so i rescued this dog about a week ago, he was in bad conditions and all of a sudden his owner claims him?

God bless you honey. You've gone above and beyond and KUDOS for taking the dog despite the owners protest. That took guts. Here's what you need to do. Have the vet you visited write a letter stating you are the owner of record as far as he's concerned, having brought the dog in for care and paying for it. Have him attest to the dog's condition and give an opinion as to what type of neglect he must've endured. If you are contacted by the owner again, send him a copy of this letter along with a note that you will have other people familiar with the dog and his story give similar statements, under oath if necessary.

I doubt the owner cares enough to go through any real trouble to get the dog back. Best of luck to you!

I'm not sure if you can get in trouble if there's no proof of ownership. I would go to animal control and explain to them what has been going on. I don't know if that's the best course, though. Is there a Yahoo Answers for legal questions? Sorry I'm not too helpful.

Some people may say you should have left the dog with the owner and called animal control to asses the situation. Animal control would have most likely given the owner a warning and a deadline for veterinary care. In my experience, the dogs usually get seized in the end anyway. Maybe you just sped up the process and saved the dog some grief. It's sad that the dog keeps going back to its neglectful owner. That's their nature, though.

If you repost the old owner to animal control, at least they may charge him with neglect and he won't be able to legally own more animals and mistreat them.

Good luck, I'm glad there's at least some people like you who care this much! I hope everything works out for you.

The ONLY way that he can claim the dog as his is if he had proof of ownership, which sounds like he does not have any. I wouldn't worry too much about it. IF he does have proof, such as vet records, then he would be responsible for reimbursing you for the vet bills you have incurred. If you can legally prove that you have had the dog for 30 days, i.e. 30 days from the day you took him to the vet, then there is nothing he can do from that point, the dog has legally been transfered to you as the owner.

Bless you for taking this poor guy in and good luck!

No, you're not legally obligated. Look at it from another point of view, however. Perhaps the owners DID look for him, but just didn't look at that shelter? Perhaps he was transported out of the area (I once assisted in finding a dog who some good samaritan transported 30 miles from where the dog was found to a shelter near her work). Perhaps the microchip was put there by the breeder and the breeder has no clue the owners lost the dog. You don't have to give the previous owners YOUR information, but it would be a kindness to tell them their dog is safe and happy so they can quit worrying.

First of all, I want to say thank you for caring so much for this dog! :) I don't know the legality of it. I do know the least of it would be to call the spca reporting neglect and abuse. I also know locally if an animal is taken in by animal control or taken to the animal shelter as a stray, after a couple of days if the animal is not claimed then it becomes the property of the shelter. Then you could adopt it for a small fee that usually includes vaccines and spay/neuter. :)

Unless he has papers (which i doubt he does) he has basically no proof the dog is his. Its good you have veterinary work to show how you've helped him but you may need more proof. Register him for the time being and gather as much proof as posible. What ever you do don't let the old owner find out where you live. Stay as far away from him as possible. Good luck!

ask the man for some proof of owner ship. chances are this poor pooch was never taken to a vet by him. chances are the guy was angry that somebody called him out on his poor puppy parenting lol

the dog is yours you took care of him and took him to the vet.

the jerk wants "his" dog back, have him prove that the dog was his first.

congrats all of paw kind thanks you:-)

since this happens all the time most places are filled with these complaints of neglect. place a complaint against the man, but dont expect any true charges to come out however he will be unable to adopt an animal.

i would keep the dog , get him a license if required in ur area, keep a copy of the vet papers where u took him to the vet if the " other owner" tries to claim him report him to the authorities as trying to claim the dog and show them the vet papers to prove what shape he was in -- he was negleting the dog if it ever even really belonged to him -- take pics of the dog to show the shape he is in now and then compare them to ones in the future after he gets completely better

You could report the owner and im sure he would be charged with neglect and the dog taken off him but unfortunately the dog will probably still keep going back, it's all he knows, keep up the good work though,& good luck.

Don't let the owner get to that dog! The owner kicked him out the owner doesn't get him. He could abuse the dog and even worse kill him!