SO scared.... Will I have to give him up???
First, a warning: this is LONG, so get comfy!
I am near tears over this right now.... I've already cried about it twice.
For those who have not read my profile: Two weeks ago we found a male corgi wandering around our neighborhood in the country. He had no tags of any kind, and appeared to have been dumped, because we noticed him just wandering around aimlessly without any supervision. We had seen him a few times before, and this was the case every time (wandering without supervision).
So two weeks ago, I coaxed him over to me in my front yard and fed him, talked to him, and after awhile I even convinced him to get close enough to let me pet him. After about half an hour, I had to go back inside, but he stayed in the front yard, laid down under a tree and watched my front door. He never moved from that spot until I went back out to him, then he immediately jumped up and seemed so happy to see me again! It was SO sweet and I was amazed at this behavior..... he seemed to be completely devoted to me already, and we just met! This went on a few more times throughout the day..... I would go back inside for a couple of hours and he waited for me under the tree, then get so excited when I came back out!
Needless to say, I fell IN LOVE! But of course I wondered where he came from. Every time my husband or I went out to him, we looked all around at the neighboring houses to see if anyone seemed to be looking for him. They weren't. I had fed him that morning, and he stayed at our place all day. Very late that night, when we still had not seen anyone looking for him and no one calling him, we coaxed him into our fenced backyard to keep him safe from the cars we knew would be speeding down our road the next morning. He's been "ours" ever since. Four days after bringing him into our yard, I took him to a groomer to be dipped, bathed, etc., and also got his shots. I named him Doc (Doc Holliday).
He's been with us for two weeks now and no one has come to our door asking about him, we've not heard anything about anyone missing a dog, and there have been no signs posted anywhere. Every weekday morning I have taken him out in the front yard on a leash while we wait with my daughter (and all the other neighborhood kids) for the school bus. No one has said a word about him being "So-and-so's dog" or anything else indicating that they recognize him. We live in a small neighborhood; maybe 20 houses total, and they are all pretty close together. If I lost a dog, I could walk door-to-door here and hit EVERY house asking about it in less than one hour EASILY.
Today my little girl was at a friend's house, and a little boy who was also there was asking if anyone had seen "his" corgi, and he described Doc. Aislyn (my daughter) came home and told me and pointed to where this little boy lives. He lives right across the street, 2 doors down! When these people step outside their home, they have a full, unobstructed view of my entire front yard. But he was in our front yard from 10:00 AM until after midnight that night and they never even looked outside to check on him?????? Because if they had looked for him AT ALL that day, they would have seen or "found" him instantly.
What am I going to do??? I am SO attached to him now and the thought of giving him up hurts SO much! I'm sure you all can imagine how heartbroken you would be if faced with the possibility of losing your baby! I want to do the right thing here, but I honestly don't know what that is! This little boy cares enough to ask about Doc now, but what are his parents feeling? If they miss Doc, WHY haven't they looked for him? I would have gone door-to-door looking for him AND put up signs all over the neighborhood, and every place possible within a 5-mile radius! I wouldn't let him run around freely, especially without tags displaying my phone number or something. They have a very large, fenced yard.... when he needed to go out, that's where he should have been; not running the neighborhood right next to a road that cars go 60 MPH on! Their apparent lack of concern makes me think that he was neglected.... like they just didn't care. And if that's the case, I certainly don't want him going back to that kind of home! When he first came here, he was so timid and anxious..... he seemed to be afraid of everything. We thought then that he might have been abused, but who knows? I don't like to jump to conclusions, but I couldn't help but wonder. Now he's relaxed quite a bit with us so far and seems to be more so every day. He lays on his bed at my feet while I'm sitting here at my desk, and if I get up to go to the kitchen for a drink, he follows me. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he follows and waits for me right outside the door. If I go outside, he goes too. When I go to bed, he sleeps on the floor next to my bed (on his own bed, of course!) He and I are just SO attached to each other, I can't stand the thought of losing him! But now I'm afraid to even take him out on the leash again because I don't want to risk them seeing him! One part of me feels like I'm doing the right thing, because he's happy here, and I strongly suspect that he was not happy before. The other part of me now feels like I'm stealing him, and that's a horrible feeling!
Well, I'm sorry to have made this SO long..... I guess I just needed to vent, and I am SO CONFUSED, scared to death, and just don't know WHAT the h*** I'm supposed to do!
Any advice or opinions here would be SO appreciated!
Thanks,
Starr
I am near tears over this right now.... I've already cried about it twice.
