... or whoever else may have an answer.

Let's someone takes a dog to a boarding kennel, pays for a week, never to return to collect the dog. Phonecalls are not answered and letters come back saying the person had left the premises and no longer lives there. What is the legal situation of said dog? Can the owner be done for abandonment? How can a boarding kennel "dispose" of the dog? And if said dog is registered with the IKC is there any legal obligation of the boarding kennel to hand the dog back to the breeder?

Anyone please?

I know of a dog where this happened. The police told the kennel owner that the dog could be considered legally abandoned; as per the law the dog warden was informed, the kennel was told they could keep the dog for a further week and then it was theirs to dispose of as they wish. They could sell it, give it away, keep it or have it put to sleep.

The law in NI might be different, however.

It depends on the contract that the owner signs when they leave their dog.  At the kennel I used to run the contract said that if the owner didn't collect the dog or make contact with the kennel for 14 days after the booked date, then the kennel owner could dispose of the dog.  I wouldn't have thought of contacting the breeder.
It had only happened twice in the 20 years that the owner had owned the kennel and both times she just rehomed the dogs.

Thank you, I am in the Republic and the animal welfare law here is basically a hundred years old. The boarding kennels owner wishes to send the dog to rescue ie myself but I want to cover all avenues as I have no wish to get into trouble as of course the (male) dog will be neutered here etc. The dog has now been in boarding kennels for 4 weeks and the dogwarden had no answer at all..

Has the kennel owner got the owner's signature on their admission form?  Is there any mention about abandonment?

Unfortunately, the boarding kennel owner doesn't have that clause in his contract although from now on in he will.

Ooo risky. :(  I think I'd want something to cover myself before accepting the dog under those circumstances........

The Gardai didn't have a clue either but said the kennel owner could always give the dog to the pound. In which case the dog would not come back out due to his breed (SBT).

i dont know the answer, but i can remember this man in our town who stole a huge amount of money from his employer, ran off with this young girl abroad leaving his dogs in kennels. i can remember the newspaper ad saying he owed the kennels hundreds in bourding fees so they must have kept them a while. was a few years ago now though.

Poor dog hope if all works out for him.

We had a clause saying that if no contact was made within 14 days of due departure date we could 'dispose' of the animals. When we had a pair of cats left a large rescue grop still wouldn't help us rehome them as they said they still weren't legally ares. Don't know what they excpected us to do with them!