Dog adopted by new family; original owners want it back

[Bobbiez]

I am who I am wrote:

My brother lost his dog last year...it ended up at the Animal Shelter...my other brother went there and saw Buster there....he said he would be back the next day with my brother who owned Buster and they would bring photos to prove he was his dog....the next day Buster was unavailable...they wouldn't say whether they had killed him or what....Disgusting!!! My brother had this dog for many years also. If these places feel they can make a buck off the dog they would rather do that then reunite them with their owners. A couple years back we had a dog come to our yard....we kept her until we found the rightful owner...I put up ads at the grocery store...went to all the vets in our town, posted a sign at the end of our driveway....it took a couple days to find the owner who was just a few houses away......they were happy to have her back and I was sad to see her go....but it was the right thing to do. What's a little dog food and a little time when you can make people so happy by not turning their pet into the Kill it Society.
The Humane society wouldn't let us adopt a dog...a collie...we knew the breed even owned one...because our cat was not spade....um, last time I checked dogs and cats don't breed with each other. They would rather put the dog to sleep then let us have it...and by have I mean buy it from them for a big price and have it neutered....so for the same price we ended up going to a breeder and buying a Collie Pup. Sad we couldn't help the one that was already needing a home though. We live in the country with a fenced back yard also.
Do the right thing and GIVE that DOG BAck to it's rightful Owners who have had him for 9 years!!! That dog is wondering where it's family is, wouldn't you?!!! That's almost like taking someones Child from them. Your Disgusting!!

FYI...the Animal Shelter and the Humane Society are 2 totally different organizations. County Shelters are paid for by the taxpayers. The Humane Society operates from donataions. When we adopted our dog from the Kent County Humane Society, there were quite a few questions we had to answer, and we had to agree to have him neutered within a certain amount of time. They don't just hand dogs and cats out to anyone and say...here you go. They are concerned for the animal's welfare. I'm fine with that. Just out of curiousity why haven't you had your cat spayed? IMHO there is NO reason that anyone who keeps a cat or dog as a family pet should not have the animal spayed or neutered. You complain about the shelters having to put dogs and cats down...most are the result of owners who don't spay or neuter their pets.

[Caroline]

Ten bucks says the new owners are associated with the inhumane society. Been there done that!!! This stinks.

[Jen]

How sad. The family that adopted this dog needs to return it to its original owners. Period. What a sad, selfish world we live in. What if the tables were turned? These people should be ashamed of themselves. Harbor Humane Society should help reunite Mia with her rightful owners. I tried contacting them via email but they have disabled their online contact form. We should start calling them demanding they help return Mia to the Zwagermans.

[Kathy]

"How ironic it is that the dog in question is a breed of considerable monetary value. The dog likely would have been returned to the owners if it were a mixed-breed of little or no monetary value"

This is a really silly comment! Any one who has done any research about adopting from shelters knows the fees for adoption have nothing to do with the breed at all! All dogs get treated the same and get the same "stray holds" regardless of breeds. In fact, most shelters promote the adoption of mixed breeds! Mia was just lucky not to face the same fate as many dogs at shelters do, regardless of breeds.

As for the man commenting that the humane society is in wrong because he wasnt allowed to adopt because his cat wasn't "spade" (spayed) that certainly makes sense given the amount of unwanted animals/litters end up in shelter and have to be euthanized. Spaying and neutering is part of being a responsible pet owner.

I don't think the director was hiding either, she answered the questions, didn't she? WOOD TV 8 might want to rethink their journalistic standards.

[questions]

yet this story is out of holland and this dog owner lived in holland? does anyone else find this post odd?

Grand Rapids Dog Owner wrote:

People here are the FACTS:
I am the neighbor of the owners of this dog.
The dog has been running around the neighborhood for years!
It is lucky to be alive.
It also was NEVER brought inside. It lived out in the cold for years...freezing cold.
It was never spayed. It has had several litters because the family did not give a crap about the animal until now.
If you knew or saw the condition this animal was in-- you would be happy to see it has a new loving home with people who care about it.
Don't comment or make judgements about others without knowing the facts.

[Ho Chi Minh]

The dog was adopted by some vietcong. It is on the menu for tomorrow night.

[Jenn]

questions wrote:

yet this story is out of holland and this dog owner lived in holland? does anyone else find this post odd?
<quoted text>

I do not find it odd. People can use computers anywhere. The facts are the facts

[Blame the owners]

If the owners truly cared about their dog, they wouldn't have waited EIGHT DAYS before doing anything to find it. I live in that area, and there was never even a lost ad in the paper!
If their child went missing, I'm sure they would have done something the second they found out.
It is not the Humane Society's fault, nor the people who adopted the dog. The blame should be put on the owner's for not being responsible!
I'm sure the dog is in way better home now.

[Give the dog back]

The humane society has certain procedures in place, and they followed those. But, what is wrong with the new owners? They can obviously see that the dog belonged to someone else and was very loved! Look at all of the pictures! If they had a heart, they would give the dog to the rightful owners and open their home to another needy animal.

[Sunshine]

All I gotta say is that looks more like and English Setter than an Irish Setter. I will not comment on the rest of the story because I do not know either of the families that are in the story. My question is do the old owners have receipts from the vet to prove this is their dog? If not, then I must say they did not care good enough care of the dog. They could go to their vet and get the paperwork needed.

