I can't help but feel guilty about this!
Last month I spied a little beagle zooming across the street. I went outside and called to him, and tackled him in the street. No collar, not neutered. We knew he lived in the area because we've heard him howling. I took him into the house leashed him and my dog and took them for a walk around the neighborhood. I just started knocking on doors and finally got lucky when a neighbor one street over said he belonged next door. We knocked there and no one answered. So we took him back to our house where he played and played with our beagle, and we sort of fell in love with the little guy. We kept checking every hour at their house and no one answered. Finally like 3 hours and 2 exhausted beagles later the owners came home. I gently mentioned to them the reason our beagle doesn't escape or wander is because 1) we exercise him 2) he's neutered 3) we make damn sure that he's secured if he's left outside and furthermore, he's chipped and has tags!
I told them when they left that he's welcome at our house anytime to play and make sure you get a collar and tags!
Well today our neighboors stopped Dh in the driveway and asked if our dog was with us. (He was in the house with me.) DH asked why and he said because someone came through and said they had run over a beagle. Sure enough it was little Memphis. He's at the vet and they aren't sure if he's gonna make it. I should have stolen him when I had the chance, I wish everybody loved their dogs enough to care for them properly!
Re: Another neighbor's dog post....
Poor little Memphis!
I've had dogs all my life and have only had one get out once. She was missing for 1/2 a day and I was worried sick about her. By the time she got home we had already placed an ad in the newspaper, alerted the shelters and vets office in the area and made signs to put up in the nieghborhood. Dh and I both went in to work late because we were driving around looking for her for over 3 hours. I can't imagine having a dog get out on a frequent basis and just not caring enough to fix the problem.
Reading this made me cry.