First, to introduce myself — I’m Mom to Kaline from Chopper / Vando. A while back Julie posted some photos for me that I took of the whole family — including Stanley Cup, Sophie, and Mighty Casey — in addition to Kaline.
Okay — my problem — my husband and I found a stray on the road near our house. She is a very sweet, old, mix — who looks like she has been outside for a while as she is very skinny. We got her in the car, brought her home, and gave her some food and water. We have called Eaton County Animal Control and left a message — but we are at a loss as to what else we can do. I am concerned about exposing my other dogs to her. At this point we have her in the fenced dog run area and our dogs in the house.
I am guessing we will not hear from Animal Control until Monday morning.
Does anybody in the Alta-Tollhaus Family have any suggestions / advice / warnings?
Thanks!
Hi Laura,
I’m not familiar with your area, but you might want to check the phone book for the local Humane Society. They should be open on Sunday and you could drop her off there. Where I’m from—this is a much better route than calling Animal Control.
Thank you for the suggestion. We tried there first, actually. There is a new ‘Eaton County Humane Society’ Office (?) in Olivet (I live near Julie), but we learned they do not accept strays. Maybe I can call the Capital Area Humane Society tomorrow — they are a much larger organization.
We thought we would put up some signs tomorrow — but I am also concerned about a bad person taking the dog — so, I’m thinking I will only say FOUND DOG — and our phone number. I realize I may have to screen some phone calls, but I’m thinking we should make a person give a description of the dog.
Although, I confess this old girl is about the sweetest thing — so by tomorrow I may be asking for suggestions on how to introduce her to the rest of the family….
If you don’t want to expose your dogs to any possible risks, the fenced area might be the best option for now. Last year Phil and I pulled a dog from a shelter that was at risk for euth. and already had a rescue committed to her. She was fine in the shelter, didn’t make a fuss in her run, played with the other dogs. When we took her home, she tried to attack each of my dogs. We had to crate her b/c she was also in heat and not the cleanest. She absolutely panicked in the crate, it was painful to watch. I had committed to keeping her until the rescue came to get her and taking her to the vet. When I took her to the vet she was positive for whip worms, so now all of my dogs are on whip worm preventative treatment for life. I ended up leaving her in boarding at the vet because she was so distraught in my house. I believe she was picked up as a stray and she could not cope with being “domesticated” that quickly. She was actually much happier being in a run at the vet’s office until the transport came for her.
I agree with Carole, the non-county shelters generally are much better places, have cleaner/better facilities. Our local HS actually helps take animals FROM the county shelter b/c they have too many. I don’t think ours is open on Sunday though.
You could do what I did, call some local vets and see if they can do boarding for her. It’s not the most comfortable, but often for a stray they don’t know anything better, and it’s a safe, secure environment with medical staff right there.
The last stray we found, we kept overnight. It was a Bichon and he seemed very domesticated (but had no tag or microchip). However he also threw a FIT in the crate so he actually slept on our bed. When we found him it was too late to go to the HS. We contemplated fixing him up ourselves (my dogs loved him!) but when I bathed him I found some lumps on his belly, and Phil said he was peeing blood. Our HS has vets on staff and being a social little white fluffy dog, I’m sure he was adopted before he was even listed.
What color is the dog? I don’t think it’s the same dog but I know someone who has been searching for a dog in the Lansing/Charlotte area for months now.
I agree with keeping the dog separate from your dogs. Don’t expose them. I’ve fostered LOTS of dogs and if I am not 100% sure they’re free of contagion, I potty the foster in a separate area, keep them in a separate bedroom, rotate the dogs for attention and clean frequently. 😉
There is a rescue in Cleveland Ohio that is dedicated to senior dogs. I’ve transported some dogs for them, just can’t think of the name. If you google it, you should be able to find them. You might give them a call.
Thanks again for all the information.
Liesje, she is a yellow dog with a very white face. The hair on her face is very short and neat — the hair on her body is a little bit longer — kind of feathered. She is a relatively small dog (compared to our others) — I’m not very good at estimating but I’d guess maybe 30 – 50 pounds? She is a little hard of hearing — but can hear clapping. She is very sweet — very well behaved, walks on leash perfectly, likes lovin’. She’ll sit with her head in my lap / hands for as long as I’m willing. She has no tags of any kind and is wearing a silver choke collar.
She spent the night in the dog-glu in the fenced area. I brought her into the basement by way of the walkout for the rotation — and she seems to be fine with anything we want to do. I left her in the basement with a comforter on the floor and when I came back she was just sleeping — curled up in a ball.
The other dogs have seen her. They did some barking — and she didn’t seem to get upset at all. We’re thinking she’s used to being around other dogs.
If this description fits the missing dog in Charlotte, please let me know.
Also, we will definitely be calling the local vets on Monday morning. My husband has been known to drive dogs around to see if he can find anybody that recognizes them.
Hi Laura,
Good advice from all. My gut reaction is this dog is lost. I think someone is looking for her. She sounds lovely.
j
I agree, Julie. Craig is off work tomorrow and he will be calling around. She is definitely someone’s pet. Amazingly enough, she seems to prefer to do her business on leash as opposed to in the fenced area — so that has really made cleaning up after her easy.
This afternoon on our final round of walks with the regular four dogs, she came out of the garage / dog house portion of the fenced area — and my dogs finally saw her. Wow — is she calm and non-confrontational. Stanley, top-dog, checked her out first — there was a little sniffing — but all was cool. Kaline, wanna-be tough dog, ended up charging the fence, barking like a lunatic. She just stood sideways… and let him have his fit. He didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for — so that was over. The ‘girls’ (Retrievers) were on leash — they aren’t as trustworthy as the ‘boys’ (GSDs) — so I let them approach — and there was just more sniffing. I had lots of treats with me — so I was doing the pezz dispenser thing with my dogs on our side of the fence. Everything went well. I’m really hoping we can find her people tomorrow.
Thanks again for all the input from everybody.
It really does sound like the poor old girl has just lost her way. Either that, or someone has abandoned her—we have that happen quite often here. I always find it hard to believe that a calm, older girl will wander so far from home that she becomes lost. Please keep us updated.
Laura we need an update please!
Monday morning Craig called the local vets, nobody recognized her or knew of any missing dogs that were close in description.
Mid-morning Eaton County Animal Control picked her up. I know others were not thrilled with the local Animal Control folks, but we have had good experiences with them.
I’m afraid I am too chicken to call and find out her fate, as I don’t feel there is much I can do. Well, I don’t think there is much Craig would let me do. He was calling me Ellie May and telling me we really can’t take on a 5th dog right now — as Stanley is so old. I’d have to agree we don’t ‘need’ another dog — but this one was just so sweet.
On the bright side, we did learn from Becky, the Animal Control Officer whom we have come to know pretty well, that the last dog we picked up had a happy ending. A month or two back Craig picked up a very dirty, matted, poor thing of a little Shih Tzu type girl, on the same road near our house. This girl was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. When Becky was here on Monday she said that the Olivet Humane Society took the Shih Tzu (after she was shaved and cleaned) and had either found her people or adopted her out — but she did find a home. I really hope the same happened with this old girl.
I regret that this was the best I could do for this girl. I’m afraid if I didn’t have Craig to keep me in line, I’d have 12 dogs.