A stray dog came to my house today. I have a fenced yard, but the gate was temporarily open, so he came in. He’s not a bad dog, he’s likeable and I may give him a home. Thing is, he had a collar on, with a phone number. So I call the number. I get an angry woman on the phone that wants to know who I am, and I tell her I’m the guy that has her dog. She says she’s not home, and won’t be home for awhile, and puts her husband on the phone. I talk to him, and he says that the dog is a stray that showed up at their house three months ago, and he goes back and forth between three houses, and they’re surprised he wandered as far as my house. I tell him the dog is wearing his phone number, so what does he want to do? He’s surprised, says his daughter lets it hang around, and must’ve put his number on it. I’m expecting him to ask me to return the dog to his house, or even hold on to it until he can pick it up, later in the evening. He doesn’t care, doesn’t offer me any option on what to do with it.
I call the cops (for animal control). They won’t come because it’s Sunday, and I ask the officer about dumping the dog back at their house, and he doesn’t care if I do that or run out of my yard. He says they will pick it up Monday morning if I want them to.
It’s not a bad dog, and I’m ready to keep him. The dog is young, healthy, neutered, and has a great attitude. I can afford him and have room for him. I had to cut his dewclaws, since they were growing back and had punctured the skin. The original keepers of this dog were neglecting him, since they admitted to allowing him to roam near a busy highway, and I saw more evidence of neglect with the dewclaw situation.
It’s clear Mom and Dad don’t want the dog back, so I’ll probably be doing many involved a favor if I contain the dog and take care of it. But I’m starting to wonder about the daughter: What if she is old enough to raise a stink about wanting the dog back? Such as 15 or in college? What if Dad takes her side and wants the dog? I say they should have got it today or made arrangements for it. If they come back in three days or a week and want the dog, whose is it?
If they come, I’ve imagined myself throwing the dog in the car and driving it to the shelter, and telling them there: pay up and you can have your dog back. I bet they wouldn’t, but as far as I can tell, I may not have the right to keep ‘their property,’ but I have the right to turn in a trespassing animal.
IANAL and laws vary by state, but the best thing to do is probably go talk to the people at the county shelter. There is generally a holding time before they - or you - are allowed to do anything to the dog, such as rehoming it or euthanizing it (barring extenuating circumstances such as acute veterinary emergencies), and there is the small chance for unpleasantness if one of the other “owners” decides that they miss having Scruffy around and want him back. The shelter may well tell you that they are full up and wouldn’t mind having you keep him for the holding period and forever after, but they and you still have legal obligations to uphold the holding periods that allow owners to look for their lost pets without the pets being instantly euthanized or rehomed. Again, IANAL, just a vet student.
BTW, as you alluded to in your post, even if they want him back, there is nothing stopping you from taking an animal who is wandering at large - and putting itself and drivers at risk - to the shelter as many times as needed until they get tired of bailing him out and you can adopt him after the mandatory holding period. 
Good luck, I hope you get to give this guy a solid home.
Thanks, Horsetech. I’m not intending to get into a legal battle over this dog. I was hoping other dopers would weigh in with how they would treat such jackass owners if they were in this situation. I could understand if the dog had no ID and then I found out that the owners were looking for it days or weeks later (I would return it, if I could assume they were responsible owners, and get animal control involved if I suspected problems). I’m dealing with a husband and wife that pretty much told me they didn’t want the dog, and didn’t care what happened to it. So my main goal here is to solicit a ‘what would you do’ type of response in case these people came back on me. As far as anyone other than the family I spoke with it, I would tell them tough, they should have contained the dog when they had the chance, it is too late now. The only claim I would give any recognition to would be the ones that put their phone number on him, and they have so far given up their claim.
I think if I was in your position and I wanted the dog, I’d just keep him. I seriously doubt you’re going to hear from the other people again.
I think I’d hold onto the dog “until they came to get him”.
Given that it’s apparent they don’t want him (and for the kid’s sake I hope the kid doesn’t either) I think it’s in the dog’s best interest that he stay with you. The shelters are generally overburdened, and mistakes HAVE happened where a dog is mistakenly euthanized when space is needed.
I vote keep him.
That’s all I would need to hear.
IMHO, he wandered into your yard, and you’re in a position to give him a loving home, therefore he’s yours. Get him microchipped immediately and Congratulations.
I would have clearly asked (and possibly several times), “Do you want this dog back?” Blather, blather, mumble, mumble. “No, did you want the dog back? Will you come get it or should I bring him to you?” More blather and mumble. “Okay, then. Good talk.” ::click::
And the dog is mine.
Just get a new collar. Take him to a vet or the county animal shelter and ask them to scan him in case he’s chipped. If he has a chip, you can contact the chip company, and say you’ve adopted him and get the chip ownership data to reflect you as the owner. Then if the dog wanders off and someone scans the chip, the dog will come back to you. If he doesn’t have a chip, get him one. Presto! The dog is yours. Don’t worry about the kid. The parents will probably tell her the dog wandered off to go live on a farm or something. If they don’t want the dog, they will probably be less than forthcoming that they’ve heard about the whereabouts of this dog.
I wouldn’t risk taking him to the shelter and if you like the dog, can afford the dog, and don’t mind giving the dog a new home, I say, congratulations on your new dog. Pix please! 
New collar, license, dog tags. He’s yours.
Don’t ask anyone, don’t tell anyone. You made inquiries, no one had much ownership.
Go for it. I hope you’re both very happy.
(oh, and…Pictures please!)
The dog sounds like he is much better off with you, please keep him.
I’d ask why they don’t want the dog back. The most adorable strays can have the most hellacious behavior problems that don’t surface until the animal’s had some time to settle in.