[Noni Kateus]

This is a glaring example of the unfortunate difference sometimes between "law" and "justice." Nine years is a lifetime in dog time and the fact that the Zwagermans could so vividly identify their dog should be 'proof' enough. BUT another, better way: Bring the dog into a room with the original family and let the dog tell you how well she know THEM! Oh, come on 'new family'...for Pete's sake, you've only invested a few days of yourself into her and she HAD a family for a long time before you. Recently my dog got loose and went on a leashless run, following the scent of a dog that is allowed to roam the semi-rural neighborhood. I was terrified that someone WOULD find her because she was wearing the collar that does not have her ID on it and she's such an obviously superior/wonderful/excellent girl that I knew someone would just keep her. I know how heartsick I was just thinking about losing her! PLEASE let the people have their dog back...

[Noni Kateus]

Sundown wrote:

holy cow. what a dumb story. wood tv, are you serious? I'd rather read about something more important, like acutal news. This is not news. This is the dumbest thing I've ever read.

Let me guess: You don't have a dog, probably don't have any pet, and would not pick up a mud turtle that was trying to get across a hot blacktopped road!

[Bobbiez]

Kathy wrote:

"How ironic it is that the dog in question is a breed of considerable monetary value. The dog likely would have been returned to the owners if it were a mixed-breed of little or no monetary value"
This is a really silly comment! Any one who has done any research about adopting from shelters knows the fees for adoption have nothing to do with the breed at all! All dogs get treated the same and get the same "stray holds" regardless of breeds. In fact, most shelters promote the adoption of mixed breeds! Mia was just lucky not to face the same fate as many dogs at shelters do, regardless of breeds.
As for the man commenting that the humane society is in wrong because he wasnt allowed to adopt because his cat wasn't "spade" (spayed) that certainly makes sense given the amount of unwanted animals/litters end up in shelter and have to be euthanized. Spaying and neutering is part of being a responsible pet owner.
I don't think the director was hiding either, she answered the questions, didn't she? WOOD TV 8 might want to rethink their journalistic standards.

Thank you for your intellegent post. I don't understand why people are blaming this on the Humane Society. They did what they do best...adopted out a dog. When we got our 1st dog from the Humane Society, he was not what we went there looking for. I wanted a 35-40 lb female around 2 years old. However, once the adoption counselor talked to us, she asked us to take a look at a 6 yr old Shepherd mix who weighed 70 lbs. He had been hit by a car and had received medical treatment at the Humane Society, where he had been for over 2 months. We went to the kennel area, had a "play date" and fell in love. He was the perfect match for us. He is now almost 13 years old, and he and our other dog are beloved members of our family. The people who adopt out these dogs (and cats) do their best to match up the dogs to the prospective owners. They truly care for the animals. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the Humane Society. When the time comes for us to get another dog, we will go straight to the Humane Society to find ourselves another awesome pet who just wants a loving home. To those who want to bash the Humane Society I have one question. What have you done lately to help out stray and unwanted animals???? That's what I thought...NOTHING.

[Noni Kateus]

Ah, I've learned an important lesson. I react with my "heart" and viewed this situation through my own lens, assuming the dog was as loved and decently cared for as ours; if, as "questions" from Hopkins, MI, asserts this dog was living the semi-detached life as described, she is NOT as valued by her previous owners as implied. And re: Irish setters...the only ones I personally knew were red. O, crazy world. Caring costs; "trust no one," as a cop I know often says.

[Maggie]

I fully support the Humane Society, if the dog was a family member why did they wait?? If one of their children were missing would they wait 8 days to make a report. Lesson learned keep an ID tag on your pets, get a microchip, have photos and a dog license, and most importantly look in person at shelters and humane societies for you family member.

[Bryan]

Grand Rapids Dog Owner wrote:

People here are the FACTS:
I am the neighbor of the owners of this dog.
The dog has been running around the neighborhood for years!
It is lucky to be alive.
It also was NEVER brought inside. It lived out in the cold for years...freezing cold.
It was never spayed. It has had several litters because the family did not give a crap about the animal until now. if this is true i retract my ststement the dog is better of with the new owners maybe yhey should be looked into for not taking care of the dog to begin with .
If you knew or saw the condition this animal was in-- you would be happy to see it has a new loving home with people who care about it.
Don't comment or make judgements about others without knowing the facts.

if this is true then i retract my earlier ststement this dog is probably inside now and loving its new owners, maybe this family should be looked at a little closer if the dog ran around for that long how many police reports wher made it is public record .

[The truth]

Grand Rapids Dog Owner wrote:

People here are the FACTS:
I am the neighbor of the owners of this dog.
The dog has been running around the neighborhood for years!
It is lucky to be alive.
It also was NEVER brought inside. It lived out in the cold for years...freezing cold.
It was never spayed. It has had several litters because the family did not give a crap about the animal until now.
If you knew or saw the condition this animal was in-- you would be happy to see it has a new loving home with people who care about it.
Don't comment or make judgements about others without knowing the facts.

Obviously the dog is in a better home than the previous "caring" owners. Unfortunately you never get all the facts when the news does a story like this. I don't blame the people who adopted the dog. If I fell in love with a dog that the original owners waited so long to call about, then I would keep it too. The fact that they waited so long just proves that they are hyping this up and probably don't care as much for the dog as they claim.

[whiner]

Ashley wrote:

Are you kidding me!?!? Give her back the dog! She's had that dog for nine years and the new owners refuse to give her back! Those must be some SELFISH! people. Pets are members of the family. Who do you think deserves Mia, her mother, who has had the dog for NINE YEARS or the new owners, who have only had her for a couple of days? DUH!

Maybe the new owners are waiting for a dog found award.

[Dawn]

If the family had the dog for 9 yrs then obviously they have all the vet records with identifying marks. Please for the sake of a family. Give the dog back.

[puglife]

Thats too bad. This really is sad to me. I would be devastated if something like this happened to me. I guess its just a warning to all the dog owners everywhere. Have your pet tagged or chipped.
And in the words of Bob Barker "Control the pet population....have your dog spade or neutered"