No good deed goes unpunished.
I probably should have said something sooner, but I was dying from embarrassment and in pain from kidney stones (the past 10-12 days).
I forgot to take down the last poster of the doggie and last Tuesday (way late) this lady calls to tell me she thinks that it belongs to her. Yikes!
Facts: She got the road right, but the story sounds weird. The dog was securely chained to my porch. She said she had left the dog with her father-in-law who lives two houses down from me because where she lives pets are not allowed. I had never seen a dog there before or heard one. I thought the placed had been abandoned and they first admitted that no one was home. (I did see what looked to be a stray in the yard as I passed by that day, unleashed, but we have strays in the area.) I did search all over the web and local animal sites to see if someone knew the dog. Nothing was posted. She never actively looked for this dog, that was supposedly a beloved family member.
I invited her over to see the chain still on my porch. She brought the family. Her father-in-law, for his story, her sister, and her young daughter, who was supposedly heartbroken over the dog. I told her the dog had been adopted after being at the vet for the weekend. I told her that I had looked for LOST notices and found none. I told her it cost me money but it was for the dog. Her response was that she would get the dog back tomorrow. I told her that it would cost money. My kenneling fees, shot fees, and any other adoption fees that vet would assess. She replied that they were unemployed. I'm not sure if the dog had ever seen a vet. I will say that the dog was very clean.
I asked her why she hadn't posted any notices, she said that they were tied up in the ill health of a relative (mother? or mother-in-law?) all weekend. She had also assumed that some relatives on a vendetta had taken the dog with them back to Atlanta or dropped it on the interstate on the way back. The father-in-law said the dog never left the yard so he didn't look any further than the house in between us. There are large bushes between my place and the house in-between. The yards are not big. My family home yard is as big as all three together. (The pit mix is currently chained to the dog house. He said it wouldn't leave either. SO why is it chained? The pit supposedly loved the lab, so why wasn't it sitting next to the lab in my yard.) The chain on my porch was supposedly cobbled together from both of the dogs' chains.
Interestingly, I had only untangled the chain partially. It looked to messy for me. The old man removed it easily from my porch in front of me.
The reason she gave that the relatives were on a vendetta: The relations had moved up from Atlanta with their pit bulls, but left them with the father-in-law, but without helping him physically or financially. He claims he made several requests for help, so out of frustration, the lady called Animal Control. The dogs were not in good condition and one of the dogs had a wounded neck from an embedded collar. SO ACS held them responsible and the old man said they tried to arrest him. They gave up the relatives names who were fined $1000 per dog.
So the relatives stole one of their dogs, set the other loose in the yard, and chained the stolen one to my porch, two doors down from the old man?
I again repeated that it would cost her money to get it back and the dog was in a happy place, well taken care of. At least now she knew where the dog was. I think I also said that she wouldn't have known the dog was okay if I hadn't posted the ADOPT ME posters. I was tired and stressed at that moment.
I have been beating myself up, but the dog may not have even been theirs.
I was operating under the belief that since the dog was placed on my porch, it was my legal and moral responsibility to care for it in some manner. I wouldn't neglect an animal and I had no intention of getting in trouble due to someone else's negligence.
SO my questions are:
Did I overstep my responsibility?
Am I legally responsible for posting FOUND flyers and trying to find the owner?
Should I have waited longer for adoption, even though it was at my expense?
I wonder if I should have taken the dog to the pound or had them pick it up?
I wonder what really happened?
Lastly I'm so embarrassed I didn't go by and tell my vet or even call him. Shame on me. A wise friend said not to worry. If the lady wanted her dog back it was between her and the adopters and she would have to reimburse expenses. She would have to do that at the pound too.
Sigh. I do not think a life of rescue is for me.
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sheesh!
Originally Posted by kitten645
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