We recently moved to a “rural” cottage country side and shortly after moving this dog kept coming over to play. She followed us home one day after a walk, I didn’t even notice her till my husband asked why the dog was following us. We go out side to play or walk every day and she would always show up after awhile. Now she doesn’t even leave. She’s on our porch or around in our yard almost all day, and there to greet my husband every morning as he leaves for work. We don’t have a fence of any kind yet, so keeping her out isn’t an option. I don’t mind her, she does seem like a good dog and she is good with the kids. So the problem is she has no collar or ear tags, and none of the neighbours really seem to know where exactly she lives. We don’t feed her because she isn’t our dog, she has gotten the occisional treat though. I feel like this dog is basically being neglected, and my husband pointed out she looks skinnier than when we first met her a couple weeks ago. I feel so bad bad for her. I don’t know what to do. My options are to either A) call the county who would most likely just pick her, up and bring her to the animal shelter B) bring her to the animal shelter or a vet myself and find out if she is healthy/getting fed, but not sure if they’d let me take her home since she isn’t registered. C) take her to the animal shelter, and if she shows signs of neglect, Adopt her and bring her home (we are putting up a fence soon). If the owners come looking for her tell them to bad I adopted her, they should have taken better care of her. What would you girls do??
I think the dog has adopted you. Maybe her owners moved away or abandoned her, if she’s skinny and hanging out with your family so often?
Similar thing happened to me with a cat. She was very skinny (and beaten up) too. I’ve had for three months now. I did take her to two different vets, to see if I could find her owners & that she was healthy, and both let me take her back home. I imagine vets are animal lovers, and they too hate to see homeless or neglected animals.
I live in the U.S., and animals aren’t always registered. Call the vet and see if they’ll let you take it home maybe you can ask the vet if they’ll let you take it home before visiting. If so, I would take it in, and see if the dog has a microchip. If so, the vet can contact the owners to pick her up. If not, leave your contact information with the vet (the nearest vet or two), and maybe put up flyers with “found dog”. If no one comes forward after all of your efforts, I’d adopt her. And get a microchip with the vet.
I would check with the local animal shelter and see if someone is missing a dog of her description. Usually owners looking for their lost pet would get the shelter involved in case she got turned in. In all likelihood, she was probably abandoned. If no one is missing her, it is well within your rights to keep her. Definitely take her to the vet in that case. They’re not going to turn you in for having an unregistered pet if you explain to them that she is a stray, but you want to take care of her. The vet won’t want her put in the pound any more than you do, but they’ll encourage you to get her registered of course. Good luck!
I have had similar experiences with dogs at my cottage as well. Most people in "rural’ cottage areas, especially locals, tend to just let their dogs roam around wherever they want, so dogs often come around and follow us home and such. But if she does have an owner, they’re obviously not very good if she stays with another family all day!
But has she ever tried to stay with you overnight? Because if she is a stray I would be concerned about where she’s sleeping, whereas if she returns somewhere each night that probably means she has some kind of home.
I think she has been spending the night, I woke up at 530 and looked outside and she was sleeping on our porch. I looked online at a couple of lost dog sites for our area and called the animal shelter. I also went around the neighbour hood again, now that more people are here for the weekend. Everyone said they recognize her, but don’t known the owners. The animal Shelter told me if they picked her or up, or if I took her in, she would have to stay for 3 days while they tried to get ahold of any owners, even if she is not registered. She will get a full check up while she is there. If no one claims her after 3 days I can come there and adopt her for free. So I had them come pick her up this evening and will call [name]Monday[/name] morning to check on her. I hope she gets reunited with her family.
get back to us, please, with the end of the story! And if you do keep her, be sure to tell us her new name. 
I will definitely update
Well the owners phoned me today to thank me so much for finding their dog. She had been missing for about a 1 month, when she ran off durning a thunderstorm, while out camping with her family an hour away! The family was giving up hope of ever finding her,they had called a couple animal shelters but didn’t think she would have made it so far away, and they were returning to the campsite to try and find her. I’m glad I decided to let her go to the animal shelter. I’ll miss her, but I’m so glad her family was re-united
I work at a vet clinic and I NEED to point out that firstly, it is 100% illegal to just keep any dog you finding roaming at large. It doesn’t belong to you and who knows the circumstances under which it was lost. I would take it to the nearest vet clinic or humane society. when you do this they will quarantine the dog for a week or so and attempt to find the owners. They will also spay/neuter if this isn’t already done and give the dog a good health check. If they cant find the owners, they then get back to you and you get first dibs on the dog.
oh i didnt see the above post! So glad you found her family =)
Sweet! Thanks for posting. Everyone loves a happy ending.