Got home this evening and had a message from 911 emergency dispatch that our dog had been found and they had the phone number/contact info of the family that found him.

Strange thing is we had put our dog down 9/04 . . .

Both my husband and I have talked to the woman that found him; our tags were on him, he responded to his name, she described him . . . everything checks out and we don't know what to do. The 911 dispatch did not think this was a hoax or scam; he was just as freaked as us.

They had the dog tied up in their yard and he unfortunately broke loose before animal rescue came to get him. (Sounds just like my dog!)

We are so distraught- we were with him when the vet put him down, we left him and thought he was gone . . . we can't even comprehend how this could happen.

We don't want to call our vet's office in case there is something fishy going on; I can't imagine that they would admit to anything anyway.

I don't know how someone would have our dog's tag; I'm planning on calling the township that issued it tomorrow morning.

I plan to drive out to the area (45 mins away) tomorrow morning after dropping my son off at school; the husband will be home and I can leave pictures just to make sure it is our dog. They offered to notify their neighbors.

Any insight would be appreciated!

~T

That's insanity. What was your dog put to sleep for? That's the first question that pops into my mind... if he was immobile or insanely sick, I can't imagine he'd somehow be out roaming the city. Also, did he have a microchip? I'm sure you'd know if it was your pup or not, but that would straight up settle it... The lady described him perfectly? Ack, sorry, I'm a bit lost for words. That's just insanely freaky and confusing. I hope you guys find a resolution soon.

Our dog was a rescue and we had worked with him for a few years on trying to get him properly socialized. We don't know about his prior life, but it wasn't good. He was medicated, constantly threw up and would poop himself, wouldn't leave the house, only would play outside at night when he didn't feel threatened, etc- I could go on and on.

For all intents and purposes, this is a dog that should have never been adopted, but unfortunately we later found out the head of the rescue was asked to leave because she was considered a zealot that wanted to save every animal regardless of their ability to be a pet.

After years of work, we with our vet knew he had very little quality of life and he was increasingly becoming extremely aggressive and we made the devastating decision to put him down. Re-adopting him was not the answer.

I'm sure there are those out there that would judge us on our decision, but please understand this was never taken lightly. He was part of our family, our first-born, and I never thought I would stop crying after he was gone.

I beg you, this is not the time to judge us- right now if this is our dog we just want him home!

This woman described him to a T, even his tail is bald which was a persistant problem with him. I can't believe she had him tied up and he escaped, but that was exactly what my dog would have done!

I'm going tomorrow to her house with pics just to make sure, but everything is so strange. Why would he have our tags with our license number? Why would he respond to his name (which is a very uncommon name!)?

So many unanswered questions and we don't know where to turn.

You're sure it was 911 Dispatch and not a hoax call?

If that's authentic - the only thing I can imagine is the vet charged for an euthanasia and a cremation and either the dog broke free and ran - or he dumped the dog off.

I believe every word you've said here but none of it makes any sense whatsoever.

- I can't understand why 911 dispatch would be involved in recovering a lost dog.

- I can't understand why a vet, if they did release your dog, would do so with your tags.

- i can't understand why the new "owner" would, after 4 years, decide to call you about your dog.

I would not go there unaccompanied. You should be in the company of animal control or a police officer.

This is just too weird.

My first thought is that this is some 'person' trying to be funny. :mad: There are a lot of people in this world that really have no scruples at all and it seems you've found one.

There are several possible answers to this rhat come to mind - none of which really sound 'ethical' and I certainly don't want to point fingers with what little I know of the situation. :neutral: Bottom line, I would seriously doubt that they have your dog, maybe they found the collar or tags somewhere (again we're venturing into the whole ethical thing) and are playing some very sick and twisted game with you. :?

We lost one of ours a few weeks back, and to be totally honest with you, would be an emotional wreck if we received a call like that.

You were there with the vet when the dog was put down, don't let some jerk cause you so much grief. I do however think it would be totally proper to show up at their doorstep, ring the doorbell and knock the snot out of them when they answer the door... (ok, so maybe that isn't the best thing... )

As for the whole concept. We have received dogs into rescue under similar circumstances. for example, a dog is brought in to be 'put down' for some reason or the other - typically there are medical needs exceeding one's ability (or desire) to pay for and they think the only solution is euthanization. But the vet recommends they instead surrender the dog to a rescue group that would have the resources to fund the needed medical care.