For those who have not read my profile: Two weeks ago we found a male corgi wandering around our neighborhood in the country. He had no tags of any kind, and appeared to have been dumped, because we noticed him just wandering around aimlessly without any supervision. We had seen him a few times before, and this was the case every time (wandering without supervision).
So two weeks ago, I coaxed him over to me in my front yard and fed him, talked to him, and after awhile I even convinced him to get close enough to let me pet him. After about half an hour, I had to go back inside, but he stayed in the front yard, laid down under a tree and watched my front door. He never moved from that spot until I went back out to him, then he immediately jumped up and seemed so happy to see me again! It was SO sweet and I was amazed at this behavior..... he seemed to be completely devoted to me already, and we just met! This went on a few more times throughout the day..... I would go back inside for a couple of hours and he waited for me under the tree, then get so excited when I came back out!
Needless to say, I fell IN LOVE! But of course I wondered where he came from. Every time my husband or I went out to him, we looked all around at the neighboring houses to see if anyone seemed to be looking for him. They weren't. I had fed him that morning, and he stayed at our place all day. Very late that night, when we still had not seen anyone looking for him and no one calling him, we coaxed him into our fenced backyard to keep him safe from the cars we knew would be speeding down our road the next morning. He's been "ours" ever since. Four days after bringing him into our yard, I took him to a groomer to be dipped, bathed, etc., and also got his shots. I named him Doc (Doc Holliday).
He's been with us for two weeks now and no one has come to our door asking about him, we've not heard anything about anyone missing a dog, and there have been no signs posted anywhere. Every weekday morning I have taken him out in the front yard on a leash while we wait with my daughter (and all the other neighborhood kids) for the school bus. No one has said a word about him being "So-and-so's dog" or anything else indicating that they recognize him. We live in a small neighborhood; maybe 20 houses total, and they are all pretty close together. If I lost a dog, I could walk door-to-door here and hit EVERY house asking about it in less than one hour EASILY.
Today my little girl was at a friend's house, and a little boy who was also there was asking if anyone had seen "his" corgi, and he described Doc. Aislyn (my daughter) came home and told me and pointed to where this little boy lives. He lives right across the street, 2 doors down! When these people step outside their home, they have a full, unobstructed view of my entire front yard. But he was in our front yard from 10:00 AM until after midnight that night and they never even looked outside to check on him?????? Because if they had looked for him AT ALL that day, they would have seen or "found" him instantly.
What am I going to do??? I am SO attached to him now and the thought of giving him up hurts SO much! I'm sure you all can imagine how heartbroken you would be if faced with the possibility of losing your baby! I want to do the right thing here, but I honestly don't know what that is! This little boy cares enough to ask about Doc now, but what are his parents feeling? If they miss Doc, WHY haven't they looked for him? I would have gone door-to-door looking for him AND put up signs all over the neighborhood, and every place possible within a 5-mile radius! I wouldn't let him run around freely, especially without tags displaying my phone number or something. They have a very large, fenced yard.... when he needed to go out, that's where he should have been; not running the neighborhood right next to a road that cars go 60 MPH on! Their apparent lack of concern makes me think that he was neglected.... like they just didn't care. And if that's the case, I certainly don't want him going back to that kind of home! When he first came here, he was so timid and anxious..... he seemed to be afraid of everything. We thought then that he might have been abused, but who knows? I don't like to jump to conclusions, but I couldn't help but wonder. Now he's relaxed quite a bit with us so far and seems to be more so every day. He lays on his bed at my feet while I'm sitting here at my desk, and if I get up to go to the kitchen for a drink, he follows me. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he follows and waits for me right outside the door. If I go outside, he goes too. When I go to bed, he sleeps on the floor next to my bed (on his own bed, of course!) He and I are just SO attached to each other, I can't stand the thought of losing him! But now I'm afraid to even take him out on the leash again because I don't want to risk them seeing him! One part of me feels like I'm doing the right thing, because he's happy here, and I strongly suspect that he was not happy before. The other part of me now feels like I'm stealing him, and that's a horrible feeling!
Well, I'm sorry to have made this SO long..... I guess I just needed to vent, and I am SO CONFUSED, scared to death, and just don't know WHAT the h*** I'm supposed to do!
Any advice or opinions here would be SO appreciated!
Thanks,
Starr
Comment
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Comment by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on September 11, 2008 at 6:11pm
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Good to hear the great news! I love happy endings : )
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Comment by Kelly on September 11, 2008 at 5:14pm
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Oh yay! That's great :)
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Comment by Starr Hawk on September 10, 2008 at 10:16am
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Thank you so much, Geri!
Starr
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Comment by Geri & Sidney on September 10, 2008 at 10:11am
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I am sooooo happy for you!
