Last night about 10pm we went to bed. Almost asleep when I hear winning, howling and scratching. Scared to death something was seriously wrong with one of my dogs- flying down down the stairs to main level where galine likes to sleep, we find to our shock a poor little dog outside- TOTALLY convinced he lived here, and pawing and howling at the. He is a collie coat with shepherd color. About 8-10 months old..) Having a pregnant dog in the house due in less than 21 days, and a strange dog here- we called the police. The dispatcher said nothing could be done as the dog warden had 9-5pm hours and no way could the police department pick him. Debating well lets put him in the yard, but with 21 days left on our pregnant girl, we could not take the change of bringing in any diseases to be exposed to our girl. Finally at 1am- still howling- I called the dispatcher again. What I got from the officer was " all we could do is 'shoo the dog off', to get the dog to leave and go home.. " We were still trying to figure out what to do- teether the dog outside- no- then a sitting duck not able to defend themselves if attacked by a bear or bobcat etc.Garage- no- our girl could pick up something and too close to having puppies..
Anyway- horrified by this- they came up and literally put the dog on a leash- said they cant put the dog in their car ( 4 officers and two cars, and we will have the dog " follow us down the road- jumped into their cars ( two of them- 4 officers..) ( no kidding!!) as the poor puppy followed them back down the road as " they have no key or no way to put the dog into the shelter to secure for the night...
After alllllllllll night neither of us able to sleep out of concern- ...FURIOUS the county didnt have rules or a Standand operation procedure ( SOP) on how to handle strays- feeling guilty as heck that we had to make decissions based on the welfare especially of our girl- not able to sleep- we get a phone call by the dog warden at 7am. . IT TURNED OUT NOTHING WE WERE TOLD BY TWO DISPATCHERS- ONE OFFICER THEN THE 4 MORE OFFICERS THAT SHOWED UP WAS TRUE AT ALL!!!!!!! The police has a code to take the dog into the shelter, securing in a kennel. Second- alllllllllllllll cop cars have a cage - keeping arrested people and even securing a dog etc in their car- both for the safety of the dog and people that might be driving a road from swerving to hit a dog- and making a wreck, that the warden is on call 24/7. If a dog is aggressive to handle then the warden is called to handle the dog- but a well tempered dog ( this one) , the police could come get the dog- and IF WELL MANNERED- THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO PUT THE DOG IN THE CAR!!!- All they said was a wrong.Including that the warden was out on calls til 1am and could have come to get him at 10pm!!! .
My husband drove over 45 minutes on our road to find the dog this morning. - If nothing else than to secure the dog- even if in his truck- at least it was better than running and getting by a car. He FOUND THE DOG!
THE top officer of our county is FURIOUS it was handled this way- .. either the death of the dog from a car to someone getting injured either hitting the dog- or driving off the road to not hit the dog.. ALL THE DISPATCH PEOPLE LAST NIGHT- ALL THE OFFIERS ( THE FIRST ONE- AND THE 4 THAT SHOWED UP HERE LAST NIGHT) are under serious disciplary actions as alllllll know the protocal what to do- including dispatch offers do NOT MAKE decissions what to do- just to dispatch officers and inform officers of the situation- and alllllll cars have a cage - to haul a vomiting drunk or dog hair ... lol.. ( given the choice i would rather have some dog hair than vomit from a drunk...)
Needless to say the officers, the dispatchers are under discipliary action for NOT following the rules of protocal in the county. And the little boy ( be prepared for future updates) is safe and sound...
I guess my point is- find out ahead of time with the SOP if a stray dog shows up at your house what they are supposed to DO!

Wow.

That story just blows me away. I can't believe those officers were so ill informed and not versed on the procedures of their department. Not to mention the downright cruelty of running the dog after a car.

*shakes head*

I'm glad to hear their is diciplinary action being taken against these officers and dispatchers.

You're lucky the police responded at all. They have a lot more important things to do than to pick up stray dogs in the middle of the night. In my area with a population of over 4 million the police dispatcher would have laughed and hung up. Well not really. They wouldn't have laughed so the caller could hear, but they'd let it be know that dog catching isn't in their jurisdiction.

