Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

To not know what to do with this dog

119 replies

Unexpecteddogmum · 11/11/2020 16:31

So in the past i had seen a small dog roaming around my street on his own but it never came near anyone, and people said it lived nearby. One of my neighbours said she saw it walking itself every day pretty much.

On Monday I came home to find it in my garden with my two dogs, so I posted on FB and asked all my neighbours, eventually someone walking past said they knew the owner and would send him up.

2 hours later a man knocked (the dog had been at my house all day at this point) and the little dog went straight with him and he took him home. Said he was 15yrs old and a Houdini, who escapes out of the fence all the time.

Cue me coming back from the school run yesterday morning and I find the dog in my kitchen, turns out he can fit through my cat flap! He’s a lovely little dog and absolutely no bother to us so I just left him there while I tried to find out where the owner lives.

I finally got the mans house number and knocked, I told him his dog was at my house and he said “he’s alright kick him out he’ll come home when he’s hungry, he’s done this for years sorry”. He said the dog got out in the morning but he had to go to work so he just left it and “knew he would come home eventually, he always does”.

The thing is no matter how much I put the dog out, it always comes back to my house. I dont think it went home at any point in the past couple of days. The man hasn’t come to collect his dog but I’m confused because he seemed to love and care for it, and has clearly had it a long time.

The dogs still at mine, I’ve tried walking it back to it’s house and it just comes back minutes later. I’m not putting big planks across my fence to stop it fitting through the gaps (it’s a small terrier) and if it wasn’t at mine it would be out wandering the streets anyway. Several people had seen it streets away over the main roads. However it doesn’t seem interested in wandering anymore, just loves my dogs.

It’s a lovely dog and if the man didn’t want him anymore he would be welcome here, but also I’m not feeding it or anything currently and I put him back out regularly. He never gets in my house further than the kitchen which he sneaks in and I don’t fuss him. I’m not trying to take him in any way and have always been available to the owner.

We would take him if it came to that, but on the other hand I don’t want to end up being this man’s free doggy day care

I’m not sure what on earth to do?

OP posts:

SpookyNoise · 11/11/2020 16:32

If it’s a bother, call the local dog warden. Actually, I think you should anyway, because it’s in danger loose on the roads.

Original poster

Unexpecteddogmum · 11/11/2020 16:41

I thought about it but honestly he’s not a bother in the slightest, he’s fell in love with my dog and just chills with her. It hasn’t wandered at all since it discovered my house so at least it’s safer, and with me knowing where the owner lives i can’t imagine the warden could help. They’d just take it back home and then it would just walk back up to my house

OP posts:

Fluffybutter · 11/11/2020 16:41

If you call the dog warden and no one collects him he’ll be put down .
If anything try speaking to the man again or call the useless Rspca who may have more of an affect on the owner than a friendly neighbour .

GarlicSoup · 11/11/2020 16:46

@Unexpecteddogmum

Check with the owner that the dog isn’t on a special diet and feed him, he obviously prefers it at yours. If the owner was that concerned he’d come looking. Looks like you’ve been adopted OP

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 11/11/2020 16:48

He's yours now. You have to keep him :)

Northofsomewhere · 11/11/2020 16:50

My old dog used to let himself out the garden by using his massive head (German shepherd cross) as a battering ram and going through the thick hedge (several feet thick) and through my neighbours open gate however as soon as we were aware he'd taken himself off we'd go looking. He might do this 2 or 3 times a month l, certainly not every day. I'd be mortified if he was regularly turning up at a neighbour's and would expect them to turn him away every time.

Can you lock the cat flap or make it one way when you aren't in? That ways at least he's not in the kitchen. I think you also need to make your garden totally secure for your own dogs (I know they can still get out, see above), an unfriendly dog could get in one day or there could be agro through these spaces with other dogs walking by.

If/when he does turn up keep taking him home and putting him in his garden, maybe get a cheap lead, write your surname/house address on it and use it to secure him in his own garden. At least then he'd be safe and his owner can find him. I'd also consider the dog warden, they might be able to stress to the owner what the consequences might be of allowing his dog to regularly roam.

Henio · 11/11/2020 16:51

@WhatATimeToBeAlive

He's yours now. You have to keep him :)

This!

pilates · 11/11/2020 16:52

This is so sad.

I would ask if you could keep him. He obviously doesn’t give a shit about him, poor thing.

gingerbreadfox · 11/11/2020 16:52

Aw bless he sounds such a cutie! If that was me I think I would just treat him as my own (without stealing him).

It does really really REALLY worry me the thought of a little doggy wandering the streets in case he falls into the wrong hands

Is the owner elderly? I think dogs roaming is quite an old fashioned thing?

islockdownoveryet · 11/11/2020 16:53

Aww it's like a little doggy love story , the dog is in love with your dog . I know I'm soppy
If it was me I'd tell the owner that you can't keep bringing him back but you will text to tell him the dog is at yours .
Let him come and get the dog , it's his responsibility to make sure the dog is not wondering the streets .

ladybee28 · 11/11/2020 16:54

Sorry, but a dog doesn't 'just get out of the fence', especially if the owner knows he's an escape artist.