Sidney's daily frap session will be in honor of the happiness of this occasion Arrrroooo!
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Well, my conscience finally beat me into submission. Monday morning, after the school bus drove away, I went to the neighbors' house to ask if they had lost a dog about a month ago. The woman said no, so I told her that her son had said something to my daughter about him losing his corgi. His mom looked confused for about a second, then she said, "Oh, I know what he's talking about." She proceeded to tell me how they had come across Doc the same way we had, just a few days before we took him in. She said she also figured he was a stray, and he was very sweet, and her son started playing with him and wanted to keep him. Mom told him no, they couldn't keep a dog, but that he could feed the dog and play with it whenever it was around. She said they had wondered what happened to the dog when he stopped coming around their house a few days later, but was happy for Doc now that she knew that he had a good home.
So that's it! And, to those of you who told me it would all work out and be ok, yes, you "told-me-so!"
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Comment by Katie on September 5, 2008 at 6:23pm
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I agree with your husband 110%. I fully support your decision to keep him. I would do the same thing. You have saved that dogs life.
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Comment by Butter on September 5, 2008 at 5:07pm
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I absolutely agree with the coment above. If it is their dog, it is their dog.
I know it is sad for you to have to part with him but try to look at it that you have provided a nice vacation for the dog and now you know that you love Corgis. Start saving up to buy your own Corgi which you can love and walk, out in the open.
You have to do the right thing and return the dog; if after speaking to them you find out is the one you have. Ask to see a picture of their dog. Corgis are very curious and very friendly to some people. I could see mine wondering away. I know of cats who have 2 owners; my parents had 2 purebred Siamese who spent the day with another family and came back to my parents at night.
You don't really know what the situation is there...could be great!!! Days go by where I don't look at my neighbour's property....they may have been so distraught at losing their dog that they overlooked the obvious. Their search might have been further afield, never thinking the dog was so close.
Take care, Joy
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Comment by Akshay Anikhindi on September 5, 2008 at 3:04pm
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Hey Starr,
Now I'm certainly no expert in a situation like this, but seeing as how no one else has responded to this thread yet, I guess I can offer what I think about it.
The first thing I would do is call up that family. If you like, you can do it from a pay phone or something just to inquire if they have lost a Corgi recently. You should do this to confirm that what the little boy said was indeed true.
Secondly, you do not completely understand the situation. You are just assuming a lot based on your own emotions. I don't blame you, I would have done the same thing, but it's not necessarily the right thing to do. It could very well be that the family is very distraught over losing the dog and have filed a report but didn't think to go around the neighborhood and ask (sounds stupid, but my point is that it might be this way for all you know). In order to resolve this, when you call up or talk to the family, really grill them on why they didn't look for the dog. Try to find out as much information as you can before you make a decision.
At the end of the day, if it is their dog, it is THEIR dog. The dog is not yours no matter how much you can justify "finders keepers" or "providing a better home." I'm no lawyer but I am pretty sure that if it came to becoming a legal issue, you would have the dog taken away from you. Maybe someone else can shed more light on this from that standpoint. What you should have done before "keeping" the dog was to put up signs yourself "Found Dog: Contact Me" with the dog's picture. You should have contacted the authorities and filed a report. It could very well happen that someone had lost their dog (or their dog had escaped) and it had nothing to do with neglect but more a case of "curious/adventurous dog." These things happen to people.
So, to summarize: Call them up. Find out the whole story. And keep us updated, I'd like to know how this ends!
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No, I have not talked to the neighbors about Doc, and I'm not going to. After the replies I received before, I'm sure that at least a few members will disagree with this decision, but I have prayed about it, cried about it, talked to my husband, parents, and other family members about it, and even stared into Doc's eyes looking for answers! I just can't do it. I'm fully CONVINCED that he was not cared for properly, definitely neglected, and very likely abused, just judging by his timid and fearful demeanor, and the fact that they have not actively looked for him and let him roam the neighborhood unsupervised with no tags right next to a very dangerous road. IF anyone comes to my door trying to claim him now (which I HIGHLY doubt), I will go to court for him and fight to get him back, and I am confident that I would win. Like Katie said, it's been 3 weeks now. This is his home, he's happy here with us, and now he is treated and loved the way he deserves to be.
Gotta get to work. Replies are still very welcome! Would love everyone's input, even those who think I'm a dog-thieving criminal! :)
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Comment by Katie on September 2, 2008 at 2:10pm
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Wow. can't believe it had been 3 weeks. If I had lost my dog, it would have been on the news. But then again, I'm crazy like that! :)
Keep the dog!
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