What happens if you're taken ill while out with a dog?

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

Following on from the thread about what happens if you're out with a child - as somehow I doubt they would allow the dog in the ambulance...

What happens if you are taken ill or injured when out alone with a dog? It happened to me recently when I was hiking in a remote area with DDog, 2-3 hours drive away from the nearest person who could take him. I managed to get myself home by car, but wound up being admitted to hospital for surgery. If it had been a broken leg I wouldn't have been able to get back to the car, let alone home, and frankly I only drove because with the dog there was no other way to get home.

What happens in these circumstances? Behaviourally, he's not an easy dog, so I couldn't in good conscience ask a stranger to keep him safe for me in case something went wrong.

Well presumably, if you were incapacitated to such a degree that you needed urgent medical attention, then either you or someone else would call the emergency services.

Apart from Ambulance/paramedic assistance, the police would also usually be dispatched.

All police forces in the UK have approved kennes. These are usually private and and fees are charged. But the police would take your dog to their approved boarding kennels and let you know where that was and what the fees would be. If you refused, and no other suitable arrangement could be made by yourself, then your dog would be taken there regardless, unless a council dog warden was available. In which case it would be taken to council kennels.

You would have to pay the fees before your dog was released back to you. If you still refused to pay, your dog would be put down and the kennel business would persue you for costs through the courts.

Presumably the ambulance would call the police who would take your dog to the dog warden if your dog was willing and friendly.

If the dog was showing signs of aggression I’m guessing they would wait for the dog warden to come.

Unlikely dog warden would take the dog, as they are only obliged to deal with stray dogs. In this case, it is really a matter for the police (as out said, or if the person has to stay in hospital, Social services from the County Council would have to step in (Care Act 2014)

Statutory duty of the local authority
Section 47 of the Care Act 2014 places a duty on the Local Authority to protect a person’s movable property when:

•A person with care and support needs being met under section 18 or 19 is provided with accommodation, or is admitted to hospital

Movable property includes Domestic and any other animals owned by the person

Sadly I can answer this from experience.

My lovely Mum died whilst walking her dog. She had a massive heart attack.
She was in our local park and was vaguely known by the walkers in there. Ambulance and police arrived and one of the walkers took her dog home with her, giving the address to the police. She looked after him until I arrived to collect him later that afternoon. Fortunately he was a reasonably happy little dog and caused no issues.

@MadSweeney

1 of my twins had a febrile convulsion whilst I was out walking the dog with them (under 2 in pushchair).
I can confirm the ambulance took the very smelly wet muddy dog with us to my mums to drop off the other twin as the poorly twin had regained consciousness, cried and then fallen asleep.
It was a very stressful day...

Police are highly unlikely to take the dog in and will do all they can to find a friend/neighbour to put it with. If they can’t then it’ll go into kennels, usually, at your own cost.

If you carry your phone with you all the time, have ICE numbers set. On the iPhone they're accessible from the lockscreen. Make sure your emergency contact knows who's close and could take dogs.

I have seen an occasion where the police stopped a driver (with a dog in the car) for no insurance so they impounded their car and had to arrest the driver for other offences. They called for a dog car to come out, without the police dog in, and took the dog to the station and housed it like they would a police dog, after all a lot of stations have police dogs and are equipped with cars specially equipped to transport their own dogs, have kennels, food etc. to look after them.

I would imagine if a dog owner had to go to hospital in the circumstances you mention most areas would have a police station that could at least look after the dog until someone could be found to care for it longer term. Also, similar for people living alone with a pet, someone would try to make arrangements for pets to be looked after by someone, after all things in cages/tanks etc also need fed if you end up in hospital for more than overnight. Sometimes organisations like the RSPCA can be called in to help, even if they just check on and feed the pet in the home rather than taking it away for a few days.

If you have a pet it might be worthwhile having a plan in place for emergency care, e.g. ask a friend, neighbour or relative to help if you need to go to hospital unexpectedly. This way, unless you are unconscious, you can tell a paramedic/police officer etc who can help out with your pet.

@DeathyMcDeathStarFace that would've been years ago as that's not the case now

We used to foster dogs. We once picked one up from A&E where he was happily drinking from a sick bowl in the security office!! The dog had been brought in by ambulance after his owner became very ill whilst walking him.

When my mum had seizures in town , when we had a dog, the police took her . She was just a tiny jack Russell cross though ... if mum hadn’t picked her up that night she’d have gone to kennels apparently . Last year . Very small town and police knew my mum well though !

The police are still responsible for dogs belonging to people they have arrested. All constabulary areas will have a designate kennels where the dog will go until alternate arrangements can be made, at the cost of the owner.

Last time I was in the vets, the police brought a dog in for boarding because the owner had been taken ill. Small town though and the dog had medical needs.

DS had an awful accident and had to be rushed to hospital while we were out with our two dogs. The police arrived, took them home to our neighbour who'd agreed to look after them and the dogs looked suitably thrilled to bits with their adventure.

However, we live in a little area where pretty much everyone knows everyone, to the point that one of the officers came to visit DS in hospital a day or two later and announced he'd decided he was going to keep the dogs as they'd liked him better than most of the people he'd had in the back of his car.

We have my number and my husband’s number on our dog tags, so hopefully the other one would get a call if one was injured while our with the dogs.

Personally I’d look after someone’s dog and leave a note in their pocket with my phone no if I ever came across someone in that situation. Hopefully others would too.

Police usually come with the ambulance or get called by paramedics. In many cases if you are unconscious and the police may take children / animals / vulnerable passengers.

The police will help (ex-copper). Ideally they put the dog in the hands of a friend or family member if they can reach them. The kennels are not as straightforward as being made out here - not once in my career did I see or hear of them being used and they were hard to get authorisation to use because of the risk of unpaid bills being handed back to the Force.

We occasionally called the local warden, but generally made the efforts to put them somewhere more permanent and reliable. I'm aware of one case where the dogs were signed over to the RSPCA by one chap in exceptional circumstances.

DH and I ride motorbikes and got cards and keyfobs yesterday for our dog who would not be with us if we were in an RTC. We often go out riding together, so there's alway a risk of us both being caught up in the same incident.

Maybe something like this is a good idea anyway? I always used to carry a similar ICE card for myself when I went running and lived alone.

My vet gives little collar tabs out for people to put on their key ring that says my pet is alone, please contact X vets.

The police here use the designated boarding kennels quite a bit, they are different to the holding kennels that seized dogs are taken to.