If he's in the house with the door shut it shouldn't matter how much of Houdini he is – this man may love his dog but he's not being a responsible dog owner.

I'd have a firm word with the owner and tell him to keep his dog in the house.

VinylDetective · 11/11/2020 16:56

Think you’ve just acquired a new dog!

nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut · 11/11/2020 16:56

There's a couple Rottweilers like that round our way. They seem to wander the parks and cycle tracks all day. No idea where they live but everyone knows them. They often come over to play with my dogs when we're on the fields. Not sure what I'd do if they kept turning up at my house though.

Original poster

Unexpecteddogmum · 11/11/2020 16:58

I think you also need to make your garden totally secure for your own dogs (I know they can still get out, see above), an unfriendly dog could get in one day or there could be agro through these spaces with other dogs walking by.

Thank you for your advice the garden is secure I promise the gaps arent from broken posts or anything it’s just the ordinary spaces inbetween fencing, he’s just a little dog haha

If my own dog was missing every day or overnight I’d be out looking, But this guy knows he’s here and just said the dog would come home on it’s own... which it isn’t doing anymore 😂

OP posts:

MellowMelly · 11/11/2020 16:58

Ah it sounds like a lovely little dog. I don’t know what I’d do either. The thing is that dog is always going to find its way to you now. If he is regularly escaping (and has done for years) and the owner has not remedied that situation properly then you will always have a little visitor!
As @GarlicSoup said, you’ve been adopted

nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut · 11/11/2020 16:59

If he's in the house with the door shut it shouldn't matter how much of Houdini he is – this man may love his dog but he's not being a responsible dog owner. 🤣🤣🤣 This cracked me up. You should meet one of mine, she can open yale locks. Luckily she doesn't do it much in her old age but the lengths we had to go to keep her in when she was younger!

Original poster

Unexpecteddogmum · 11/11/2020 17:01

I also think it’s a bit of a love story, I wonder if the dogs been lonely while the mans at work

I’d say the bloke is about 55-60, he seems like a really nice guy and was just used to the dog escaping.

I also wondered why he doesn’t just keep him in the house!

OP posts:

yvanka · 11/11/2020 17:01

Sounds like a cat stuck in a dog's body.

mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 11/11/2020 17:04

If the man goes to work and the dog gets out through the fence, he must be leaving it in the garden all day. I like the idea upthread that you ask the man what it eats and just feed it. He might be happy to let you keep it eventually and how nice for the dog. I don't expect he'd pay the (expensive) dog warden fees to get it back if the dog warden took it, so, as someone else said, it would be pts after 7 days. The dog wardens do often go and tell owners to keep their dogs in if they are persistent wanderers but if the owner took heed of this the poor little dog would be very lonely all day.

Bluntness100 · 11/11/2020 17:05

I’d get the guys number, pop round, say look he’s at mine, can I have your number, I’ll let you know when he’s with me, and I might feed him when I’m feeding mine, has he any dietary requirements, I suspect he’s yours now.

A not very close neighbour of mine has a dog like this. I was absolutely astounded when I moved in, this dog roams for about a mile in a circle, at all hours, but always goes home. He just has a wander and appears, has a bit of a look round then buggers off again at a leisurely stroll. He’s tiny too.

The first time I met him I was painting my gate and he wandered up and sat down and patiently watched me. There were some guests at a neighbours and I shouted over, I need to go in, your dogs here, snd they said oh no he belongs to x property, he will just wander off when he’s bored. He lives nearly half a mile away.

He’s really old too, and has done it since he was a puppy. He literally appears, wanders round, then trots off.

pigsDOfly · 11/11/2020 17:05

I've never understood how dogs like this survive.

If my dog got out near a road on her own I'm pretty certain that it would be a matter of minutes before she got hit by a car. Despite 9 years of being made to stop at the edge of the road and being told when it's okay to cross she still she still seems to have absolutely no road sense and I'd be worried sick if she were out wandering around like that.

Clearly this dog is a great deal more intelligent than my dog if he's been doing it for years.

Is the owner not aware that if his dog caused an accident he, the owner, would be liable?

Original poster

Unexpecteddogmum · 11/11/2020 17:05

The thing is that dog is always going to find its way to you now. That’s exactly what I was thinking, I’m not sure he’ll ever stop coming

Sounds like a cat stuck in a dog's body.
It really does!

The funniest part it it’s a tiny terrier and it’s fallen in love with my dog... and she’s a Rottweiler

OP posts:

MellowMelly · 11/11/2020 17:09

@Unexpecteddogmum It’s strange isn’t it. In one of your posts you mentioned that he said that the dog got out in the morning and he had to go to work so he just left it. Do you think he keeps it outside?

nancybotwinbloom · 11/11/2020 17:09

CN we have a pic of them chilling together please

Original poster

Unexpecteddogmum · 11/11/2020 17:09

The man said he’s done it for years just wanders round and brings himself back, but now he’s decided he likes it here and he’s stopped wandering so I’m wondering what the fella would like to do in this instance

Surely he wants to keep his lovely dog, but at the same time he hasn’t bothered to come and get it and we’re only about 20 houses up the street (the same street)

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3 4 5