Animal Control - Page 1

I was reading another post and many people commented that the AC in their area are jokes. I wanted to share this experience I had in the past.

While traveling on a major highway, I noticed two dogs running frantically in and out of traffic.  I had seen them from a distance
and had decided that I was going to try to catch them and bring them to the shelter.  I just knew they were going to end up being road kill.   
We did manage to catch both of them, a large and a medium size mutts.  Both were in pitiful condition.  When I walked into the shelter I was asked in a rude manner, what was my reason for surrendering the dogs.   Well of course I explained how I came upon the dogs, but the Shelter worker would have no part of that.  I was accused of trying to "DUMP" off my own neglected dogs and I had to pay $55.00 per dog and they would take them. By this time they had taken possession of both dogs.  Sorry but I was not paying $110 for them to keep these two dogs.  After arguing and them giving me the option to pay or take the dogs back, I threatened to take the dogs back and go release them where I found them and call them to come get the dogs. Of course I never would have done that, but it sounded like a good threat. LOL.   That shelter worker still insisted they were our dogs.  I pulled pictures from my wallet to show her our dogs and asked her if these two mutts looked like they could possibly belong in our kennel.  I ended up walking out on the argument, and I as I walked out the door, the worker said I was going to be arrested. I just shouted back, " OK, I be waiting at my house!"  

Two days later the Sheriff's Dept with AC comes to our house.  After a 30 minute outdoor kennel inspection, and an inspection to make sure I had all documentation for each of our four dogs, I got an apology from AC and said the next time, I see dogs running in the roads, or running loose, to call them, they would come get the dogs.  All I needed to was sit there keeping an eye on them until they could get there.  But it was very important that I do not catch them myself.  Seems the minute I put the leash on them, they became MY dogs.  

Oh yeah,  I had called them on another incident concerning stray dogs about 5 months prior to the incident with the dogs on the highway.  I AM STILL WAITING for them to come.  Since the highway dogs happened about 3wks ago, I wonder if I would still be waiting on the side the road watching these two stray dogs, waiting on AC to come pick them up.  

How's AC in your area and what is the policy on taking strays in to them yourself. Is it only our AC that demands a fee like that or is it 
common practice?

wow...amaizing....i know our AC in SC is USELESS!!!! as many times as you call, they never show...and the advice i got after neighbors dog kept comming onto my property and attackign my dogs "shoot them, call police, file report." .....can u believe that???? I asked if I can shoot the neighbor in order to eliminate the dog problem...lets just say that didnt go very well....

Well, even though you have the best intentions, it might help to realize they probably deal with many not so honorable types who DO try to dump unwanted pets on them.

Animal control knocked on my door just yesterday! Seems there was a coyote not far from where I live that attacked and seriously injured a small (11 lb) dog. He wanted to warn us and get information on any sightings to determine if there was a den nearby. (He and I both agreed it was good I have my GSD!)  Seems the coyotes are learning to hide in the shrubbery or under decks, waiting for their victims.

He was a nice chatty guy, actually. Seemed to want to do his job, well.


LOL@LadyFrost, yeah some comments do better left in the head! 

beetree....LOOOL...even though you are absolutley right.....you and I are both not the type...

I fight with passion and I make up with passion...I either want everything or nothing......man, it's exhausting! LOL.

In Texas, a stray isn't "yours" until after you've had the dog for 10 days. Or at least it used to be, this gives the owner a chance to find and claim his dog if it wandered away.

Animal Control, Health Department and Police Departments don't know the letter of the law, so getting anything done requires getting physical copies and insisting that they read it or hear it when you read it to them.





