Letter to dog owner, tell me what you think...

[Emily~Anne]

EDITED! What do you think of edited version? Is it better?

On Monday we picked up a dog that was running loose. She is a very sweet intelligent dog. She also showed signs of neglect. She is thin, her coat is in very poor condition, and she has possible frostbite or some type of skin condition. She also was still attached to her tether, and the tether was attached to a choker chain, not a proper collar. We took her to the shelter the next morning, and they said right away they knew who the owner was and so we left the dog with them asking them to please make sure they had a good talk with the owner about how to properly care for a dog. The dog is still there today, and the owner has not picked up her dog. If it were my dog I would have picked her up immediately! I am sensing maybe the owner no longer wants the dog, so I am hoping we can adopt the dog. The owner lives only a block away and I am trying to put together a letter to give the current dog owner. Please tell me what you think of this letter and is there anything I should change? I do not want to be offensive, and I don't want to make the current dog owner feel defensive. here is the letter.....

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that we are the ones who found your dog. we are the "____'s" and we live at -------. We always pick up dogs running loose as we would want someone to do the same for our dogs. We opened the door to our van and she jumped right in and gave each of us one kiss. Right away we could tell she is a very nice dog. We took her to the animal shelter, but they were closed as it was Presidents Day, and the kennels out back had no protection from the elements. My husband said we would never leave our dogs in that condition so there was no way we could leave someone else

[Northern lass]

Sounds pretty reasonable to me! Hope it works out for you all.

[Iryssa]

Sounds awesome...but...uh...you might want to divide it into paragraphs. Reading a huge single block of text like that is hard. I recommend paragraph breaks before the sentences:

"The reason I did not continue to let her stay..."

"We have 2 dogs currently."

"I can most definitely assure you your dog will be..."

" I think all of us would like for her to not have to stay in the shelter any longer than necessary." (also, remove the "As" that comes right after that sentence...it's kinda confusing, and isn't necessary)

Otherwise...good explanation and all. This is kinda how we adopted one of our dogs, Mufassa. It was also near the end of our Dalmatian Alli's life (though she just died basically of old age), so our other dalmatian, Dant

[Floatingaxe]

I love your kind and generous attitude with this neighbour! Send it now! God bless you!That dog will be so blessed to have you and your family as her loving owners!

[kat8585]

Excellent letter. Let us know how it turns out.

[Floatingaxe]

Butero:

She wasn't on the neighbour's property. The dog was found on the street, loose.

[Emily~Anne]

Hello EmilyAnne. I am an animal lover too. I grew up with dogs, and since I have been married, have had cats. We have 2 of them now, were up to 4 at one time, not to mention a neighborhood full of strays that we put food out for, and one that is friendly enough with us that he comes in the house from time to time. I would likely feel the same way you do about the dog you are describing.

As far as the letter goes, I see nothing at all wrong or offensive in it. The only concern I would have is the neighbor. Do you know him very well? Is he someone who is reasonable, or is he the type that might blow off at you because you were on his property and took his dog? To a reasonable person, this letter may be received in the spirit you intended it, but to some people, they may get mad that you dared report them. The guy may not even know his dog is in the shelter, but even if he does know it, he may get him out just to spite you if he knows the truth about what happened. Not knowing the dog's owner, it is hard to give you good advise in this matter.

If you feel that the man is reasonably nice, and cares about the dog's well being, and really doesn't want the dog, then I see nothing wrong with the letter. On the other hand, if waiting another week or so to get the dog legally will allow you to adopt him without getting his owner involved, and therefore keep you from having him retaliate against you, that may be the best course of action, provided the shelter knows you want this dog if he is unclaimed, and that you know he won't be euthanized.

I hope it all works out for you, because I can tell the dog would be much better off living with you, and would be well cared for and loved. There are so many nut jobs in this world today, that I would hate to have you in a place of feuding with someone that may be dangerous, and may decide to retaliate against you or your family. Again, you know him better than I do, so you have to use your own judgement. Please let us know how everything turns out.

Actually her dog was running loose when we found her. And it is a single female with a son who owns the dog. The son has been trying to train the dog to be vicious and tried to sic his dog on me 3 yrs ago when I was hugely pregnant. Except she gave me kisses instead much to his dissapointment. I am concerned the letter may sound presumptious that I am assuming she does not want the dog anymore, and could offend her. I think you are right that I should just be patient and wait till March 1st. I am going to visit her twice daily in the meantime and bring her a clean blanket each time.

[Guest Biblicist]

Emily, if the dog has been away from her family for three days, legally it is yours. Especially since you turned it over to the pound and no one has come to claim her. Go to the pound and get her. It is not necessary for you to even inform the family that you are keeping her, or intend on getting her back from the pound. Although, now that you have taken here there, they will likely expect some sort of adopton fee, even if they have not put any money into her. Just go get her.

I have very little patience for dog owners who do not take proper care of their dogs. See them every day in my neighborhood. Of course, my standard of dog care is much higher than most people's.

[Emily~Anne]

Butero:

She wasn't on the neighbour's property. The dog was found on the street, loose.

The thing is Floatingaxe, the neighbor may not believer her. I have known of some real nut jobs that would accuse her of being on their property, whether that was the case or not. I have a neighbor behind me who had a dog in a similar situation. It was on a short chain, and was not all that well cared for. It wasn't in the shape this dog was in, but I always felt sorry for it. It would break away at times, and on more than one occassion, I returned it to it's owner. It all just comes down to what the dog owner is like.

This is very true!!! When I lived in Idaho, I worked for the Humane Society for 3 yrs and so many nut jobs insisted their dog was 'stolen'. I think we just need to hang in there. In order for her to pick up her dog though, she will have to pay 2 citations, one for dog at large, and one for no dog license. They will also have an issue with how the dog was being cared for and will want to see some changes.

[Emily~Anne]

Emily, if the dog has been away from her family for three days, legally it is yours. Especially since you turned it over to the pound and no one has come to claim her. Go to the pound and get her. It is not necessary for you to even inform the family that you are keeping her, or intend on getting her back from the pound. Although, now that you have taken here there, they will likely expect some sort of adopton fee, even if they have not put any money into her. Just go get her.

I have very little patience for dog owners who do not take proper care of their dogs. See them every day in my neighborhood. Of course, my standard of dog care is much higher than most people's.

The animal shelter says I have to wait 7 business days. I am going to research this and see if this really is the law or is it just their 'rule' of thumb. We have no problem paying the adoption fee. She will get a bath immediately, a proper collar with ID tags on her first day here, and an appt. will be made right away with the vet for her to be spayed and get all shots. When she has had a chance to recover, we will sign her up for doggy obedience classes.