A question if you please.

Rather than repost the original scenario which seemed to confuse a few people, let me rephrase. What would you do if you happen upon a lost dog on a summit (no owner present for over 45 minutes) and evening was approaching? Do you let the dog fend for him/herself as one person suggested, or do you intervene? And if so, how?

MR....as I reflected in my PM to you when you shared this story with me, you have quite the imagination and perhaps have watched one too many science fiction monster dog movies....

I suggest this thread is promtly deleted....

...Jade

I would dress her in the spare collar and leash that I always carry (though I finally got the emergency muzzle and booties out of my pack after Dugan four-legs was sidelined), then hike out with her.
I would leave a note with thorough description, if there is a signboard at the trailhead to do so.
If the hours were such that I could notify the local authorities, I would do so. Otherwise, I would bring her home, keeping her isolated from my pets (better safe than sorry until a health screening occurs), then call the local police during their next business hours.
If she hadn't been reported, my next step would be my local shelter or vet, to scan for microchip. I would check the dog for a tattoo (lip, ear, or inside of rear leg are the most common places).
If still nothing, I would make a flier with a color picture and full description, then post them at the trailhead and closest towns where I found her. I would also notify all the local vets, shelters, and hiking organizations in the area.

I would do this even if the dog had a collar and tags. One piece of advice with tags - MAKE SURE they are ALWAYS up to date. Dugan doesn't hike without: rabies tag, town license, id tag with his name and my name/address/phone, microchip notice, tattoo notice. If you let your dog hike off leash, it isn't a bad idea to add a small cowbell. If you can find one of those little pouches that attaches to a collar, it could be useful to keep a small note with emergency contacts, health information, and such. And as always - carry a copy of the rabies certificate. A rabies tag or town license is NOT proof of rabies vaccination in all states.

If this sounds familiar, it should, considering the recent lost dog thread. This is looking for a lost dog... in reverse.

MadRiver said:

morality and a hiker’s code of honor

Click to expand...

Based on these few words I agree...........delete the thread.
Whose morality?............and what the dickens is a hikers code of honor?
And slighting the hapless Hiltons?

As a dog lover and regular rescuer of wayward pooches, I would secure "fluffy" with a makeshift leash if possible, or coax him/her to follow me to my vehicle. I would try to leave a note at the trail head describing the dog. I would then look at any nearby trail heads for possible owners and leave notes on any vehicles with contact information should the "fluffy's" owner be among them. If no owner is found at this point I would take "fluffy" home with me and find a safe spot indoors to secure the animal. Feed and water Fluffy then take a quick photo and make up some flyers. Notify all your local shelters and bring the flyers to any area veterinarian's offices and post them up around the area where Fluffy was found.

Post on any newsgroups and forums, especially VFTT which any hiker worth his/her salt reads regularly.

At this point you just have to wait. Take Fluffy to a vet to have him checked out and to be sure he has no fleas or other parasites. A vet may recommend vaccinations just to be on the safe side. Hopefully you'll hear something before this becomes necessary.

Now you have to decide if you want to adopt Fluffy if the owner is not found. If Fluffy is a 'good' dog this is what I would do. I am against euthanizing any animal unless they are in hopeless pain or are vicious, in which case you wouldn't have had much choice about sharing that sandwich on the summit!

I currently have 3 dogs (my 4th was lost to cancer 2 years ago), 2 Siberian Huskies and a Poodle/Terrier mix. One of the Huskies was adopted from a blind rescue orgainization (he'd lost one eye to glaucoma at 6 months and they thought he'd lose the other one within another 6 months, it's been over 6 years for him and he's doing great). The poodle/terrier was a street rescue. My wife was heading to work one morning and he was running around in traffic. No one was stopping and he was at risk of being struck by a car. My wife stopped in the middle of the road and no sooner had she opened her door to get out then he ran over and jumped into the back of her car! We did the whole notification/flyer/vet thing but never found an owner. He's one of the best dogs we've ever had.

Kevin

I can read all the replies, but the original post is deleted, by the author !?!?!?!? Oh man, what a tease!!! I haven't felt like this since my junior prom

The first thing I'd do would be to change the dog's name to Spike.

Next, I'd lead him back down to the trailhead. I'd find a piece of paper under the windshield wiper on my car with the dog owner's name, address and phone number. I'd find the nearest phone and leave a message, then drive to the home and reunite the dog with his owner.

jfb said:

Next, I'd lead him back down to the trailhead. I'd find a piece of paper under the windshield wiper on my car with the dog owner's name, address and phone number. I'd find the nearest phone and leave a message, then drive to the home and reunite the dog with his owner.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, this assumes that you will find the dog's owner immediately. In my experience in dealing with unidentified strays, this is typically not the case. The chances are further decreased in a situation like this, where the dog is likely not in its home town, where the animal control officer or other local folks might be familiar with it.

If the dog is an identifiable purebred, I would also notify the appropriate breed rescue group.

Thank you Dugan and Kmorgan for your thoughtful analysis of the lost dog scenario.

Are we not adults?

