Stray bird dog-What would you do?

[Finns]

Saturday my brother and others were pheasent hunting around Lenox Ia. His bird dog (with no collar) took off. After looking for it he put his hunting coat at the road side ditch where the vehicles were parked. Next morning went back and searched again to no avail.

Sunday night he called the local sheriff. Sheriff said yes a man had found the dog and left a phone number where he could be reached, in St. Paul Mn!

My brother made a big mistake by not having a collar on the dog but why would a person take a dog such a distance instead of leaving it with the cop.

I have been taught not to take anything that doesn't belong to me. Finns

[Lunker]

Is it possible that the cop wouldnt have taken the dog? If the man left his number then it would seem that he wants the dog to get back to its owner. Just be glad you found it, out in the wild its hard to find alost animal.

[BLACKJACK]

What if its in the evening, you find a lost dog, no pounds open, nobody to take the dog and you're heading home? I agree with Lunker, better to have your buddy/best hunting dog safe in Minneapolis (or Missoula, Montanta) than still running around in Iowa.

[Benny]

One point might be that a lot of police stations just turn strays over to the humanesociety, where they may be sold after just a few days or worst yet to be put down.

I have seen a few people loose their buddy to find out later that the dog was sold to another person with in just two days.
You have very little recoarce if the new owner refuses to give back the dog.
Even then the place that sold the dog on them may not refund any money so your paying the new owner his fee as well.

I know it sounds harsh and is hard to believe the "HS" would do this ,but it all boils down to money and lack of it to board the animal.

So my best guess would be the cops told the person this and they were nice enough to take care of the dog and left a number.
Tell your friend he should be thankful it was a nice person and not a ruthless one that would have just took the dog and left.

Benny

[fivebucks]

The Humane Society isn't that good of friend. I believe the people running the individual branches truely want to help the animals but it does boil down to money. The more they spend on caring for lost dogs etc. takes away from their main objective of lobbying against hunting and supporting groups like PETA. I know this is off the subject but I just have to bash the H.S. at any chance I can.

[Finns]

Maybe I should have been a little more clear. Have you ever been raccoon hunting (at night) and lost a dog? You leave your coat or othe piece of clothing with your scent on it by the road where the vehicle was parked so the dog will have a sense of where to stay. Same goes with bird dogs or any scent hunting dogs.

I just thought that the gentleman should have left the dog so it could have smelled it's way to the clothing.
I'm sure he did what he thought was best.

Finns.

[huskminn]

After having seen the result of two great hunting dogs being hit by cars and knowing what happens to loose dogs running in agricultural areas (they are shot!), if I ran across an obviously lost bird dog, I would never leave it to its own devices. I would keep the dog with me for the remainder of the hunting day, hoping to run into the ownder or at least spread the word to others that I had a lost dog. Upon quitting time, I would probably do exactly what this individual did--notify the sheriff or CO and take the dog home.

[setterguy]

I think that I would have to agree, knowing what could happen if you take a dog to the pound, I would probably spread the word about the dog and if no-one claims him I would take him/her home. Now I am assuming that the dog was a pointing dog, becuase if it was a lab my treatment of the situation may be totally different. Obviously I am just kidding. I have been on the other end of this one. We found a dog in Canada that had obviously been out in the woods a while. We called around to the other lodges and found out a guy from Ohio had lost his dog the week before. We called him and he met us in Minneapolis to pick up his pooch. It is a scary thing to lose your dog and I would rather a person pick them up opposed to them having to spend the a few nights in the pound.

[ATM]

Finns, if your friend doesn't want to come up to minnesota to get the dog I will be a gentleman and take it home with me my pointer could use a friend.

[Surface Tension]

I've heard you should leave your underwear. More sent and zero chance of someone taking it.

Anyway your lucky to get the dog back.
Dog tags would have made it so much easier.

[Guest]

Actually it isn’t a very good idea to hunt you’re dog with a regular collar on, I have witnessed a GSP hung to death on a barbed wire fence after a failed attempt to jump over it, I use only break a way collars for hunting, if the dog were to get caught in/on something after a bit of a struggle the collars plastic clip will break apart.

[fishnutbob]

I never train my dog to jump over barb wire, just to crawl under it. never lose a collar, but if you do bright orange with name and phone I always get both my dog and collar back. Smile Face hidden. I mark all my collars with name and phone number permanent Markers.

[This message has been edited by fishnutbob (edited 10-30-2003).]

[bigdog]

Guess if I found a bird dog out in the field I would pick him up and start knocking on some doors, stopping at nearby hunting areas and contact the sheriff.

For my dogs I use the leather collars with teh safety ring in the middle. They have a brass tag with my name and numbers riveted to the collar.

The only time I ever lost track of a dog was in ND. Big CRP field with heavy cover. Birds everywhere, one dog went nuts and got away from me. It took 2-3 hours. I ended up leaving the doors open on my truck while I searched the field blowing my whistle. Dog found the truck. Never want to go through that feeling again.

[fishnutbob]

Birddog, I have done the same in S.D. and Iowa Pheasant hunting I never move the truck if my dog is lost, I just honk my horn and call they always find the way back, sometimes they beat me back to the truck. Of course my dogs are English Setters highly intellegent, Right!!

[yellowlab]

I guess I have a few things to say. First would be that I would also take the dog with me. Who knows how long it was there and I would hate to be the last one to ever see it. Second I would try and find the owner, be that through other lodges, sherrif, CO. Lastly why don't you have a chip put into your dog. I don't like hunting my dog with a collar for reasons stated previously. I have had to use the chip once. After that one use I have told anyone that asks that it was the best investment I ever made. Remember they aren't only you hunting partner but your best friend as well

[Finns]

Update; Brother met the gentleman half way (Clear Lake) and got his dog back. Finns.

[Guest]

Something else to consider is to look for a multi digit number tatooed in the dogs ear, and to bring the dog to a vet to do a scan for an implanted ID chip. The tatoo is not as popular as it was several years ago, but that is what was used before the introduction of microchip technology to ID dogs. I do understand that not every hunting dog owner has the tatoo done, or has a chip implanted in their dog,but I have heard testimony from dog owners who were in the dog club I used to be a member of that had dogs identified by either of these two methods.By the way, the chip is inserted right under the skin,usually in the neck area. The microchip has been the one with the most success of the two in recent times.