This evening my mom and I were walking our dogs around the block, and about halfway around the block this little boxer puppy starts following us. Our dogs start barking but she continues to follow us home even when we told her to shoo. Since it’s so cold, snowy, and dark out my mom and I put our dogs in the house and got a leash and put this dog on the leash. My dad called the police about the dog, while my mom and I inspected her. She was underfed, had no tags, no chip, wore a way too big collar, and was obviously not trained at all. She was cold and scared and we couldn’t really do anything to help her besides calling the police.
Later on a man stopped by saying he was her owner’s neighbor and was helping the owner look for her. The neighbor went to go get the owner and in the mean time the police showed up. We told the police about the dog, but nothing happened really at all. The dog was given back to the owner and when my parents asked why the dog didn’t have tags on the owner said she was itching a lot and he took the tags off to see if the tags were making her itch. :dubious: Yeah right.
This dog was out for, what we can tell, hours in the snow and the bitter cold. How can someone spend that much money to get this purebred boxer puppy, who is sweet and loving, and not even bother to call the police to report her missing or even really look for her. She’s a puppy, she wouldn’t be able to find her way back home!
Ug. This disgusts me. People can be so irresponsible abut their pets.
Poor little puppy. 
I can only assume that his/her “owner” is one of those “it’s just a dog” people.
If it happens again, try to locate a boxer rescue organization and take the pup there. It doesn’t sound like the pup is in for a good life right now, assuming it makes it into adulthood.
Damn. Poor little thing.
Maybe we should kick the owner out in the snow for a few hours and see how HE likes it!
I didn’t want to give the dog back to the guy, she was too sweet for that jackass. I just hope he learns from this. If this happens again I’ll try and get her taken away and put in a good home who will take care of her. All of my dogs are rescues and I know how a dog’s puppyhood can affect them years later in life. Poor little thing.
A friend and I once were out walking and came across a Lhasa Apso that looked like an old, starved stray but wasn’t – just had a totally neglectful owner, as we learned from a neighbor woman. The woman made a point of seeing nothing as my friend scurried off to get her car and we bundled the dog into the back seat for a trip to her vet. It was there we discovered this was actually a young dog.
Nice, friendly, beautiful dog when she was cleaned up and fed. Had a happy life with my friend for a while, then went on to another loving home when my friend’s cats continued to object.
Nope, I don’t feel the least bit guilty for helping to steal that dog.
So, flamingbananas, keep my little story in mind next time you encounter this poor pup – also the fact that the authorities are unlikely to take her away from her owner unless the abuse/neglect becomes a lot more severe.
I would have kept it.
My cousin knew some people a while back who had several dogs, and a couple of them had infected scabs on their ears. These were people who just didn’t have time for vets, so my cousin called me to come over there and fix up the dogs’ ears with some antibiotic ointment and such. Having done that, I couldn’t bear to see those dogs continue living there, so I got a few ideas in my head…one household was missing a few dogs…other households had new pets…so that issue was resolved… 
(Dogs seem to like baloney quite a bit at 3 am…)
Not too long ago, my cousin and I were at a gas station, and there was a stray beagle trying to get in a woman’s van. I asked her if he was hers, and she says (now get this) “No, is it yours?” (If it was, would I have asked??). Out loud, I said “No, it’s not.” The woman said she was going to get him something to eat, but she couldn’t take him with her. My cousin had plans to aquire himself a dog from the pound (another story altogether), and decided to take the little guy home. Purebred beagle, out in the rain, soaking wet, dehydrated and starved, now spoiled rotten and healthy. I love thinking about that.
And just the other day…my cousin “aquired” the dogs he wanted from the pound. So now the beagle has some friends to play with.
Sadly, though, any dogs I find have to have homes elsewhere. Libby won’t let me have another dog here. Sounds fair enough, since I’m living with her…but Libby isn’t my gramma. Libby is my gramma’s Yorkie terrier. Go figure. 
When I started doing rescue, this was very hard to wrap my mind around, but…by taking that cute pup or kitten, you have prolly just set up another animal to suffer. As long as you continue to sneak animals away, the idiots will continue to bring more home.
It really sucks.
I’ve learned a lot about triage in the last 10 years. Some “pets” will have to suffer so others won’t have to. The best thing to do in these cases is to have dog/cat fixed. If possible, set up a warm place for critter to sleep and a place for food and clean water.
Do not steal animals. These people will not stop “owning” pets because their last one died from neglect or just disappeared. They will get more pets. If you can manage to stop their original pets from dieing and/or breeding, you will stop a lot of suffering.
You’re supposed to call the police to report a missing puppy?
It’s probably a big event in Iowa or wherever you find yourself “surrounded by corn”.
I don’t think they’d consider it a priority in Baltimore.
HOLY SHIT, A MISSING PUPPY??? CALLING ALL CARS! CALLING ALL CARS! BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A MISSING BOXER PUPPY, APPROXIMATELY 9 MONTHS OLD, ANSWERS TO “BUBBA DOG”. CALLING ALL CARS!
Pet stealing is sometimes, but not always appropriate.
