Unnecessary dog adoption heartache

Today's newspaper told a sad story - and it's a story that was entirely preventable.

It seems a little dog wandered out of his yard and got lost. His humans looked high and low, posted signs with his picture everywhere, contacted all the surrounding animal shelters, and even posted his picture on all the websites that list lost dogs and ran ads in the local newspapers - with his photo.

One of those shelters and websites they contacted was the one where he was brought when he was "found" nearly 2 weeks later.

The day after he was found, a gentleman came to the shelter and asked to adopt him. So when the requisite 72 hours had elapsed, he went to his new home. A month later, by chance, his original family learned where he was and tried to get him back. No dice. The man said he adopted him fair and square and that was that.

This case has already been to court once and is going back again. The question seems to be where the dog was found - in the city or the county. The answer to that will determine whether the shelter had authority to take him in and adopt him out.

This is sad for the dog's original owners - and for the new person.

What should have happened when that dog came in was a cross-check with the lost dog reports - and the shelter's own website. Had they looked, they'd have seen his photo, made a call, and helped him get back home.

It's also sad for animal shelters. Many depend upon public support for funding, so a mistake like this could cost dearly. Who wants to support a rescue group that won't even check the lost dog reports before sending a dog off to a new home? Sounds like a pretty sloppy and uncaring organization.

And, people being human, they're apt to paint all shelters with the same brush.

All rescue workers have too much to do - so often volunteers are not trained well. I don't know if that's what happened in this case, but it is a shame that so many people are hurting - and spending big $$ on attorneys - when the whole situation should never have happened.

My heart goes out to these humans - and to the poor little dog who now has two homes and can only live in one.

Maybe, before you adopt a dog, you should ask:

• Has this dog been checked for a microchip?
  
• Have you checked your lost dog reports to make sure no one is searching for this dog?

That way you could possibly avoid the heartache that these folks are facing.