Our animal control will only pick up strays that are confined unless they're dangerous, injured or interfering with traffic. And that's only if it's between the hours of 9 to 5.

It's a little better with the Arizona Humane societies Emergency Animal Technicians but they don't pick up strays unless they're sick, injured or in immediate danger.

Thank you for responding applesmom..
We live in a small area, but due to are of coverage have alot of cops and uh well uh hang out at the local all but dunkin donuts all night as we are a quiet area.. lol.
I am so glad this little guy is okay.. HE IS SOOO CUTE.. UH HUH..
I didnt sleep at all last night- after a busy day in yard work etc. What upset me the most is that they have a SOP to take the dog here..

It takes something like this to knock a little sence back into them sometimes and get them back into reviewing what is actually thier responcibility and duty... What amazes me is that out of the 4 officers is that none of them even realized the SOP or had the gumption to do anything even civil or humane.
At least it did show up on your doorstep and not someone who would have ignored the dog or worse...
Hats off to you borzoimom, again.

screw SOP... I'm not totally following what is going on in this description.. but I would have put the dog in my car to take care of it.. not this "we can't put a dog in the car" bs... and 4 officers for ONE dog?? wtf??

quote:

Originally posted by corgieguy:
It takes something like this to knock a little sence back into them sometimes and get them back into reviewing what is actually thier responcibility and duty... What amazes me is that out of the 4 officers is that none of them even realized the SOP or had the gumption to do anything even civil or humane.
At least it did show up on your doorstep and not someone who would have ignored the dog or worse...
Hats off to you borzoimom, again.

That was one our points too! The captian interviewed two of the officers- although there are 4 listed on the call. Soo all 4 "didnt know the protocal for this"??? One good thing will be fixed- the story ( shorter version for length of letter restrictions) is being printed by the local paper in letter to the editor.
This is the first time in my life I have ever been placed in such a rediculous situation.
The foster I contacted when she picked him up from the shelter and took him to the vets, my general impression of not being well turned out to be true. He has a severe case of " Hookworms" ( very hard to treat as easily infected again during the entire time of treatment etc). He also has on those spots I saw on his head mites and mange. He has been moved into a foster that doesnt have other dogs, and takes special cases. I do hope he hasnt had those hooks for too long, as they are the hardest worms to treat.
The letter to the editor is going to put all the pet owners, as well as people without pets that ever hit a stray dog in the dog- in a uproar.. Good!! I hope it starts WW3!

quote:

Originally posted by angeeleeta:
Wow.

That story just blows me away. I can't believe those officers were so ill informed and not versed on the procedures of their department. Not to mention the downright cruelty of running the dog after a car.

*shakes head*

I'm glad to hear their is diciplinary action being taken against these officers and dispatchers.

I totally agree!!! I can't say anything now it just, it just, ARRRGGG!!!!

[I totally agree!!! I can't say anything now it just, it just, ARRRGGG!!!![/QUOTE]
Then ask yourself some hard core questions- if you had a puppy in the house, and a dog showed up with signs of parvo and your dog was not fully vaccinated- would you keep it your house- more than likely making your own sick??? If you had a young child- would you bring in a strange large dog into the house??? If you had a pregnant female- would you bring a unknown large puppy with God knows what in care- would you bring it in the house- possibly making your female dog ill that could kill the pups- or stressing her out causing and late stage aborted litter- possibly killing her in the process????
I hear posts alot- " oh I rescue.." bringing dogs into their home killing or making seriously ill their own dog. If you have kids- do you take care of a child that another situation is possible- that had the flu- making your child sick, you sick etc.. These are adult decissions, and care should not be entered into lightly.. My priority is my family- and that includes my dogs FIRST... There was a time I had the ability to seperate more- or even at another time now it would be a different story what you can and can not do. COULD YOU live with yourself if your female lost her puppies or had a bad delivery when you had thought with your HEART and NOT your head...

i am appaled

I agree! He is doing well at the fosters house. He needs to get well before he can be adopted out.