A friend of mine has a yellow Lab. She is in no position to properly care for him, along with 70% of lab owners and cannot give him sufficient excercise. He is very much loved but needs more than that in order to live his life to the full.

Now, the dog has a nasty habit of jumping the back fence, owner will not raise the fence to stop this. So he is out int he garden, jumps the fance and takes off on a jaunt round the area. This disturbs me, he is in tact and has no road sense so he is a danger to every bitch in the area, every other dog in the area if he smells a bitch in heat, to the general public and to motorists.

Fortunately he was picked up by the dog warden and taken to a kennel. The owner managed to track him down and managed to cry so much on the phone to the dog warden he let her take him home after paying only 1/4 of the release fee!!!!!

What is the point in there being local authority rules about keeping dogs under control at all times when they are more than happy to turn a blind eye to these rules for a hysterical woan on the end of the phone?!!!!

I would be interested to read your opinions on this matter.
GM

In some local authorities if people are on low income they do payment terms but Ive never heard of them reducing the fee because the stray kennel use the fees for their income.
Often Now pedigree dogs as well as other crosses etc often end up in stray kennels if they are claimed the owner has to pay a fine plus the kennelling fee so some people will just leave the dog their knowing they may be detroyed.
We always kept rehomed  dogs chip documents registered to our rescue  on one occasion one of the dogs ended up a stray and the warden actually told me that we were classed as his owner and could be prosecuted if he was straying again I explained our circumstances and he made the exception.
So  I would think the person you refer to will not keep getting away with it should the dog be picked up again.

"She is in no position to properly care for him, along with 70% of lab owners and cannot give him sufficient excercise."
A somewhat sweeping assertion, Glenmoray? What evidence have you got for the"70%"?

I am amazed at this as others have posted our breed rescue chip dogs that come to us for rehoming etc, I do the chipping and insist that the new owners do the transfer by getting them to sign the documents and make payment before the dogs leave so that the rightful owners are contacted not us at rescue.

There is the chance that this person may be fined not only for the kenneling and pick up etc which increases on a daily basis upto the 7th day when destruction is the usual option, that's how we got merry on her 7th day due to be pts on Xmas even, she also has to consider the fines and prosecution that the local authority can do as the dog has no ID tag which is a legal requirement in this country no tag around their neck and they can prosecute with a resulting fine of £1,000, a microchip isn't good enough they have to be wearing a visable tag to comply with the law.  I've argued with my local council that I won't put my address or the dogs name on any tag just my surname and phone number as there have been cases where dogs have been stolen by people claiming to be their owners after reading the details on their tags.

Carene, i shall re-phrase that for you. 70% of the labs I KNOW. I know show Labs, Working labs and pet labs. Of all of them the show and working labs are sufficiently excercised for their daily needs and very few of the pet labs are treated as well. I cannot see this being much different elsewhere. I am concerned about these labs not being given the stimuli they need, its a crying shame.

Unfortunately on my way to work this same Yellow Lab was out, alone, running riot. I saw him but hadnt the time to play catch me if you can. I telephoned his owner and all she said was "he'll come home when he's hungry".

I can only hope the warden is called again and this dog is found a home with a family willing to meet his needs. Of course, that probably will not happen and the dog will be PTS, unless he dies in a car accident he has caused.

Thanks for the clarification. I have to say I have often wondered how owners with lots of labs - e.g 6 or 7 - can possibly manage to exercise them sufficiently - and it's often show people who tend to have a pack! :) :) :)

Well I take all fiveof my dogs out together so makes no difference if there is one or five to walk. :D

With a single mum, kiddy under 2 and nothing but main roads all around the area we live i dont think this case of ownership was thought through!!
I didnt know this person until 15 months ago, she bought the pup 3 weeks before baby was due and its been disaster ever since. I actually saw the dog go for the child over a toy on christmas eve!
I wish the dog warden had been a little harder!

I take my lot out seperately, only because of the age differences, pups  go 1st with 15 mins, inbetweens 2nd for 30 mins, and the big girls last for anything up to 1.5hours at a time. As the nature reserve is only 5mins drive this is no big problem. So for me it is usually 3 at a time. On a good day Penny (Arthritis) goes with the big girls and on a bad day she goes with the pups.

>>>The owner managed to track him down and managed to cry so much on the phone to the dog warden he let her take him home after paying only 1/4 of the release fee!!!!!<<<

This surprises me- I recently had a friend whos dog went missing and ended up in the local pound- shes on benefits and found it hard to find the release fee but was told he would need to stay there until she had the full amount

I have Pm'd you.

Lucy