My friend’s cat was trapped in a strange house for three days because the (somewhat senile) lady who lived there fed him off her back porch, then decided he “looked lonely” so she let him inside, then because he was friendly, she decided to keep him and shut him up inside!
My friend went door to door looking for him. My friend’s cat was very very happy to get his owner back.
Then again, years ago my mom’s friend’s daughter stole a cat from some druggies because they loved to do things like tape up his feet so he couldn’t walk, burn his whiskers off, and throw him into the ceiling fan and watch him fly. My mom took him in. His name is Simon and he’s an old sweetheart now, and lives with my mom on a bird estuary, which is basically cat heaven.
Years ago, during a violent thunderstorm, I found an old dog huddled on my porch,shaking with fear.
She had a collar and tags and I made the necessary phone calls to contact her owner.
The owner was less than concerned, shall we say.
“She always runs away during storms so just dump her out and she’ll come home.”
As the dog would have had to cross a very busy, I drove her instead.
When I got there, a teenager was sitting outside on the steps, strapping on rollerskates.
“That’s were the stupid dog gets out” she said, putting to a missing board in the fence.
“Maybe y’all might want to fix that.” I replied.
“Naw” said the teenager 'The dog’s really old so we’re just going to put her to sleep."
I felt so badly for the poor old dog as she had obviously become disposable to the family that had rasied her.
If people call in and say that their dog is lost then the dog can be found easier if the person who found the dog calls in about it.
It is totally mystifying why someone feels the need to get a puppy and then totally neglect it. IMO, if a person displays a patter of clear abuse or neglect towards an animal, the a person is utterly justified in “stealing” that dog. FWIW, Flamingbananas, if this happens again, I would encourage you to “steal” (see “rescue”) that puppy.
I guess one of the things that kills me about this issue is that your average domesticated animal is dependant on us and our care to even just live.
Drives me batty, too. I worked closely with a couple of rescue organisations when they needed behavioral evaluations - some of the stuff we’ve seen is pretty scary… and you have to wonder why people do the shit they do.
I don’t understand how people can view their pets as… disposable. It boggles my mind.
I’m guessing she was a Christmas present, she didn’t look more than a few months old.
Yeah, uh, right. I guess you’ve never heard of meth, right?
Former police dispatcher here: no, it’s not a ‘big event’. However, given that we did have animal control, we would sometimes pick up wandering dogs. As a courtesy, we kept a log of lost and found pets so that we could try to put people in contact to get pets back home.
I’d go for giving the guy the benefit of the doubt here. He was out searching for her, as was his neighbour, so I wouldn’t think he didn’t care about her. Dogs do escape and get lost once in a while, even in a responsible household. Maybe he’d just gotten her and, as she’s a puppy yet, hadn’t gotten her licensed yet. I know when I got my last dog in Washington, licensing wasn’t required for puppies under 6 months old.
Also, I’d never think to call the police if I had a missing pet. The Humane Society, sure, but the police would never cross my mind.
Sometimes pet stealing is acceptable, I think, and in fact, I once stole a kitten. I’d gone into the bookstore (in July, so just imagine the heat) and noticed there was a half-grown kitten in the car next to me. After spending an hour or so in the bookstore, I went into the grocery store and did some more shopping. So, an hour and a half to two hours after I’d first seen the kitten, I returned to my car and glanced in the next car to see if the kitten was still there. Where before, he had been on the seat sitting, he was now laying there in a seemingly lifeless heap, barely visible, partially under the passenger seat. I hopped in my car and sat there debating the right thing to do and ultimately went and opened the unlocked door of the other car and got the kitten. I’d bought some soda at the grocery store, and for wont of any other liquid, opened a can of coke and poured some out onto a plastic bag and placed the kitten beside it. He wasted no time in lapping it down, and I then offered him more and sat in my car with him for another half hour or so waiting for his owner to show up so that I could give them a piece of my mind. They never did show up, and I was really worried about keeping him in my hot car without water, so eventually, I just gave up and took him home with me. We named him Ricky and kept him until his death years later. I’m fairly positive he would have died that day if I hadn’t taken him.
This kind of crap just pisses me the hell off. I would have likely kept it myself.
There’s one poor dog in our neighborhood who is left out all the time, regardless of weather, and I wish I could just take it home. It’s a beautiful, white (well, I’m assuming white when in fact the dog looks a dirty yellow but that’s because it’s always out in the elements and appears unlikely it’s ever groomed) Husky-type dog, tethered on about a 10’ length of chain. Basically enough room for it to get into its doghouse and walk around a little bit. I know a lot of dogs are outdoor dogs. That’s not my main beef. What gets me is I’ve never seen anyone interacting with the dog. Dogs are social animals. They thrive on love and attention. Why have a dog if all you’re going to do is chain it up in the backyard, throw out food and water and that’s it? Yeah, I know. I’m making some pretty big assumptions but as someone who’s crazy about dogs, I just can’t understand this sort of pet ownership. My last three dogs have all been rescues/foundlings and they were all house dogs, even my 125 pound golden Lab (sadly, I only had him about 10 months before he died of cancer). In fact, every dog I’ve ever had has been an indoor dog. Maybe that’s why it bugs me so much everytime I see that poor dog.