but they make wonderful pets for many people.  Giving her away may or may not be easy.  Adult dogs can be hard to find homes for. 

 

My experience with rescue groups is similar to that of 56Fordguy.  When we tried to give our dog away after she bit my son (the 2nd time), the few rescues that responded basically told us we were horrible people for even considering it.  Some extra training for both the dog and the boy, and more awareness on our part seems to have resulted in a truce. 

Edited August 21, 2014 by peejman

[TrickyNicky]

Ok guys, good news, bad news.

Today I brought the pup back into work with the idea that we could go to the humane society during lunch. I put her outside in our closed lot this morning to do her business while I took care if some things and she bolted. Apparently our gate has just enough give that she was able to squeeze through. Not good.

So I went off in search down the alley and sure as day come across her back in her real yard being pet by her owners looking happier than a pig in waste. They were scolding her when I came up, but she looked ok and want shying away at all from them. I yelled through the fence and asked if it was their dog which they confirmed, a very quick look around showed a huge gap in their fence which I pointed out to them and they thanked me for taking her in when I explained the situation. I was concerned about the gap because it was fairly large and clearly not a dug hole. A few hours later there was a young man outside doing what looked to be some manual labor around the area, hopefully fixing the hole.


So there we are. Based in how quickly she adjusted from 'kicked dog' to total ham, her ability to walk well on a leash, and the fact that she was apparently house trained as she had no accidents here, plus seeing her with the owners makes me rethink a few things. She's young, outside on her own, and a large hairy man was trying to entice her inside with 1/2 a cheeseburger (what I had on hand, not my idea of "dog food") maybe she was just legitimately nervous. I don't know.


One good thing, I know where she lives. Right behind and a few houses down from work. Doing a few welfare checks a week won't be hard. Under the right circumstances, I'm not above a dog napping, but for now I'm going to call this a hopefully happy ending. If and when there is a next time I see her on the street, there will be absolutely no hesitation, I'm grabbing her and taking her to the humane society.

I am going back to the house tomorrow to suggest they chip their dog and get tags made. We'll see how that goes I guess.


Thanks all for all the advice, I really appreciate you guys helping me out on this. Hopefully I can still feel good about the outcome as things move forward. As much as I'm nervous that this may not be the right call, she looked happy to see her people and they looked happy to see her. I'd feel like a real monkeydick if I deprived someone of their pet, regardless of whether or not I think she needs more baths.

I'm crossing my fingers that this all works out ok for the pup, she deserves to be happy.

[56FordGuy]

Thanks for the update! Hopefully all goes well. 

 

I had some harsh words for animal rescues in my last post, I just want to clarify that there's a good reason the rescue groups are the way they are. Over a period of 4 years, I worked with two different large animal rescue groups. Animal rescues get an astounding number of "Can you take my animal" requests from every source you can imagine; law enforcement (mostly large animals the county isn't equipped for), owners who decide a pet is inconvenient, folks who picked up a stray, other 'rescues' that thought it looked easy and quickly got in over their heads, and occasionally a real owner who is actually in a hard situation and legitimately can't keep their pet. If rescue groups accepted every animal offered to them, pretty much every facility and all the funding would be overwhelmed in a matter of days. Lots more people are looking to get rid of animals than most people imagine, and from the rescue's point of view that if an animal has an existence, food, water, and basic shelter then they can't take it. That space has to be reserved for a disturbingly large number of animals that -don't- have even that basic level of living. 

 

It sucks, but that's the reality of it.

[TrickyNicky]

Didn't think about it quite like that either. I guess things turned out ok. I don't imagine the dog lives a lifestyle like I would like to see every animal living, but then again, it's got a home it was wanting to get back to enough that it found a weakness in the gate I hadn't noticed before. She would have had to work to get that big ole pit head through too.

[RED333]

Told ya, these things happen for a reason, you took her in, carried her back to work and she found her way home.

[hipower]

I couldn't post a comment or advice on this one, my friend. It was just to close and painful for me.

But you did a really good thing and will be blessed for that deed.

[TrickyNicky]

I couldn't post a comment or advice on this one, my friend. It was just to close and painful for me.But you did a really good thing and will be blessed for that deed.

Thanks buddy. I'm still on the fence regarding the outcome, we'll see what we'll see. One things for certain, I need to get a house so I can get two dogs. That way at least they'll have each other to pal around with while I'm at work.

[tnguy]

I'll just post that I have a work colleague that rescued a pit. He was living in a hotel at the time and looking for a place (I'm not sure exactly how he handled the dog situation) but he had a lot of trouble finding anywhere that would let him have it there. I think pets and dogs is hard enough but he was running into bans on pits specifically. He ended up in a place in Bon Aqua with a nice bit of land for the dog to run free on but it's a fair commute from work.

Hope it works out well for the dog whatever way it goes though.