 

AC came to my house and said they had a report of Animal Cruelty...I led them to my kennel (barn) and they said all the dogs were in good shape...but said it smelled a bit like urine....Dah....Dogs... ... ...And I just got done cleaning it with Pine Sol...So the officer told me that maybe I should be using Chlorine Bleach...Are you kidding me...
Then said he could smell the Pine Sol...I told him that I use Pine Sol and Odorban...Not $00.59 Bleach that the Humane Society uses...
Then...since he couldn't find anything else wrong with anything...He then told me that there wasn't enough "air circulation"...and told me to put in a Fan (Air Vent)...So when I asked what size fan was I supposed to have and I'd like to see the law so I knew what I was supposed to do and I could follow it...So after 8 months now...I'm still waiting for an answer...but he has called and asked if I'd gotten everything done...I told him I was still waiting for him to let me know what it was that I was supposed to do...so I can get it right and they won't bother me anymore...
Got tired of the little town BS and had my lawyer contact them...Haven't heard back from AC since...
Also since we live on 18 acres and have a 1/4 mile long drive-way...our lawyer asked if we had a gate at the end of the drive...We didn't...But we do now...
I don't mind complying and want to be correct in what I do...But it seems as though they can't tell me what the law is...They also told me to contact the Dept of Ag...so I did and they said the law states that you have to Feed...Water...and Shelter your dog/s...period...!

Wow, I guess I can be glad it is SO different here in Ontario!

My second GSD was a stray, rescued from the streets of Scarborough (suburb of Toronto) by my landlady and good friend. I asked the vet if he could tell if she'd been spayed. He said I'd just have to wait and see if she came into season.

A couple of weeks later, she did exactly that (surprise, surprise...NOT!)

A local un-neutered male mutt soon began hanging around my property, hoping he could get to her. I called AC and they came and picked him up. I don't recall if I caught him for them.

A few days later, he was back. He now sported rabies and license tags on his collar.   Tasha was in peak season by now, so it was easy to actually lure him into the house, and snap a leash on him. AC was there within the hour to haul him off to the pound again.

A few more days went past..and he was baaaack! By now, Tasha was on her way out, so he was much less interested, and he'd become wary of me, so I wasn't able to catch him. I did report him, though.

A few years later, I was living in Richmond Hill. We found a stray cat on our property that was badly injured. AC was there within a couple of hours to take it away.

A neighbour's dog was constantly getting loose, and the AC officers were on a first-name basis with the family. When their licensing officer, a very pleasant retired Scotsman came to the door to collect Tasha's annual license fee, my husband showed off to him how well trained she was. He asked us if he could help out our neighbours with their lab! Since we were on good terms with the lab's family, we did. Unfortunately, the wife never was able to get control of him, and he continued to get loose, eventually knocking down and slightly injuring an elderly neighbour. The poor woman wasn't able to get back onto her feet, and was lying on the ground for several hours before someone heard her cries and came to help. The lab's family wound up in court. They were fined, and told they had to keep better control of their dog. He wasn't vicious, just very big, very strong and undisciplined. He'd been kicked out of TWO different obedience classes! Eventually, they moved away, and we lost track of them and the dog.

When I was living in Aurora, my dog got reported for barking. It was a nice day, and I'd left him outside, not realizing that the neighbours were having work done on their house. Of course, he got upset at the workmen coming and going. I reported to the AC office, as requested, and aplogized for causing a problem. They were EXTREMELY nice about it. They wanted to know if his rabies shots were up to date, and if he was licensed. Since I'd just moved there a short time before, I didn't have a license for him yet. I filled out the paperwork, and when they found out he was my hearing ear service dog, they didn't charge me for the license!

Fast forward to last year. A colleague of my business partner was trying to sell his house. He asked if he could board his two cats at the kennel, and we agreed. Three months later, the cats were STLL here, and he was saying he no longer wanted them. He asked us to try to find new homes for them, and, failing that, if we could take them to the Humane Society.

It took me quite a few phone calls to find out which Humane Society covered our area, but eventually, I hooked up with the right organization. When I explained the situation to the officer, he became quite upset, and told me I'd be within my rights to take this slimebag to court for animal abandonment. Since my partner wanted to stay on good working terms with him, I was reluctant to do that. We eventually persuaded him to show up at the Humane Society, and do the paperwork and pay the surrender fee so we could drop the cats off there.

I finally got him to pay me some money for their board, but it was less than half of what he owed me!

Last week, I had a couple come to look at the kennel, and after getting the grand tour, the wife decided she wanted to board her dog here when they went on vacation in May. As I was taking her information, I found out she was an AC officer, who worked for Scarborough Animal Control!    I was quite pleased that she liked my kennel enough to want to board here!