people abandon dogs near my house all of the time?

Question

i live in a very rural area. it is a favorite place for dumping unwanted dogs. usually about 4-6 times a year, strays in varying degrees of health and condition show up in my yard. no collars, no ID whatsoever. the dogs sometimes fight with my dogs, sometimes give my dogs fleas, usually eat up every bit of dogfood that i have left outside. the strays are a nuisance , to say the least.

we have no animal shelter in our county. nearest one is 50 miles away. 3 hours ,minimum round trip , plus about $10.00 worth of gas.

i do not want to keep any of the dogs. what are my alternatives , for getting rid of the dogs, and discouraging people from dumping them here?

yes, there is a vetenarian in nearby town. his policy is, no dogs can come into his clinic without history of up to date shots. he will look at a dog in the parking lot, if vaccine history is unknown. he will charge me for treating dog if medication is needed. his policy is, i can put a notice on his bulliten board trying to find a home(in meantime, i have to keep it myself) or i can take the dog to the animal shelter in meridian.

will animal shelters come and pick up dogs?

a few more added details---

lots of good suggestions so far, thanks. in defense of my local vet, i think that he used to take them in, but he was winding in taking in LOTS of them, he got tired of the trouble and expense. now he wont do it anymore. we have no local SPCA, our vet tried for years to get the county to start an animal shelter. they would not do it. this is a very small population and poor county.

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when strays show up, i dont leave food bowl outside until its gone. my dogs, 2 spayed females ,1 male. 2 dachunds and a terrier. really, the fighting and barking is caused by my dogs defending their territory. they go nuts when any strange dog shows up. my little dogs are no match for a big dog, however. my dachunds stay inside a lot, but in warm times of the year, they prefer outside.

amny good responses. i got good ideas from all. cant pick a best, will put it to a vote.

btw, i located a shelter in joining county, closer than the one in meridian.

Answer 1

be a good person and take the dog in till you can find them a home tie them up outside where they cant fight or anything, give them sum food and water. i wish you would do that, but most people wont, it makes me sad. just take them and put posters up and give them a good home the deserve that.

Answer 2

That is a tuffy. I can't really answer that one , I guess no one can unless they were in your shoes. But I do live on a farm I don't have unwanted dogs being thrown out but I do have lots of cats. What I do with these cats if they stay more than two days... is take them to the vet to get them fixed and shots. Some stay and some don't. At least I know I did something so they wouldn't have any unwanted kittens.

As for dogs, knowing me like I do, i would take them in and try to find them a good home or maybe their owners. They could be just a dog that wander away. I think I would try to give them a chance. It isn't there fault their owners didn't do right by them. But I understand your feelings too. I think you are between a rock and a hard spot here..lol.

Answer 3

There's no shelter in your county but there must be a newspaper that covers more than just your county.
Don't know where you are but here we have the Tradin Post where people place ads to sell just about everything under the sun.
I live near Peoria,IL.and I've found this paper easily in Springfield as well as Chicago and East Moline.
Try to confine these poor lost souls as best you can away from your dogs.And put an ad in the paper to re-home them.Don't just give them away.Charge a nominal fee to re-coup your money of food and vet bills.Say $25.00.
Someone out there wants a dog to love and you've got it in your yard.If you just sit back and pray it goes away it probabaly will but it'll either get hit by a car.Starve to death.Or turn wild and go after anything it can to survive on,adding to the problem not solving it.
That's what I'd do.

Answer 4

if u see someone doing this u need to get their plate # it abandonment. they will face fines for ditching the dog... plus ppl tend to think if i leave it in the country someone might take it in.. thats what ppl in the country do right?
i would talk to your vet some about anyone he knows that would take in the strays to find new homes... there might be a rescue of some sorts u may not know about....if he's not the only vet call others.

as far as the shelter coming to pick up animal i'm not sure...it depends i would ask the shelter... maybe they know some who lives close by that can pick up the dog?

Answer 5

Put up a couple of signs or something...

The real question is, What's wrong with these crazy people? Just dumping off dogs like that!!! Haven't they at least heard of an animal shelter?!?!

That is horrible and cruel. Especially when it's dogs! Jeez, whatever happened to "Man's Best Friend"?

Answer 6

Call the animal shelter. You can put a sign outside that states that you have dogs for free or lost dogs. It's the only thing you can do if you don't want to travel to the shelter.

Answer 7

That is so sad....you have more control than I do...I would wind up with a pack of dogs :)

You could try calling the National ASPCA...sometimes they have programs that could help.

Also, some people aren't all that smart. I would...now this is just me...

I would make that trip and have them verify that the dogs are/are not microchiped. If there was I would file charges against the people dumping them. This is WRONG.

Poor guys.

"We are forever held responsible for that which we tame" Unknown. (or at least I forget )

EDIT TO ADD---

Not sure of your financial situaltion...but I would gladly spend $10 to make sure these guys are taken care of...not their fault they got mixed in with some piece of work with no soul.

Answer 8

You mentioned that you leave dog food outside. Maybe instead of people dumping unwanted dogs off, could it be that the food you leave in the yard for your dogs are attracting stray dogs. They are always looking for a source of food. Are your dogs neutered, if not they could attract stray dogs also.

Answer 9

have this problem but with cats where i live but whoever dumps them knows that i will take them until i can find another home for them cos i wont see any animal out on the street cat of dog

Answer 10

one put up sighns 2 take a picture of the dog and post it on puppies.com 3 call a shelter to have them pick the dogs up .Well goodluck!~!!~!~