Things to do if you've found a lost dog

I'm sure it's happened to many of us at least once. We find a dog we don't recognize, with no tags. Friendly, but no humans apparent.

It's a dog owner's nightmare, really. Their dog gets loose, gets stolen, wanders. It happened just last week, with the dog my coworker found. Apparently she was a very very old dog, and had been through medical treatments lately. So, not mistreated. Just old and ill and with doggie dementia, and wandered off as her family cleaned the cellar of a Sunday. They were very grateful and happy to have her back, though I don't know what her real name is; I don't think the vet told my coworker when she called.

It's one reason I have all the tags I do on Elka's collar, on two separate rings. If one dangling rings gets lost, maybe the other will still be there. Plus her microchip. Some breeders tattoo their dogs (under anesthesia, I believe), inside the ear, or inside the inner thigh. That's a visible identifier that cannot be lost. It's why, on our car trip, Elka was on a harness attached to her leash, and with the dogIDs collar on separately, with its name plate.

Banned in Beijing

Apparently, in 2003, Beijing, China banned a number of "large, vicious" dog breeds; linked is only an "example" list, as it's dogs with a mature height of over 35 centimeters are not allowed.

35 centimeters. That's 13.7 inches. If breed has been repeatedly been found not to have to do with aggression (in American courts of law, anyway. And with people who, y'know, know about dogs), then what does height have to do with "viciousness"?

Granted, this blog is not readable in China anyway. If that tells you something. I wasn't really sure what I'd "done" that got me banned. Perhaps it's because Elka is too big? Geeze, a 13.7 inch limit. That means Elka is like two dogs, with some wiggle room. She's 29 inches.

Interestingly, in this article in the New York Times about it, the billboard in the picture features a Doberman and a child (granted, the child is a little dubious looking, but the Doberman is cool). People in Beijing with huskies, labs, and Golden Retrievers are hiding their dogs in their homes, walking them only at night, or only allowing them to relieve themselves on balconies, for fear of their dogs being seized. I can only imagine that the seized dogs are then euthanized. People who can afford it are sending their "big vicious" dogs (boxers, poodles, collies) outside of the city, to be safely boarded in kennels there.

I'm very sorry for dog owners in Beijing, having to go through this. I can't imagine living in the fear that the police would bust down my door and take my dog away. In America, I luckily don't have to worry about that.

New York City police dog injured in the line of duty

Bear, a 6 year old German Shepherd on the police force in New York city was injured while apprehending a suspect yesterday. He'll be okay, before you're too worried, but boy howdy. That does not sound like it was a fun law enforcement experience.

(photo from Wikimedia Commons)