As the title says: My wife and I got home today at the same time, and found this small dog walking around our front yard. (no idea what breed it is) Dirty, stricken with fleas, and his skin slightly hairless in some spots, has obviously been on the streets for a long while. No collar, so we have no way of knowing if he has an owner.
When we got off the car, he simply walked up to us. While we both love animals, my wife is the one most likely to try and pet any dog or cat she sees. Me, being the most cautious one, told her to be careful: if the dog turned out to be aggressive, and even worse, infected with rabies, she could get in trouble.
However, the little guy was quite tame and friendly. He followed us as we took our groceries from the car and put them inside the house (he never went in, though. He just waited at the door until we walked out again, after which he proceeded to follow us to the car and back).
Basically, he's a total sweetheart. Eventually my wife ended up petting him, and he didn't even flinch. He just let her touch him as she wanted.
We finished putting our groceries inside, and my wife was constantly talking about how sweet of a dog he was. I closed the front door, and he sat on our porch, looking out onto the street. Alas, my conscience soon gave in. I had my wife grab some slices of ham from the fridge, and a small bowl of water, and fed him.
Ultimately, we didn't stop there. We took him inside, gave him a bath, and confined him to one of our bathrooms. Even during his bath he just stood still: no resistance, no aggressiveness, he just let us bathe him as we saw fit. Once we confined him though, he started whimpering, just a little bit, so we let him into our bedroom (now he smelled a lot better, lol). Put a small blanket and pillow on the floor, and he just laid there, scratching himself here and there (he has a serious flea problem). He has small... pimples? Not sure what to call them, obviously from flea bites here and there. As he laid down, he scratched himself often, stopping only to stare at us with his head down.
In short: quite a sweet animal. Seems very obedient, despite the bedroom door being open he does not leave it, and only steps out when my wife or I go somewhere in the house. Even though we don't know his name, if we gesture to him he hurries over, and somehow seems to understand that we don't want him wandering around - after all, he's a stray and we have no idea what his habits are-.
Here's the problem: We currently cannot have a pet. We have our own house, but we work opposite schedules (I work days, sleep at night. My wife works nights, sleeps during the day) which basically means that we simply do not have the time in our schedule to care for a pet (as much as we would like to, but dogs need playtime and plenty of interaction with their owners, which we cannot currently provide).
I decided to contact the local shelter, and plan to either drop him off tomorrow or have them pick it up. I'm hoping that they can scan him, find that he has a microchip, and determine who his owner is.
However, I know what can happen at shelters. If they cannot find an owner or someone to adopt him in a reasonable timeframe, I know that he will probably be put to sleep, which to be honest breaks my heart. There is no going around the fact that we can't have him, but I'm torn here: turn him in, and give him a chance for the shelter to find him a home? Or... let him loose again, and perhaps put food and water outside the house so that he can eat and drink when he's around?
Basically, turn him in, and he might find a home. But he also might not find a home, and end up being put to sleep. Or leave him on the street, and hopefully he'll stay in the area so he can have food and water at least on our back yard... but face whatever other dangers he could find out there.
I just... don't know what to do here. Neither option is very attractive. The thought of leaving such a sweet animal on the street saddens me, but the thought of him being put to sleep in the event he cannot find a home is also heartbreaking.
I would appreciate the input of all the pets owners out there.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ccxjpu/found_a_stray_dog_would_love_advice_on_what_to_do/
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