Totally understand your decision. Congrats on your new dog! I hope his treatment is successful and you and your husband have many years of companionship with Hobo. I can't think of a better Christmas present:0).

Best wishes!

I think anyone who would condemn your decision needs their head examined. I commend you! Taking in a stray and investing in him, it's a beautiful thing. Owners who care about their dogs don't let them get in the shape you found Hobo in, so I wouldn't worry about it anyway. May you be rewarded with a long, happy, loving, playful life together!

I was one of the posters, who said you should make an attempt to find the original owner. However, I also said that given his condition, its likely that the original owner doesn't want to be found.

As long as you have made some contact with the police and animal welfare society to verify that no one has reported this dog missing, then you have a clear conscience.

How long have you had this dog? Have you contacted any authorities to make a found dog report or inquire about lost dog reports?

I probably would bathe and groom the dog, but I would not spend large amounts of money on the animal, at least for a few days, after I put my name on the found dog list at the police station. If no one has called in a couple days, then I would start the treatment.

We have two Pembroke Welsh Corgis. We adopted Casey, a beautiful sable, last February, from the North Texas Humane Society. He was heart worm positive and we knew that. The treatment is about $400 and the Humane Society picked up half the cost through one of their approved vets. You drop the dog off at the vet and the treatment takes 3-4 days and is a mild amount of arsenic which kills the heart worms. Then the dog needs to be confined for a minimum of 6 weeks so as the heat worms break up that they don't get in the lungs or other organs. We confined Casey in a small bathroom and took him out on a lead 2 or 3 times a day to do his buiness. Today he is an healthy active dog and the two Corgis are great friends and play constantly. He was 19 lbs when we got him and know he is a robust 26 lbs. It has been a wonderful experience to know we saved this guy. Good luck with Hobo.

Hobo is at vets now and will be starting treatment in a few days. He looks to be welsh corgi mixed with alot of other mixes. He is so humble and hungry as a horse. The vet says he looks like he has been on the street for awhile. I had just come from shopping at mall and he was standing at the side of road and looked like he was hurt, cars were zooming by, so as soon as I could pull off I did, and came back to see about him and I was aghast to see how thin and matted and sunken his eyes were. It really frightened me. I just loaded him up in the car and took him to the first pets smart I could find. He had not been hit by a car, or was he hurt in anyway. I think he was asking for help. Anyways, the vet says he would not have lasted much longer, just hungry. He will probably be in the vets hospital through Christmas, but DH and I are really glad we have a dear sweetie as all our children are grown and we miss Scamper so bad when he died last March from cancer(our little mutt who wandered up in our yard and we kept him ll years ago). I can't wait until Hobo is all well and is home. Please keep him in your prayers and also pray he will accept us and like us when he gets well. He is all humble as pie right now. DH went out and bought a crate, blankets, chewies, and other stuff for him for Christmas. LOL

I also agree that Hobo found you - and it sounds like in the nick of time.

If I lost my dog I would be running ads, putting up flyers, etc. I would not expect someone who found my dog to be the one making the effort to find me.

Thanks for rescuing Hobo from sure death! I will be praying he gets to come home before Christmas. Please keep us posted.
Sher

I didn't say before, bless you for picking him up. I very much believe in things meant to be. You were meant to be on that road at that time.

Merry Christmas to you and Hobo.

Thanks to you all, I will keep you posted. Merry Christmas.

You and your husband are angels. There is no other word for it. Please keep us posted on Hobo's progress.. I will keep all my good thoughts coming your way!

Bless you for taking in Hobo and making him healthy again. It sounds as though your DH wants him even more than you do!

There's a wonderful Yiddish word - "bashert". It means the intended partner that one is destined to find. "I went to the party, looked across the room, my eyes met his, and I knew that he was my 'Bashert'". Hobo is your canine bashert. I will pray for his restoration to full health and a long and happy life with you. May the days fly by till he comes home to you!

