a little situation with a dog.....

[Insomnia]

well...lately, there has been this unfixed male dog sitting in front of my apartment day & night, mostly nights 'cuz during the day the security would ask him to leave. I'm not even sure if someone own this dog or what, he has a collar on, fitted nicely, not too tight nor too loose. since I've been living here for the past 4 months, I've seen him everyday hanging out in the neighborhood, without the sight of any owner......he hung out in front of the apartment when I first met him 4 months ago, then stopped, lately, he's been hanging out here again. He seem well fed, I did one of those feel the rib test and he is not skinny at all, he's not aggressive, not afraid of people.....does not resemble a stray dog because of the collar and he hold his tail high, stray dogs usually hang their tails, he also have puffy fur that's a little dirty but does not look unhealthy nor any skin disease.

my question is that is he hanging out in front of my apartment waiting for a certain female dog? Is it possible that someone lost this dog by what I'm describing? Or abandoned? It really doesn't seem like it, but I've never seen his owner. It's really cold outside and I'm just worried about his safety.

I want to bring the dog to a vet to scan for microchip (microchip is mandatory), but due to the culture here, the owner (if he has one) might take offense if I do that, and trouble is the last thing I want. It's perfectly normal here to own dogs that free roam the city and just go home for food and sleep.

There isn't really much I can do 'cept for the microchip scan, but I really want to make sure first that the dog is homeless b4 I do that......so I guess what I'm really asking is that are there any other signs that I can look for to confirm it?

[msvette2u]

Not really. If he's a "neighborhood stray" neighbors could be feeding him because they feel sorry for him. Or he could be scrounging and gotten pretty good at it.
It's difficult to say one way or another.

[Insomnia]

After talking to some neighbors and ppl around the block, the dog is indeed a neighborhood stray! It use to be fed by a restaurant and slept at its door at night, but that restaurant has been outta business for 5 years, but the dog made the neighborhood its home, everyone around here knows him and he even have a name, 'little yellow'. I guess there are more ppl feeding him than I realized, I notice that sometime he's even cleaner than usual, so I guess someone ocassionaly bath him too. Such a relief to know.

[mnp13]

Now you need to set up a fund drive to neuter him!

[Insomnia]

Now you need to set up a fund drive to neuter him!

I thought about that, neutering is dirt cheap here so no need for setting up fund. However, the thing that concerns me is that I don't know this dog's age, I don't feel that I should neuter him if he's too old, it could be a traumatizing experience and I worry that he'll be depressed...could be bad for his safety. I really dunno.....

[mnp13]

snip him.

how many puppies is this wandering man responsible for? Great dog or not, we don't need more puppies in the world.

[Jesseca]

It is probably best you have him neutered no matter what age.

[pLaurent]

Neutering would be good when you think of the staggering number of dogs that can be produced from just one breeding pair.

Too bad someone can't help this poor guy, before he ends up suffering disease, starvation or any number of terrible fates that await strays.

[msvette2u]

I thought about that, neutering is dirt cheap here so no need for setting up fund. However, the thing that concerns me is that I don't know this dog's age, I don't feel that I should neuter him if he's too old, it could be a traumatizing experience and I worry that he'll be depressed...could be bad for his safety. I really dunno.....

Depression isn't something I'd worry about at all. Unwanted litters, dog fights over a "girlfriend" and getting struck by a vehicle while chasing the "girlfriend" or fighting, IS something I'd worry about!! Studies have shown that neutered pets are happier and healthier!