[royarnekara]

I make sure to know the law. It can get sticky, but basically boils down to the dog becomes property of the shelter after 4 days and immediately upon surrender. This means old owners can't do squat if you adopt a shelter dog. For private owners its a bit more muddled, boiling down to who currently has possession of the dog, who has registered the dog and who has provided vet care for the dog.

My brother loves his dogs. I know this. But he got into a bad spot financially (lost his job and was losing his house). Rita (formerly known as Princess) came to him and his fiance as a 3 week old pup they hand fed. They had her for a year and a half. 8 months of that she had a double ear infection that went untreated. She had literally never been to the vet! She was under weight and crated much of the time ebcause the constant head shaking made my brother nuts. Her ears were both swollen shut and had been for a while. She also had patches of missing fur from scratching.

For a couple months (4-6) my brother asked everyone he knew if someone would take her and get her cleared up. No one wanted her because she was either too old or not good breeding stock since she was never registered. Even my husband said no and he knew I had a thing for this dog since I first saw her as a 3 month old at a family gathering.

Last November, my brother called and said he had to move that week and if he couldn't find anyone to take her he was dropping her off at the LCAC (which is a high kill county animal control near him) because he couldn't take her where he and his family were going. He could only keep two of his dogs and he chose Sid and Trinity. I told my husband that Princess would certainly be killed because she is A) an APBT B) over a year and a half old and C) sick. He finally said we could take her.

Months later and after getting her renamed Rita, getting all of her vet care (well over $500 and 1.5 months just for the ears) and getting her back up to weight my brother starts making noises about wanting her back because he was getting a house and his fiance was really missing her. He didn't really ask so much as strongly hinted and making a lot of comments like "You're just her foster mom, me and K are her real parents." and "She knows who her real daddy is!" We even got into an argument once and he said something sort of quietly about how he could take her back.

HELLZ NAW! I did not work my butt off and give up a few things I wanted very badly getting that dog in good health to let her go back to no vet care and semi-responsible ownership.

So, I pointed out that Rita was registered in my name, I had a ton of vet paperwork and he had absolutely no proof he ever owned her since he never got her any vet care at all and that I was perfectly willing to disown him if he ever decided to push it. He dropped it.