True story: A few decades ago a friend of mine was driving along a Texas interstate. She thought that there might be a problem with a tire and pulled off the highway onto the shoulder. As she was walking around the car she heard a faint rustle in the weeds. And there was a tiny kitten, thin and dirty and barely alive. She rushed him to a vet and together they saved him. She named him Havoc. Havoc had a full and happy nineteen years with her. He was her feline bashert!

Good for you and for Hobo. It was meant to be. I never rescued a dog like that(except my retired racing greyhound, but she was all ready for adoption) but I have rescued cats off the street before in the same condition Hobo is in and they are forever grateful. Have a great life w/ him.

Sounds like a good plan to me. You and Hobo were in the right place at the right time for each other.

22 years ago we had a skinny, flea infested Border collie mix show up at our door. We knew she was someone's pet because she kept trying to get inside our home. I took her to be bathed, dipped and cleaned up and brought her home. I posted signs all over the neighborhood; called the Animal agencies and drove her around our community hoping someone would recognize her.

No one claimed her and she became ours. She was grateful for a home and companionship and she rewarded us daily with her proof of love for us.

After we had her for about 4 years we found out she belonged to a family that lived 3 blocks away that never bothered to look for her and was known to have kept her in the back yard all of the time.

I was scared that they would find out we had her and would try to reclaim her. I contacted an attorney who told me to document what her expenses were for food, Vet bills and to estimate what boarding fees would have been. He drew up papers stating that in order to reclaim the dog, the previous owners would have to reimburse us for these expenses.

She lived with us until she died at the age of 14 and those people never knew (or didn't care) that she was living with us. But we would have gone to court to fight for her and we were assured that our request for $$ repayment would have held up in court.

Hobo is yours now and I just know he will repay your kindness many times over as he enjoys his new home with you.

Bless you.

Mona

Mona, you made a good faith effort to locate the original owner. So there is almost no way the original owner could reclaim the dog.

As far as dog ownership goes; possession means more than anything else. Unless a dog is chipped or tattood, legally there is not much a person can do to reclaim a lost (or stolen) pet.

Which would be true for Hobo too. (And though it seems that Hobo was probably abandoned, one could never be sure unless some attempt is made to find the original owners.)

B'Elanna had heartworms when I found her. I still went through the proper channels (here, Durham APS) so that just in case an idiot owner who allowed their dog to be off HWP for 6+ months was still looking, I could present them with the vet bill for the treatment and ask if they still wanted her.

Needless to say, nobody was looking for her. But it's still the right thing to do to look for the owners, even if they are idiots. If they do come forward, they owe you the vet bills and a huge thank you for saving their dog's life- twice. Once for rescuing him off the streets, and again for treating his life-threatening heartworm disease. I doubt you'd have any trouble in keeping him, in any case.

I'm sending Hobo all my best thoughts for strength & health, & I'm sending you my best golden blessing for your compassionate heart & your loving soul.

Being in the hospital is hard enough on anybody, & pets have no way of knowing that they'll ever see you again.

They can literally give up hope & pine away.

If I had one in the hospital, I'd visit every day, & I'd sleep in a different tee shirt each night, & take last night's tee shirt to my dog the next day so he'd have something with my scent on it to comfort him when I left.

Our baby is getting the best of care and he is doing well. We have taken pictures of him and posted at local shopping malls... but if owners think they are going to just pick him up free... without paying vet bill no can do... also dh and I have been staying with little Hobo long hours with him so he knows who his mommy and daddy are. Dh has been staying with him some when he gets off of work. No one has claim him so far, I just don't think he was anyones dog, just a stray. Poor baby. So sad. I think he may get to come home before Christmas. What a joyful time, folks!! Thanks everyone for your prayers.. Things are looking pretty good so far. He is still skin and bones. He recognizes me and DH and is very affectionate to me, hope it isn't out of sickness and he is a terror. LOL. Hobo is wagging his tail when we go visit him good sign, maybe???