Current Events > Should I have taken this dog?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Random ass dog ran across the street, and I almost ran it over. I slammed the brakes just in time

Thinking about it now, that dog is still probably running around out there. What's the best thing to do usually? Call the animal shelter? How would I have even got ahold of it. I've never owned a dog.

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Buy a dog mask, wear it and go look for the dog with the mask equipped. It'll come out of nowhere and hop into your arms.

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@HashtagTartarus

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littlebro07 posted...

@HashtagTartarus

He'll have that poor dog in an unimaginable position.

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It's not realistic to drop everything for a dog but you can certainly see if it'll come to you and take it to a shelter. Just notify local animal control. You don't want to get hurt if it gets scared.

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well if you have the time to stop and try to catch it, then the best thing you can do is to try to get it in your possession (in your car if you are in one or pick it up if you are on foot or something) and if it has a tag then call the number otherwise take it to the vet to get it scanned and see if it has a chip (which if it does you should be able to get it to the owner pretty quickly), otherwise google what your local animal shelter is and they should take in the dog for you if you don't really have the time to do all that (or if doing that gets you nothing).

As for actually catching it, walk up to it slowly and if it lets you get close-ish, then crouch down and try to beckon it to you (if you have food like a burger or hot dog or something this will be much easier especially if the dog is hungry), and make sure you absolutely don't make any loud noises or make sudden movements or else it might get scared and run or angry and bite you. If it lets you pet it then you should be fine to pick it up or at least coax it into the car with food if you have any.

Might be a bit of work to do, but it could mean alot to a family if it gets their dog back to them, one time someone left the front door open like a dumdum and my dog ran away, but he was found a few days later and someone got him to a shelter and we found her not long after once they posted her on their (the animal shelter) website as a found dog. She was hit by a car but made a full recovery and I'm so thankful that she was picked up, so I make it a point to do that for any lost dogs I find too now if I can. Of course if you don't have the time you shouldn't feel bad for not being able to help or if you aren't comfortable approaching a lost/stray dog then probably just call animal control like above poster said and let them know you saw it in the area is the next best thing.

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Give it to me

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OwlRammer posted...

As for actually catching it, walk up to it slowly and if it lets you get close-ish, then crouch down and try to beckon it to you (if you have food like a burger or hot dog or something this will be much easier especially if the dog is hungry)

this is the #1 way to earn a dogs trust in order to help it.
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