The Most Important Thing to Do When You Spot a Seemingly Abandoned Dog

Marcie is one of those people with a tender heart for lost animals. Injured birds, homeless kittens, and lost dogs all seem to gravitate to her. As she’s driving, without even realizing it, she’s scanning for strays that might need her help. And, living in a semi-rural area of Kentucky, she finds them all the time. The problem is, she’s also been scratched and bitten by many of those animals, spent a lot of time and money she couldn’t spare trying to help them, and at times gotten yelled at by people who didn’t appreciate a stranger trying to lure their free-ranging farm dog into her car to “help” it.

Where’s the balance? How can you get a good idea of whether a lost dog is really lost, and what can you do to help it without risking your own safety and wellbeing in the process?

1. Watch From a Safe Distance

Before assuming an apparently lost dog needs help, use your powers of observation. Is it in a remote unpopulated area, or near some houses? Is it wandering down the side of a busy highway or bounding through fields by a country road? Does it have a collar or ID tags? Is it clean and cared for or matted and bedraggled? Does it seem scared, aggressive, or friendly? Does it appear to be sick? Is it moving its head oddly, drooling excessively, or otherwise behaving oddly? This could be a sign of rabies. Don’t approach a dog behaving this way, but contact authorities to check on it.

2. Don’t Endanger Yourself or Others

When you see what might be a lost dog, be mindful of your safety and those around you. You won’t be much help to the dog if you cause a car accident. And you don’t want to be bitten by an aggressive dog or exposed to parasites or a dangerous disease. Sometimes because of safety concerns or because you’re in a time crunch to get to work or pick your kids up from school, the best you can do is make a phone call to local authorities who are better prepared to follow up than you are at that moment.

3. Don’t Scare It

If you are able to approach the dog, remember that a lost, sick, or injured dog can be easily frightened and behave unpredictably. Don’t make sudden unexpected moves toward a strange dog. If you do want to get close to it, try crouching down and turning sideways to make yourself look smaller and less threatening. Don’t make eye contact as some dogs see this as a dominance challenge. Speak in a calm, reassuring voice. Toss the dog some food gently, so it doesn’t look like you’re throwing a rock at it, to get it to move closer. But if the dog stays out of reach or runs away, don’t chase it. Just notice where it goes, and you can follow at a distance if you want.

4. Secure the Dog

Some dogs will let you handle them enough to read their collar, but you may have to secure them first. If you have a leash, rope, or lead, you can loop it around the dog’s neck or collar. If you don’t have anything like that handy, sometimes a dog will readily get into your car, especially if tempted by food. Another option is to block the dog in an enclosed area such as a fenced yard or an exterior corner of a building. Set some food and water nearby, back away, and watch the dog until help arrives.

5. Check for Identification

If the dog lets you get close enough to handle it, see if it has an ID tag with contact information for its owners and give them a call. If you don’t see any visible identification, you can call animal control or take the dog to a veterinarian or an animal shelter to scan for a microchip.

6. Contact the Authorities

Your local animal control, animal rescue groups, shelters, and veterinarians can help you not only by seeing if the dog is microchipped but by checking their records to see if anyone has reported a lost dog. They can take down the information in case someone does report it and can take the animal off your hands if you do not want to pursue it further. Even if you intend to care for it at home yourself until you find the owner, you should still report it to these places in case someone calls to see if it is there. There are also online lost dog databases serving the whole country that you can check.

7. Get Medical Help

Make sure to take the dog to a vet for a checkup. This is especially urgent if the dog is limping or has obvious wounds, yelps when you touch it in certain areas, is super skinny, is losing its hair, is scratching and biting at itself a lot, or is drooling, vomiting, staggering, or acting aggressively or unpredictably. These could be signs of injury, parasites, poisoning, or a disease like rabies. If you can’t find the owner and decide to keep the dog, you’ll want to get it up to date on all necessary vaccinations and have it dewormed, and spayed or neutered. Finally, microchip your new pet and put a collar and ID tag on it in case it gets lost again.

8. If You Decide to Adopt a Lost Dog . . .

If it turns out you can’t find the animal’s owner and decide to keep it, here are a few things to consider:

• Give it space and quiet places to hide and observe from a distance until it feels safe and secure. Don’t overwhelm it with too much attention.
• Without knowing the dog’s history, watch it carefully around children and other pets. It could be triggered by past experiences in ways you wouldn’t expect and act aggressively.
• Use positive reinforcement. Reward good behavior with praise, treats, or a favorite toy, and do not give attention to undesirable behavior.
• Potty training may be slow, especially with an older animal that has not been a well-cared-for pet. It often works well to keep the animal in a relatively confined space while taking it outdoors regularly and frequently for bathroom breaks. Remember to give the doggo plenty of praise for doing it right.
• Establish a routine and stick to it. Dogs feel secure when they know what to expect. Patience and consistency is the best way to train a dog. It could take many weeks or even months, but don’t give up.
• Contact a professional if the dog’s needs are beyond you. Dogs that are especially strong-willed or have traumatic backgrounds might need a trainer with specialized knowledge, abilities, and the time to work with an animal that needs extra love.

Final Thoughts

Finding a wandering dog can pull at your heartstrings like few other things can. And in some cases, this might be the opening scene of you unexpectedly meeting a furry little angel who is going to be an indispensable part of your family. Or maybe not. Before jumping ahead of yourself consider these two possibilities:

1. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien in The Fellowship of the Ring, “Not all who wander are lost.” This dog might be a country dog on its regular rounds. It might even be on its own property when you spot it. Or it could have an owner looking for it. It’s not necessarily yours for the rescuing.
2. If it needs a new home, your role might not be to provide it but to help the dog find it. The dog might have care and training needs that are beyond your living situation, the time and money you have to put into it, and the best interests of your family and other pets. In fact, keeping it might prevent it from moving on to a home that is more suitable for its needs.

So as a true dog lover, keep the dog’s actual needs in mind as well as your own desire to help it and everyone will come out better in the end.