But in that situation the owners know from the git-go that the dog was not put down, never have I ever heard of any vet allowing something like this to take place. I just plain don't see it happening. As bad as you would want to have your dog back, I really do think this is nothing more than some sick individual that enjoys playing with someone else's emotions.

from the sounds of it, the 911 call may be true.

the only thing i can think of is to post notices around. i would also advise the township / animal enforcement group and show them your vet's recepit that your dog was being put down (just to get you off liability if agression / injury arises).

until the dog is found, you cannot really accuse the vet of anything. having said that, by notifiying town / animal enforcement authorities, they may start an investigation or link your case to other related cases if there is an on-going investigation.

rescue dogs are not easy because of their uncertain genetics & life exerpiences prior to adoption. some may display agression and temperment issues after a certain period of time or if something triggers their memory.

dont think too much of it....just live life and cover your back.

You're sure it was 911 Dispatch and not a hoax call?

If that's authentic - the only thing I can imagine is the vet charged for an euthanasia and a cremation and either the dog broke free and ran - or he dumped the dog off.

I called 911 back and spoke directly with the dispatcher- he thinks this is completely legit and has no reason to believe the person who found the dog was fraudulent; she gave her name, phone number, address.

Looking back there were so potentially odd things surrounding when we had our dog euthanized, but I don't know if we are searching for things because I am on such an emotional roller coaster right now.

Because our dog was petrified of the vet's office they gave him a sedative that would "make it easier", saying we would probably have to carry him into the office. But our dog was so stubborn the medication didn't even work and he was his usually self. We were there when he was given the shot and were told he was gone, but I don't know what to believe now.

Tomorrow can't come soon enough until we can get pictures to the person that found this dog; why didn't I think of seeing if she had email so I could forward pictures? At least we could verify that it was actually him!

odd.

I wouldn't go by yourself either. It could have been someone broke into the Vets Records and started calling people.

I have to agree with RD, DO NOT GO ALONE.

Some things are not adding up.
I hope everything turns out for the best.

Thanks everyone (seriously!).

My husband is planning on taking off work tomorrow- he will not let me go alone either!

We agree this is extremely off and are very skeptical, but it was 911 dispatch that contacted us, not the person that found the dog. Our info was kept confidential from 911 just in case.

RD- I do not know why 911 was involved :confused: I thought animal control would be, but apparently the woman called 911 so they responded.

What concerns me is in addition to our dog's license tag from 2002, there was another tag with a woman's name and phone number (Carlisle, PA area). The person who found the dog called that number and left a message but as of 9pm didn't hear anything. For some reason that name is very familiar to me- I think she was involved with the rescue group we adopted our dog from.

If (big if) there is something fishy going on regarding the actual euthanasia of my dog, could the rescue be involved or someone internal in the vet's office?

Plan is to follow up tomorrow morning with the township that issued the license, check with animal services, and possible shelters. Then we plan to travel up to the area- not sure what we are doing besides dropping off photos to the person that found this dog just for further clarification. She offered to contact her neighbors and forward any pics along. This dog had a long clothes-line tied to his collar, so he should be visible in the area.

Ugh- we are not sleeping tonight!

After years of work, we with our vet knew he had very little quality of life and he was increasingly becoming extremely aggressive and we made the devastating decision to put him down. Re-adopting him was not the answer.

I'm sure there are those out there that would judge us on our decision, but please understand this was never taken lightly. He was part of our family, our first-born, and I never thought I would stop crying after he was gone.

I have gone thru the same situation as you. We rescued a Beagle with behavior issues that became worse over time. After trying to socialize her trying such things as medication, training, and consulting with a Beagle rescue organization and our vet, we too made that difficult decision. We were actually in the room with our vet and watched him administer the medication and our poor Lucy take her last breaths. If that is your dog, it's too bizarre to understand how that could have happened. Good luck.

I have to agree with most, things sound very fishy. I don't have any aid to offer you, I truly wish I did. But please, do not go see this person alone or with your husband without third party present preferably an animal control or police officer as RD suggested.

Good luck tomorrow.

Just found the name of the person that was also on the tag.

She is the clerk at the treasurer's office that takes care of dog licenses in our county. I guess they list her name and number so that if a dog is found they can cross check the license with the owner.

Thought I recognized the name- now I know why. Brain just is not functioning now :oops:

Wow man! This is like something you'd find in a Stephan King novel. We haven't had anything as good as this on the forum since the 'Got a Hot Date' thread. Really, this is something!

And on a serious note -do let the police in the area know what's going on- just in case. I can't wonder (and probably not the only who wonders,) if your dog wasn't euthanized but just tranquillized. Do you know anyone else who uses the same vets? Anything weird going on there? Please keep us informed about what's going on.

Having the 911 folks call you may be normal in your area. Animal control here is dispatched through the same 911 as police/fire, and in my city the police respond to some animal calls.

I know you'll let us know what you find tomorrow, but I'm sending you good thoughts.

