Is anyone missing a female basset hound? I posted the particulars (including a photo) on northwoodhills.org/help/found.htmlwell, several days later, I now know the basset is named [Mia] .. she and her owner have been reunited. Seems she had only wandered about a dozen houses away! The owner posted a LOST DOG sign on some telephone poles, which we spotted.
The day after she was found wandering (after a thunderstorm), I took her to my vet (a 2-minute drive); I asked them to scan her for a microchip (none present). She was wearing a harness, but had no ID tags. The vet said they think she's the same one that's been brought in before, so I suspected she needed a better home (where the owner will watch her more carefully). She's a really friendly dog, about 2 years old (I'd guess) and after a rough night with my black Lab, they couldn't stop playing with each other.
There are many breed-specific animal rescue groups all around the Metroplex, and even some "generic dog" rescue groups (example: Animal Guardians of America) .. and the dogs are not subject to euthanasia. I found this one by entering [dallas rescue "basset hound"] on
Google which took me to TexasKennelClub.net which took me to the Basset rescue site.
After talking to Liane at the North Texas Basset Rescue (metro 817-366-5649) , I decided to take the critter to the Richardson Animal Shelter (1330 Columbia, 972-744-4480). On the way there, I found myself wishing I could keep her (sweet disposition, great companion dog, and too smart for her own good) but .. I have 3 pets now and don't need any more in The Zoo. Liane asked me to tell her where I'd taken the dog, so that anyone interested in adopting her would be easily able to locate her (assuming her owners didn't claim her) .
Liane advised me to try Operation Kindness (a no-kill shelter which was full, as usual) or the Richardson Animal Shelter (I adopted 2 pets from there). Richardson keeps strays for 5 days, and after that they call the Basset Rescue folks to arrange for an adoption; the North Texas Basset Rescue folks said they have at LEAST 5 applications from people wanting to adopt a basset now, so I didn't anticipate a problem. Turning any animal over to a public "dog pound" makes me queasy; what if something goes wrong .. somebody makes a mistake? It's like I sent the helpless critter to their doom. {sigh}
The folks at Richardson said that small breeds such as beagles and bassets adopt quickly; larger breeds are the hardest to find adopters. The first thing they did, after snapping on a leash, was to scan for a microchip. Since my own dog has a microchip, I was very pleased to see that this practice is followed.
A theory of mine: the ideal number of pets is three: 2 dogs and 1 cat. Dogs are pack animals, and cats tend to like the solitude.
Aside: some time ago, a chocolate Lab found it's way to me (also after a big rainstorm), and was adopted by one of my neighbors (a few streets away) I called him [Waldo] because of the "Where in the world is Waldo?" comic. As far as I know, his original owners never surfaced.
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