A woman in Spring, Texas lost her beloved dog - but when she found him only days later, he had already been adopted out to another family. ABC 7 Chicago reported yesterday that a three-year-old Siberian Husky named Koda escaped from his backyard on December 17 while his owner, Lisa Landes, was at work. When Landes discovered that her dog was missing, she called veterinarians and posted flyers, but there was no sign of her missing dog. Days later, Landes was told that one of her neighbors had found her dog and taken him to the SPCA shelter in Houston. She called the shelter and was informed that the dog had been there - but he'd already been given to a little boy as a Christmas present. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding me.' I need him back. I was just devastated," Landes stated. The Houston SPCA's policy is to hold an animal for three days before the animal becomes available for adoption. Tera Yurkshat with HSPCA said that Koda was at the facility for that required time - and then he was adopted out to the new family. It is not clear why Koda was not wearing identification tags - or if those were lost when he escaped from his yard. It is also not known if he was microchipped - or if he was scanned for a microchip - but this is standard practice at most shelters and rescues. Regardless of Koda's identification, two families now love one dog - and one family will certainly be heartbroken this holiday season. According to Yurkshat, Koda's new owners haven't decided whether they will give the dog back to Landes. http://www.examiner.com/…/woman-s-lost-dog-given-to-little-… When we have a dog in at The Rescue Home we hold them for 6 weeks before they are put up for adoption, during the 6 weeks we are assessing the dog so we have a good idea what their temperament is like whether they are dog/cat friendly ok with babies/toddlers children so on, But the HSPCA in Texas couldn't of done any assessment on Koda as it takes a week for any dog in kennels to settle down.
What a mess! It can be so difficult to prove legal ownership of a dog. Let's hope that they can sort it out amicably - and quickly.
My question is why would the neighbor take the dog to a Huston shelter? Huston is 25 miles away and 3 others are half the distance, 1 of which is about 7 miles. Sounds like a lot more to the story.