Funny, Margaret, you said that about Stephen King; the 1st thing the 911 dispatcher said when I explained that we had put down our dog in 2004 was that this sounded like Pet Sematary and he probably wouldn't be sleeping tonight. Just what I wanted to hear :mad:

Just got off the phone with the state police; they recommended I call the state dog officer for recommendations before going to the location where the dog was found. I have the officer's home phone number, but I'll be nice and wait to call him in the morning- even though it's killing me.

I'm not trying to get hopeful (not sure if that is the right word?), but the comment about our dog being tranquillized vs euthanized is resonating with us. Our vet was supposed to be there, but wasn't; the other two vets (one is the owner of the facility) that we had seen in the past also weren't there. There was a fill-in for whatever reason and we assumed it was a doctor, but we were honestly so distraught at the time it is all a blur. We were also waiting for well over a 1/2 hour for the event to occur; they kept apologizing but it was completely unacceptable. If there was an opportunity for something strange to happen, it would seem this would have been the time.

I don't want to jump to a conspiracy theory because I really thought I trusted our vet's office, but right now so many things are going through our minds. I can't comprehend how anybody would get my dog's tags- even if it happens to be another dog.

It's gonna be a long night . . . :rolleyes:

Oh boy, that's freakishly disturbing. I feel so cynical thinking that the veterinary practice might be responsible, but check out this in the news today! http://www.kcra.com/news/17774993/detail.html Who'd have thunk it?!

If appropriate, I would put ads up on services like Who's Ya Doggy (http://www.whosyadoggy.com/americacanada/show_ads.php?ads=all) so that people can keep an eye out for your dog, if indeed he is out and about.

Good luck!!!! :???:

Man, with all those problems effecting your pup's quality of life, I would've done the same thing, although it definitely would be a hard decision to arrive at, as you described. I can't imagine all the stuff you and your family are going through right now... but I seriously hope things turn out the way you want. That would be insane if there was some vigilante vet tech who was trying to "save" the dog or something, but I just can't imagine they'd be dumb enough to keep the tags on him. I bet someone is just trying to scam y'all or play some nasty trick. I hope it's just a big misunderstanding though. :-(

that is just too weird...I wonder if your vet gave the dog back to the rescue

this is too weird. if it pans out--someone has a lot of explaining to do

Just got off the phone with the dog warden in the area; she thinks something is very fishy, and not from the person who found the dog.

She is very familiar with the previous president of the rescue we used and knows she would do anything to save a vehicle.

We are on our way out the door on her recommendation to go searching for the dog in the radius of where he was found yesterday; she thinks if he broke free he most likely will go home. If we find him and verify it is him we are to contact them immediately and they will take over. It is a country area, so who knows what we will find.

Fortunately my mother-in-law came over to watch the kids so it's just Paul and me going!

Will update soon . . .

Good Luck!

We got home about an hour ago; we were searching all afternoon within a few mile radius of the location where the dog was found. Unfortunately in the middle of the country with orchards, farms, etc, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

The husband of the woman who found the dog was not home (or at least didn't answer the phone at all), so we ended up leaving pics in their mailbox with a note. As we were leaving the daughter (young teen) was dropped off by the school bus. We briefly talked with her, but since her parents were not present we didn't want her to feel uneasy. She looked at the pics and didn't think the dog she found had as much white on his chest and she said the dog was much older than the pics. She said she was sorry, but if she saw our dog she would contact us.

We thought that would be the end, just not understanding how some other dog has our dog's tags, but on the drive home we realized this girl has no idea about the situation. She was in bed when we discussed everything with her mother and figure since she was the one who tied up the dog (not very well :rolleyes:) her parents didn't want to upset her with the info. She probably also didn't realize those photos were over 5 years old so of course the dog would look much older now.

There was a dog down the street that was tied up, but it was laying down way back off the road behind a slight hill and we couldn't get a close look at it. The facial structure looked similar; my husband tried to get a response, but didn't get anything.

I'll probably contact the woman tonight to see what she thinks of the photos. If she sees a resemblance I may follow up with her about the neighbor's dog?

Still don't know how another dog has my dog's tags- just doesn't make sense. But I agree it also doesn't make sense that if something fraudulent did happen with the euthanasia, why would someone be so stupid to keep the tags on the dog?

We remember taking our dog's leash home, but we don't think we ever got the collar. I may have even told the vet to donate it, never anticipating the license would not have been destroyed.

I'm exhausted . . . this should be in a book, not my life :mad:

dang, sorry to hear it isn't resolved yet.

"..."

I'm stunned. I never would have thought this could happen. I really don't know what to say.

I'm going to my cave to find my power animal now.

I guess if the daughter thought it wasn't the same dog then hopefully she's right and someone managed to recycle your old tags somehow.

Slide...

