I hung around to see if you would see my question, Mugsy. And now that you have told the story, I remember it well. You have so many stories, because you have so many dogs, that I just couldn't keep up with all of them.

Have you considered having all of your "keepers" microchipped, even if you just did it as you could afford it. Maybe the animal control people do it and would offer it to you for a less expensive price than the vet? I'm grasping at straws here, but at a minimum, I'd at least ask, or see if your vet would consider doing a "bulk" rate for you. I found it to be fairly expensive ($50/dog) with my vet, but it is a sure way of proving that they are yours if they ever get out. If not that, I would be sure to get good, close up shots of each dog, taken from different angles, plus make notes about any "special" features, like a broken tooth or a special marking. Anything that will help you to prove that the dog is yours.

My ex husband took in a stray Golden mix, when we were in college. He was living in an apartment, and she just showed up there. Can't remember what all he did to find her owner, but she was matted, dirty, thin and we took her to the vet, had her spayed, got all of her shots; we groomed her, fed her well, etc, and Sandy became his dog. She went everywhere with him. One day, he was at one of those self serve car washes, and this girl came over and said "that's my dog". He said NO WAY, and refused to hand her over to him. She actually proceeded all the way to magistrate's court to get that dog back, and won, but had to reimburse him for every dime he had spent. He didn't care about the money. He wanted the dog. It literally broke his heart to give her up, after seeing what terrible shape she was in when he found her. It was so sad. I guess I'm hoping that if you have to go that far, you will have better luck than he did. What's that old saying, "possession is 9/10's of the law"?? Hope that's not true in this case.

We'll keep Tobey and you in our prayers.
Logan