First post, by Iris030380
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Hey all.
Just looking for some mature opinions on a sensitive matter that has recently arisen in life...
So 2 years ago we were about to take a the kids to dance class. After leaving our house and approaching the car we noticed an orange/brown dog running down the street without an owner around. The dog ran up to us, tail wagging, and I noticed there was no collar. Not only that, but on closer inspection I could see and feel it's ribcage and pelvis so clearly that the dog had to be close to starvation. She was in a good mood however and looked friendly enough. I returned to the house and grabbed a handful of dog treats (we had no dog food in, had used the last tin the night before) and went outside to feed the stray. She wolfed down all 5 of the treats and continued to sniff us all in turn, tail wagging.
After a short debate with the missus, I agreed to take the dog into the back yard and lock her up so we could call the dog warden and report the dog missing. While this was going on the dog was happily drinking from a puddle at the side of the road before returning to me to see if I had any more food to magic up. After another debate, we agreed that we would take the dog with us in the car and after dropping off the kids we would call the dog warden. Our fence is tall but looking at the athletic dog I thought there was a chance we would come home to an empty garden. I noticed as we got the dog in the car she was covered with fleas and dirt, but other than that (and her weight) she seemed in good condition. I carefully checked her teeth and they were sparkling white, obviously a young dog. I would have guessed about a year old.
So long story short now, the dog warden asked us to bring her in to see if she was micro chipped. We were supposed to bring her in the next day, so she slept in the kitchen that night (after a bath, some Frontline for her fleas and a few tins of dog food). The next day we found out she wasn't microchipped and there was no dog matching her breed / description reported missing on the three major channels these dog people use. The warden said they would keep her for a week and if no owner came forward then she would be sent to a rescue place in the hopes of finding another home. If not her life would be subject to how much resources the rescue centre had etc. So the missus said if nobody claims her, she would like to adopt her. My missus is a sucker for lost dogs...
Anyways, the warden asked us if this was the case, is there any chance we could take her home as their own kennels were already over populated. This wasn't a problem, and after a week of nobody coming forward to claim her, and another 20 tins of dog food, they called and said she was ours. We took her to get chipped etc, and I had been carefully watching her around the kids (we had a 2 year old and I was very cautious to make sure the dog was fine around her - and vice versa) and she started to settle in. Slowly at first, probably wondering who the heck *are* these people? But eventually our other older dog showed her the ropes and barring a bit of chewing (the kitchen lino, the chairs, the table, anything that was stuck to the fridge ......) she became part of our family and the kids named her Cinderella.
That was two years ago. Last week our friend called and said she had seen Cinderella on a Facebook page for lost animals and the owner was searching for her. The post read something like "This is a long shot but we lost our dog two years ago and are looking for her. We lost her the week before we were going to get her chipped." and it was accompanied by a photograph of Cinderella .. there was no doubt it was the same dog. We were pretty shocked at first. Didn't expect that at all.
So here is my problem... she has been living with us for two years. That's 2/3rds of her life. We have all bonded with her. Our other dog sadly passed away late last year with lung cancer aged 12, so that was a sad time for everyone. Cinderella kind of made the passing of him a little easier on the kids and the missus, I guess. Now the wife is worried because Cinderella was lost from a town about 5 miles from our house. She is concerned that as so many people have seen the facebook page that someone might try to take the dog from her while she is walking with her, or make a scene of it. The Dog is legally ours, so I told her this will not happen, but I also told her to contact the woman who lost her and explain exactly what happened. That we looked for an owner, the warden looked, we did everything right as any decent person would do who found a lost, starving dog. She wasn't chipped or reported missing so there was nothing more we could do. We gave her a home and fed her and, two years later, she is still with us. Now if this woman had come forward like, a year and a half ago ... or if the dog was older and had lived with this woman and her family for years, I wouldn't HESITATE to give her back. But neither of these are the case.
What threw me though was a few hours later the woman had written on the facebook appeal that, even if the dog was living with a new family and wasn't dead, she was SURE that the family would "do the right thing" and return the dog. She had only just got connected to facebook last week and THIS is why she hadn't made attempts to post about her missing dog. But that isn't really a good reason, I mean everyone knows someone with facebook, and the warden assured me (and I checked and confirmed) that none of the major local or national lost pets websites had any information about her missing at the time.
So what do you think we should do? I really want to contact the woman and explain everything, send her pictures of the dog (we have THOUSANDS and I've drawn her a number of times cos she is a stunner) and say "I hope knowing she is in great health sets your mind at ease, but we are keeping the dog" etc. My wife says we should do nothing. But I don't really agree with that.
What do you guys think we should do? What is the right thing to do?
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