This is nuts!! I really hope that you find more out soon because now I am hooked to this thread. If this happened to me I would be totally crazy right now!

Crazy, but I've heard similar before. They run along the same lines: found the tags in the trash and wanted to jerk someone around, vet gave the dog back to rescue, and vet sold the dog (common with purebreds). Sorry to hear it's not resolved yet, I wish you the best :sad:

We decided not to call the woman that found the dog last night; we just needed some peace for the evening and fortunately found some respite in the Phillies game ;-)

She called me this morning, apologizing that she didn't get home from work until after 9pm. Her daughter really doesn't know the potential severity of the situation- just thought we were looking for a lost dog and it may have been a match.

The woman says the dog they found looks similar (of course older), but neither of them remember so much white on the dog as in the pics. I told her about the neighbor dog that we saw tied up but couldn't get close enough; she is familiar with the house and will check up to see if it is the dog they found. If so, she will get back to me.

At the very least, I figure the dog warden can go check it out since that dog would have had our dog's tags.

We're just trying to go on with normal life the best we can; the kids don't know and we are trying to keep it that way.

I'll update if I hear anything more, meanwhile I just felt like posting a pic . . . some of you may have seen it before- it was the day we brought our son home from the hospital.

Thanks again for all the well wishes!

~T

LOVE the slurpy tongue in the pic :D

LOVE the slurpy tongue in the pic :D

O, Hai, did U noe this baby has a flavr?:razz:

O, Hai, did U noe dis baby haz a flavr?:razz:

Fixed that for you :D

O, Hai, did U noe this baby has a flavr?:razz:

Guess he just liked that new baby smell :razz:

it is suspicious...but dont over react to it..... good luck

Wow - this is the weirdest thing I've heard. I agree with everyone else that it sounds fishy. Keep us posted.

So, what's going on with this? I find it incredibly hard to believe. I am so conflicted.......has the dog been found alive........please let us know
:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

Unfortunately I don't have anything to update :-(

The lady who found the dog with our dog's tags from 2002 is planning to check out the dog down the street to see if it is the same dog. She doesn't know the family, and due to the awkward situation is just doing a visual check; if she thinks it's the same dog she will let me know. But it will be whenever she can get a good look, so it might be within the next few days, next week, who knows?

If that isn't the same dog, then who knows where the dog escaped to. There are so many orchards and woods in the area that the dog would easily be caught with the dragging chain; if there is no one around that would hear him in distress, the outcome will not be good.

Right now, there is nothing we can do but wait. We feel we have done everything we can and all the local shelters have been notified that if a dog with this old tag number or description comes in to contact us immediately for identification. All I have said to the shelters is that this dog has been gone for over 4 years (not untrue, right?) and a dog with our tags was found and escaped and they seem to be fine with that. I certainly don't want anything said about the vet in the event this happens to be a huge mix-up (which I'm praying for!).

I hate to admit it outloud, but we are so frustrated with the daughter because if she tied the dog up properly, he would have never gotten away and this would have been settled on Tuesday; also frustrated that the mother allowed a child to take care of the situation, but it is what it is and we can't change it. :rolleyes:

You are handling this situation very well. I hope you get some resolve soon.

Unfortunately I don't have anything to update :-(

The lady who found the dog with our dog's tags from 2002 is planning to check out the dog down the street to see if it is the same dog. She doesn't know the family, and due to the awkward situation is just doing a visual check; if she thinks it's the same dog she will let me know. But it will be whenever she can get a good look, so it might be within the next few days, next week, who knows?

If that isn't the same dog, then who knows where the dog escaped to. There are so many orchards and woods in the area that the dog would easily be caught with the dragging chain; if there is no one around that would hear him in distress, the outcome will not be good.

Right now, there is nothing we can do but wait. We feel we have done everything we can and all the local shelters have been notified that if a dog with this old tag number or description comes in to contact us immediately for identification. All I have said to the shelters is that this dog has been gone for over 4 years (not untrue, right?) and a dog with our tags was found and escaped and they seem to be fine with that. I certainly don't want anything said about the vet in the event this happens to be a huge mix-up (which I'm praying for!).

I hate to admit it outloud, but we are so frustrated with the daughter because if she tied the dog up properly, he would have never gotten away and this would have been settled on Tuesday; also frustrated that the mother allowed a child to take care of the situation, but it is what it is and we can't change it. :rolleyes:

your doing fine... just relax your mind...

there is no point being frustrated or blaming the daughter and her mother, afterall they are only citizens (non-experts) trying to do their civic duty and its not intentional, nor do you have evidence right now.

if you want to play blame game, there is a myraid of people to blame... my advice, just let fate take its course and if its deemed true it will come back to you ok?!