Anyhoo, in California Animal Control told me (can’t remember exactly) after 2-3 weeks or so it’s considered yours. For what it’s worth.
This, more or less.
The only thing I’d add is to take him to your vet and have them check to see if he’s chipped. If not, consider him yours right then and there. If he is, then you need to try to contact the ‘owner’ recorded on the chip and make sure thy don’t want him back. It is *possible *that he was lost by someone as yet unknown, and they would like their long-lost beloved pet back.
If I’m reading the OP right, the dog is a stray that the phone number people were taking marginal care of - it isn’t really their dog. I would also say that after a trip to the vet and a micro-chipping, the dog is yours. People who want a dog back are usually pretty clear about it. 
I wouldn’t. They may feel shamed about not caring for the dog and feel obligated to say “yeah, we want him back” and then just turn him out on the street again.
I’d take the phone conversation as ‘we don’t want him’. They even said the dog wanders between three houses, so he’s not really settled anywhere. The girl will probably think he’s at the ‘other house’.
I had a dog go missing and within 6 hours had signs up at all the local shops and was leaving messages at the pound with his complete description.
I also picked up a stray at a local shop because she really was going to cause an accident. I let all the shops know I had her and left my number (I don’t post ‘found’ posters because people wanting a free dog can just lie). No one called, so I got her spayed and at that point she was mine. She’s never taken off again and has always stayed right on the farm. So I think she’s also decided that she’s mine.
I agree about checking for existing microchips.
Good luck. I’m hoping that you keep the dog.
It worked out well for me:
She has been the best little dog ever!
Dogs go to & stay at where they are treated the best. ( for the most part )
I think we have here a conflict in what pet ownership is and what the responsibilities are. To some, an animal that comes and goes at will is just the way things are, and they feel little or no responsibility for it.
Example: Farmers often treat cats in the barn as just another infestation. Beneficial for the most part, but not something you value highly. Barns come with cats, and more cats are better than more rats.
To others, like the OP, ownership means taking care of the animal as much as possible; food and shelter, medical care and attention as needed.
Unfortunately the law doesn’t always side with the most humane solution, but I say, keep 'em, love 'em, treat 'em right and hope for the best.
I’d wait a month to see if they call back or anything, and after that I’d consider him mine and invest in him monetarily (vaccinations, dog stuff, license, etc). I’d wait the month because it would be just my luck to have them call and want it back the day after I took him to the vet, and it doesn’t sound like they’d want to reimburse you!
That’s what I did with what became my kid’s best buddy: Evy and Beaker | Sheldon Carpenter | Flickr He showed up at our house one day without a collar, so we put posters all over the neighborhood and posted a found ad on Craigslist. After a month, nothing, so I took down the signs and got him fixed and vaccinated.
True story, or at least, posted on a “neighborhood” message board with apparently corroborating posters.
A family had a stray come to their house. Badly matted hair, underfed, no tags; typical stray. They brought it in, took it to a vet, no chip, so they got shots & wormed. They posted flyers, ran “found dog” ads in the local paper (and message boards) and fed and cared for the dog. After a couple weeks of no response to any of their attempts to find the owners, the daughter said she wanted to keep the dog. So, they contacted the county shelter and asked what they needed to do to adopt the dog. They said they needed to bring it in and they would keep it for 3 days and if nobody claimed the animal, they could adopt it for a fee to have it chipped and “fixed”. They did this and the daughter called every day to see if anyone had called for it. On the 4th day, no one else had called, so they paid the $100 adoption fee and got the dog the county-registered dog license.
Another few weeks pass and the daughter comes home from walking the dog. A few minutes later, there is a knock on the door and a neighbor kid (16 year old female) and her grandpa are there telling the wife the dog is theirs. They saw the daughter walking it and recognized it. Wife tells them “tough” they adopted it. Grandpa started screaming at her, so she closed the door.
An hour later, there is a cop at the door with the neighbor kid and grandpa with a photograph of the kid with the dog. Cop tells the wife hand over the dog to the kid and if the wife wanted the dog, they could go to court to get the dog back (the dog that they had proof of ownership for; adoption papers, chip, and license).
Apparently, one of the “dog found” posters was even posted across the street from the neighbor kid’s house, as well as corner stop sign and convenience store. None of this mattered. Neighbor kid claimed she had been calling the shelter for weeks (although never left a name or number-?).
Wife is upset and doesn’t know what to do. Husband (who is doing the posting), ends up calling the Justice of the Peace and they say all they can do is file for a small-claims judgement against the family that took the dog and try and get their adoption fee (and small-claim filing fee) back. Wife, still upset, files with the court and that evening, kid comes by with the dog, in tears, and tells wife that if they are going to sue her over the stupid dog, they can just have it!
Way too much drama. But, people will do that over pets.
My advice, take it to the shelter. Call the number again and say you took it to the shelter and they should go there to pick it up. While you are at the shelter, see if they have any dogs you would like to adopt; there are lots of dogs there and most of them are going to “go to sleep” if they don’t get adopted. If you keep this dog, if the owners ever decide they want it back, it will get messy.
excavating (for a mind)
+1
The first dog I had had a chip, but the phone number was disconnected. I drove by the address and it was a crappy looking place. I think she’d been abandoned, as nobody ever called about the ad I put in the paper, or called the shelter(I’d given the shelter her description)
My guess is she’d been bred because her teats were saggy but not full when I picked her up out of a busy parking lot. They shrank up right away too.
Call the dog Lucky. Granted, it’s a common name because so many shelter or abandoned animals, that have been adopted, get it.