What To Do

Most people know I volunteer as the Adoption Coordinator for Athens Canine Rescue, a local dog rescue group. We rescue dogs from places like Animal Control before they are put to sleep. Our local Animal Control keeps a dog for five days , and then if it hasn't been adopted or reclaimed, it can be euthanized at any time. The Animal Control officers hold on to the dogs as long as they can, but they are always very full, so some dogs don't make it much past the five days. For some reason, stray/lost dogs are a huge problem in the southern states. Northern rescue groups are infamously empty and are always driving vans down here to get dogs to take them back to be adopted. They often have a home lined up before they have even gotten the dog!

Anyway, we at ACR rescue the dogs, put them in foster homes, make sure they're checked out by a vet, etc. And then we take applications on them so they can be adopted into a "forever home." It doesn't take too long to get each dog adopted, especially because we try really hard to give the dogs obedience training, and we take care of the spay/neuter, heartworm and flea meds, etc.

Well, once people know you're associated with ACR, every person in the county is asking you to take a dog they found. There are just tons! I've seen a lot of homeless dogs in the few years I've been working with ACR--many of them purebred, beautiful, healthy dogs that just got lost. But last night I found my first homeless dog. Let me tell you, that is a totally different experience. I know my friend LV would laugh at that, because she has found countless dogs. They seem to flock to her because they know she will take care of them.

Well, I was walking around in the woods behind my neighborhood last night. There is a lake with a path around it. I heard a dog whining, but I just thought it was one of the neighbor's dogs. When I stopped to look, there was a white and brown dog tied to a tree back in the corner of some trees. There was a food bowl, but it was turned over. It obviously hadn't had any food in it in a while. There was a bench turned over so the dog could get under it, a collar on the ground, and some plastic bags of trash hanging off one of the tree branches. All I can figure out is that someone was staying there for a couple of days and left their dog when they moved on.

Right now, I'm waiting for Animal Control to get here so we can investigate a little bit. Animal Control can (and does) prosecute people if they know they are abusing/neglecting a dog. Of course a lot of times, they can't find out who the owner is. That is most likely in this case.

I took a dish out to the dog with some food and water, and of course he/she (I haven't checked the gender yet) completely gobbled it up. The second time I went out there, she could hear me coming and whined and wagged her tail at the speed of light. I promised her I would come back as soon as an officer from Animal Control got here.

So at this point, I have to decide what/how much one does for a dog they've found. More on this ethical dilemma later--when I've found out some more details.