MadRiver, I encourage you to reinsert your piece. Edit if you must, but, as you can see from the thoughtful replies you received, the group is capable of adult interaction. I support your privilege to comment freely, paid for by your responsible good judgment. Let others worry about their own behavior!

Humbly,

--M.

Dugan said:

In my experience in dealing with unidentified strays, this is typically not the case.

Click to expand...

That may be true, but be realistic. It's not typical to find a dog with no apparent problems (other than hunger and thirst) at the top of a remote mountain. If I got separated from my dog while hiking (which I have done), I wouldn't go home until I found him/her. I'd drive to every trailhead and leave messages like the one I described on every car I could find.

jfb said:

It's not typical to find a dog with no apparent problems (other than hunger and thirst) at the top of a remote mountain. If I got separated from my dog while hiking (which I have done), I wouldn't go home until I found him/her. I'd drive to every trailhead and leave messages like the one I described on every car I could find.

Click to expand...

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Sparkdog’s dog go missing for over a day. And didn’t some one else find him/her? Finding a lost dog on a mountain top is not out of the realm of possibilities. I have seen a number of dogs on a summit without the owner being present. Fortunately for the dog, the owner wasn’t too far behind.

<mod hat on>
Guys, this thread is on a very short leash. (pardon the pun) Dog threads almost always degenerate, and this one started out in the wrong direction.

It is a reasonable scenerio to discuss what you'd do if you found a dog on the summit with no owner in sight. Stick to that and the thread will be fine.

If this thread turns into a discussion of should dogs be allowed on trails/leave your dog at home/dogs love to hike, or attacks on individual posters, it will be shut down. We've done that enough times, we don't need it again.

-dave-

<mod hat off>

I agree with you David. I simply want to know what, if anything, one should do if they find a lost dog. Jade might have been correct with her apprehension about this thread, but so far so good. I can recall at least five lost dog posts between VFTT and AMC in the past three years, so I believe it is a reasonable question.

I found a dog on Greylock a few years ago. It was following hikers around but obviously had no owner. We saw it at the summit and then a few hours later at another point on the trail following different hikers. We assumed responsibility of the dog at that point, brought it to the trailhead. Once at the trailhead we knocked on a few doors and asked if anyone recognized the dog. Nobody did so at this point we took the dog in our car to Adams. Somehow we either located a local animal shelter or hospital and left the dog there. It was a great dog, no tags or anything, so if it turned out to be abandoned we told the people we would be interested in adopting it. The owners claimed the dog the next day though.

Interesting enough, the dog vommited in my car and I never cleaned it up. If you sit in the back seat of my car (which is virtually impossible anyway) now you know what that stuff on the floor is.

Either way though, we did what we thought was right and I would apologize to nobody. Even if the owner was actively looking for the dog the bottom line is that the dog was safe and they got it back. We had to make a decision and we decided to take the dog with us instead of leaving it in the woods. I heard from the shelter that the owner was annoyed though and my reaction was "too bad."

-Dr. Wu

MadRiver said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Sparkdog’s dog go missing for over a day. And didn’t some one else find him/her? Finding a lost dog on a mountain top is not out of the realm of possibilities. I have seen a number of dogs on a summit without the owner being present. Fortunately for the dog, the owner wasn’t too far behind.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Finding a lost dog on a summit is possible, and the owner likely knows the dog is missing and is actively looking for him/her. Don't forget that your original post presumed that after attaching a lead to the dog, you'd be accused of dognapping by the owner.

If I found a stray dog while walking along the railroad tracks in downtown Poughkeepsie, I'd be more inclined to just leave it be.

jfb said:

Don't forget that your original post presumed that after attaching a lead to the dog, you'd be accused of dognapping by the owner.
.

Click to expand...

You are correct. The only reason why I added that little section to my original post was the incident last year or two years ago where someone lost a dog near Zealand and wrongly assumed the dog was dognapped. Everything turned out ok in the end, but I wouldn’t want to be walking with the dog on a lead and encounter the owner who wrongly believed I stole his dog.

Thanks for pointing out the dognapping thing. I would not have thought of that!

I probably would have tried to coax the dog to come with me and try to find the owner. Being a dog owner myself and not trusting my dog off leash at all...if he did get away, I doubt he would even have a clue he was lost or in danger. So, I would be happy if someone helped him down the mountain.

MadRiver said:

Rather than repost the original scenario which seemed to confuse a few people, let me rephrase. What would you do if you happen upon a lost dog on a summit (no owner present for over 45 minutes) and evening was approaching? Do you let the dog fend for him/herself as one person suggested, or do you intervene? And if so, how?

Click to expand...

For that long a period of time I'd intervene and try to find the owner. If I coulnd't find the owner in the immediate area, I'd take the dog with me and go through whatever legal procedures and proper authorities I had to in order to locate the owner. After exhausting all legal appoaches to locate the owner and if nobody ever claimed the dog, I'd make him my pet and name him after whatever summit I found him on. The guy in my avatar wouldn't like any of this but he'd get over it.

As the original post has been deleted, my response may appear to be out of bounds. I have conveyed my feelings/opinions to Mr. Mad River and that will be all for now.....thank you very much.........

...Jade