I found this dog...

Alright, so yesterday we have 4 people come to our door with the same dog, because he's an english springer so people kept mistaking him for snickers, anyway, he was our neighbors cousins dog, so I put him in our sideyard since our neighbors weren't home. A couple of months ago, he was being treated for the humane society at the vet where I work. His owners live out of the country as missionaries, I think, so the dog was staying with someone else, but was with them whenver they visit the US. I assumed that my neighbors cousins were staying with them, found out their dog had been given to the humane society, and went and got it back. Well, I talked to my neighbor's daughter last night and she said that their cousins aren't even in the country, and they don't know that their dog has been given to the humane society. So, this dog is in our sideyard seperated from Ranger and Snickers because last time I saw him he wasn't in the greatest health, and I don't want to wind up with 2 or 3 sick dogs. I went out there this morning to give him some food and check his water, and realized that his fur is very thin, he has a hot spot on the back of his left front knee, and has virtually no fur on his tail. (When he came last night it was dark.) The first thing that popped into my head was mange, but the only part that really looks like the mange I have seen is that hotspot, the rest of his skin is gray and rough looking. I have only seen skin like that on a dog that was at the vet with a severe allergy to grass. I'm still waiting for my neighbor to call me back (they got home late last night and had to go somewhere early this morning) to see what they want to do with the dog. My best guess is that someone in our neighborhoor or nearby adopted this dog, and he got out and recognized the neighborhood from when he was here last summer/fall, which is why he kept winding up on our street. Do any of y'all know if mange would really look like that, or if that is possibly old mange that was treated and the fur hasn't grown back? I would post pictures, but I don't have a digital camera and my scanner doesn't work. Thanks for any advice y'all can give me (if y'all can make sense of my post, lol.)

 

Tuttifruti, you have me totally confused, if this dog is in that bad of shape he should not be going back to the owners whoever they are. I would find out who the onwers and and say you are keepiing the dog, it has obviously been neglected and if they complain threaten to report them to the HS. You are smart in keeping hm seperated, until you find out all he has

 

Well, this family lives out of the country as missionaries, like I said, and the person who they had taking care of him neglected him, a lot. Whenever they come back into the country, they ALWAYS pick up their dog from this person, and they ALWAYS get everything treated, and get him his shots. Why this same person was still taking care of him, I don't know, but he is the one who gave him up the humane society, and this dogs owners have no idea. I think it is their son's dog, which is the only reason they still "owned" it, and I think it may have been one of his friends caring for it. If I don't talk to my neighbor soon, I may just take him to the vet and use my free boarding until we can figure out what is going on. I also e-mailed the humane society where I think he was, to see if he was recently adopted and reported missing, or if he was put in a new foster home and recognized the area.