Not so helpful neighbors...

[PotterWatch]

Our dogs got out early this evening. My husband had been doing yard work all day and he thinks the blower and leaves falling from the roof so much freaked them out a little (he was up on the roof clearing it of leaves and debris). He took the lawnmower out front and didn't get the gate shut all the way behind him. He went in the house to get something and the dogs went through the gate and out into the neighborhood. We live in a regular southern california neighborhood where neither the houses or the yards are that big, so there are lots of houses in a pretty small area. As soon as he realized they were gone, he got in the truck and started driving around looking for them.

About 40mins later he found one of them back at home but the other was still missing. He called me (I am in Arizona visiting family), and asked for advice. After searching with the truck for a while longer, I suggested he take the one dog with him and search on foot or on his bike. At this point, Skippy had been gone about 1.5hrs. He was riding around when Chewie (the dog that had come home on his own), lunged to one side. At first Dave thought he just wanted to get after another dog and then he realized it was our missing dog in the person's backyard! He looked back there and the people were calling him some name they made up and playing with him, throwing a ball, wrestling, etc. Dave called out to them that it was his dog and they grudgingly let him out of the yard.

Apparently they were just going to keep him! He had a nice collar with a rabies tag, a microchip tag, and an id tag with his name and my phone number on it! I can't believe they were just going to ignore that he obviously had a home, and a decent one at that considering he is in excellent health, registered and chipped! I can totally understand putting a dog in your backyard so that it can't run anymore while you call the number on the tag, but to think it's ok just to keep the dog without making an effort to return it to its home? I'm so glad we got him back but really ticked that they would think to just keep him!

The culprits:

Skippy

Chewie

 

[Imp]

Gosh Close Call! Hopefully that's rare (that people would take a dog).

Glad Skippy and Chewy are home.

Imp- gotta admit I stole the neighbors cat. She moved in with me a couple years ago. The neighbors are OK with it.

 

[fasbendera]

I believe it. A family member had a dog that took off and one day while they were in the yard with the dog. They went looking and no luck but went back out and she was at this house and the people were dissappointed because their son who they said was autistic really responded well to the dog. This dog had all the proper tags and identification. They had given her treats and everything. Well fastforward a few months and the dog makes the escape and they can't find her. They go every where call the city every day and the dog catcher and no dog. This dog goes every where with them, is an inside dog, very well trained. Well they decide to see if she is at the same house and a neighbor to the family says they moved up north and it turns out it was a few days after the dog disappeared. The DH goes on line and looks at property records up north and finds an address. On the way to annual hunting trip he stops with his kids at the address and they knock on the door. I forget who answered the door but the dog come out and they call her put her in their vehicle, exchanged a few words with the dog snatchers and left. They had replaced her collar and everything. This is absolutly a true story and to this day when we see her we can't believe that they got her back that the DH was able to track the family down and they actually took her. It is actually a well known story in our town so it is a good thing they moved far far away.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Wow, not-so-helpful is right! I can't believe someone would do that. How ridiculous! If someone wants a dog, they should go get one out of the shelter. There are plenty of great dogs in there. I'm glad they're back home safely!

 

[redhen]

Wow! Thats SO scary... Some people have no morals. How cruel... you would have been frantic looking for your dog and heartbroken..and they would not have even cared!!!...wow... That really ticks me off!

edited for language​

 

[Harleena]

Quote:
Wow...
We found a little dog here and a neighbor kid told me where it lived, so we went over there (next block) and knocked on the door. The boy who answered said it wasn't their dog, but then the older sister came out and said that it was, called it's name & everything. What the..?

 

[PotterWatch]

Quote:
Wow...
We found a little dog here and a neighbor kid told me where it lived, so we went over there (next block) and knocked on the door. The boy who answered said it wasn't their dog, but then the older sister came out and said that it was, called it's name & everything. What the..?

We had something similar happen several months ago. A huge pit was wandering around our street. The people across from us spotted it and made all their kids come inside and everything. I admit it was a pretty scary looking dog. My husband and I went out, with pepper spray in hand just in case, and called to it. Luckily, it came bounding over as happy and nice as it could be. We put a leash on it and asked some of the neighbors if they knew who it belonged to. They figured out that it belonged to a guy a couple streets over who does the gardening for the people diagonal from us. She got his number out and called them but they said they didn't have a dog like it. I tried calling a few minutes later and they said it was their dog and came over to get it. Very strange. The dog did seem to know the kid and be happy to see him though, so I assume it really was his dog.



I am just happy our boys are home. I was sick to my stomach when my husband told me what happened. They are truly members of the family, not to mention my mushing partners! We would have been heartsick if we hadn't been able to bring them home. Thank goodness for Chewie recognizing his buddy in that yard!

 

[bagendhens]

theres alot of dog snatching going on right now around here, mine dont go out without supervision.
people scare me, WHY would anyone not try and contact a dogs owners, its one thing if theres no id, but for heavens sake...

 

[vicki2x2]

My BIL's dog came up missing out of his fenced in yard one day. It was weird because he had never got out before and the gate was still shut and everything. They searched and searched, put up flyers and 3 days later, they get a knock on the door. There stands their paper girl, her parents and the dog. The papergirl really liked the dog, she played with him on her route every day, so one day she just took him home and told her parents she found him and he was a stray. Finally they saw the flyers and made her bring him home!!

 

[vicki2x2]

Oops, forgot, when I was a kid, we had a really friendly great dane mix. He was about a year old when he was outside in the yard, he never left our yard and my Dad was outside in the garage anyway. Someone stopped at the end of our driveway and opened their door and called to him, he was so friendly and loved to go for rides, he ran over and hopped in and they took off. We never saw him again!