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How To Tell When a Stray is a Stray
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Could this dog be a stray?
This is a tough one. On one hand you wouldn’t want to leave a poor lost dog or cat on the side of the road would you? You certainly wouldn’t ignore a lost child in a parking lot.
On the other hand it might not be the best idea to scoop up a dog off the street when he is hurrying home, or snatch a cat out of its front yard because there is no owner around and you believe cats are safest kept inside.
Just as hopefully you would not highjack a child walking home from school (because they seem to you to be too young to be out on their own) and keep that child at your house while you scour the paper looking for notice of a missing child.
Granted, there are resources to help if you find a lost child- the police or Children’s Services. Here in Nashville we have no such support for lost animals. There really is no one to turn to for help.
That’s a good thing to keep in mind when deciding to “rescue” an animal from the streets What will you do with it, once you’ve rescued it? How will you be improving its quality of life? Most of the shelters in Nashville have closed door policies with long waiting lists, so there will be no immediate help coming from that direction. Same with the rescue groups.
The only real choice is the Metro Pound and even they have very limited hours. If you find a dog on a Saturday afternoon, the pound won’t be open till Tuesday so you will have to keep the dog until then. Unless you pay for shots and to board, few Veterinarians are going to help out either.
Remember, because of its open door policies, the fact that the Metro Pound takes every animal brought to it, there is no waiting list, the pound kills 400 pets per week. Each and every week. So you need to be ready to find this stray you “rescued” a home or be willing to take it to the pound.
It’s my opinion that taking an animal to the pound to be euthanized is not the worst thing in the world. I would say that dying a slow death of starvation on the streets or getting hit by a car is worse.
When making the decision to stop and help a stray consider a few things:
~ What kind of shape is the dog in? If they are unkempt or hurt, it’s an easy decision.
~Some dogs are obviously lost and confused.
~Does the dog have tags with a phone number or address? Sometimes all it takes is a simple phone call.
~Check out the surrounding area. Does it seem like they are lost in a parking lot but they are actually in a residential district?
~Is it safe for you to try to get them? Are they on the highway or a busy street? (It might not be safe for them either!)
I error on the side of caution and tend to leave a dog alone if I have any doubt. I’ll go back later in the day or the next day to check on it.
Recently a client told me that she let her dog out in the backyard, went in the house to get a soda and a book and when she got back her dog was gone. The back gate had been open. The owner went frantically up and down the street calling for her dog. She got in her car and drove around looking for her dog.
She went home, quickly made up flyers and posted an ad on Craig’s List – “Lost Dog”. She went back out to hang flyers, calling for her dog the whole while. Right around the corner from her a woman came out of her house to tell the owner that a guy had knocked on her door asking for a leash.
Seems a guy had been walking his dog when my client’s dog ran up to him to say hello. The guy did what I’m sure he thought was the right thing, scooped the dog up and took it to the pound. The dog had been gone from its home for less than 30 minutes.
Luckily for this client she lives in a small town with a very well run pound. It was a Sunday though, so when she called first thing Monday morning, she found out that her dog was there safe and sound but that she would have to wait until Tuesday to pick him up as they were closed.
Now, you can bet that despite my support I also had to chide her a bit so that when she picked up the dog she instantly put his tags back on his collar, wrote his name and her phone number on it with permanent ink and when she got him home there was a lock on the gate.
I see stray dogs and cats a lot. There is something that happens once you open yourself to caring for these little ones that you see them more often. I’ve done it all. I’ve picked up strays and gotten on waiting lists for closed door shelters and rescues (only rescues I have personally visited) and I’ve kept them at my house until there was an opening for them.
I’ve found homes for a few strays on my own and I’ve kept a few for myself where they lived for years as part of my family. I’ve taken deep breaths and taken some to the pound, knowing they would die and also knowing some things are worse than death. I’ve also left some alone, hoping I was doing the right thing.
Whatever you decide remember you are pretty much on your own. I sometimes find myself stopping the car without a thought and I sometimes drive by a dog thinking of it the whole time but it just doesn’t feel right to stop. Trust your instincts. Good luck to you and all the lost and unwanted uncared for animals.
To get involved and try to increase support for animals in Nashville contact:
Humane Society of the United States (our regional office)
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