Found a Stray Dog? What to Do Step by Step

Step 1: Put safety first

A frightened, hungry or injured dog can bite, even if it looks friendly. If the dog is near traffic, think about your own safety before the dog's.

• If you are driving, pull fully off the road, turn on your hazard lights and check traffic before you get out.
• Move slowly and avoid sudden movements, including flinging a car door open.
• Do not chase the dog. Running after a scared dog often drives it further away, sometimes into the road.
• Crouch down, turn slightly sideways and speak softly. Let the dog come to you.
• Offer strong-smelling food, such as canned meat or fish, to tempt it closer.
• Stay back from a dog that growls, snarls, lunges or shows its teeth.

If you cannot approach safely, call your local animal control or the police. In the UK, call the council dog warden. Give an exact location, such as the street name or a landmark, and stay nearby if you can. A dog that is fearful rather than aggressive often shows it through a tucked tail, a low body and a turned-away head; How to Help a Fearful Dog explains these signals.

If you are bitten or scratched, wash the wound with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes and see a doctor the same day. According to the World Health Organization, dogs are the source of up to 99% of human rabies cases worldwide, and a doctor can decide whether you need treatment to prevent it. Our guide to rabies in dogs and cats has more background.

Step 2: Contain the dog gently

If the dog is calm, slip a leash or a loop of rope over its head, or guide it into a fenced yard or a closed room. A car is a good holding spot only if help is on the way soon. Driving with a loose, frightened dog in the car is risky, because it may panic.

Leave any collar and tags on the dog. They are the owner's link to it.

If the dog is injured, keep it as still and warm as you can and contact a vet or an emergency clinic. Even a gentle dog may bite when it is in pain, so handle it with care. You may have to pay for treatment yourself, so ask about costs before treatment starts. Our guide to first aid for dogs and cats covers the basics until you reach help.

Step 3: Check for a tag and a microchip

Look at the collar for a name tag with a phone number or address. A tag is the fastest way home: if there is a number, call it.

If there is no tag, ask a vet clinic, shelter or animal control officer to scan the dog for a microchip. A microchip is a tiny device about the size of a grain of rice, placed under the skin, usually between the shoulder blades. It holds an ID number. It is not a GPS tracker, and it can only be read with a special scanner, which vets, shelters and animal control officers usually have.

The scan shows a number. The vet or shelter then contacts the microchip registry, which holds the owner's contact details. In the US, the AAHA online lookup tool searches the major registries and shows which one to contact.

Microchips work best when owners keep their details up to date. In a US study across 53 shelters, the return-to-owner rate for microchipped dogs was 2.5 times higher than for stray dogs overall. When owners of chipped animals could not be found, the most common reason was a wrong or disconnected phone number. Read more in Why You Should Microchip Your Pet.

Step 4: Report the dog

Report the dog even if you plan to look after it while you search for the owner. An owner who has lost a dog will usually call the local shelter, animal control or the council, so that is where a match is most likely to happen.

• In the US, contact your local animal control agency and nearby shelters. Rules and holding periods vary by state, county and town.
• In the UK, report the dog to your local council's dog warden, for example through the stray dog page on gov.uk. If you keep a stray dog at home, the law requires you to tell the dog warden.
• Elsewhere, contact the local municipal animal service, the police or your nearest shelter.

Give a clear description: size, color, sex, any markings, the collar, and exactly where and when you found the dog. Leave your phone number.

Step 5: Spread the word nearby

Most lost dogs are found close to home. In an ASPCA survey of US pet owners, 93% of lost dogs were recovered. Almost half of the owners found their dog by searching the neighborhood, 15% got it back thanks to an ID tag or microchip, and only 6% found it at a shelter. Your notices should be where the owner is looking.

• Take clear photos of the dog from the front and the side.
• Put up found posters in the area where you found it, and at local vet clinics and pet shops.
• Post on local social media groups, neighborhood apps and lost-and-found pet websites.
• Leave one identifying detail out of public posts, such as a marking or the collar color, so you can check that a caller really is the owner.
• Take the posters down once the dog is home.

Step 6: Temporary care at home

If you can look after the dog while you search, a few precautions protect your own pets and your family.

• Keep the dog apart from your own pets until a vet has checked it. It may carry fleas, worms or an infection, and it may be frightened.
• Give it a quiet room, fresh water, a bed and small meals. Change food gradually to avoid stomach upset.
• Wash your hands after handling the dog and after cleaning up its feces.
• Supervise it closely around children.
• Walk it on a secure harness and leash. A stressed dog in a new place can back out of a loose collar and run.
• Ask a vet for a health check. Puppies and unvaccinated dogs are at risk of serious diseases such as parvovirus.

Remember that you are a temporary carer. Finding a dog does not make you its owner. In most places, ownership passes to the finder only after a legal holding period and a genuine effort to find the owner, and the rules differ from one area to another. In the UK, Dogs Trust explains that an owner with proof of ownership can still reclaim the dog later, even if the finder has paid vet bills.

Be honest with yourself about whether you could hand the dog back after a few weeks of bonding. If you could not, a shelter or animal control may be the better place for it while the search goes on.

Step 7: Returning the dog to its owner

When someone calls, ask them to describe the dog, including the detail you left out of your posts, and to show photos or vet records. A microchip registered in their name is strong proof. For the handover, meet in a public place, take a friend or tell someone where you are going, and share only the personal details you are comfortable with.

If no owner comes forward

Some dogs are never claimed. They may have been abandoned, or they may have lived on the street all their lives. Once the legal holding period has passed, you may be able to adopt the dog yourself, adopt it through the shelter or animal control, or ask a local rescue to take it in when space allows. Check the rules with the warden or animal control first. In the UK, a stray must go through the dog warden, and you can leave your details if you would like to adopt it.

If you decide to keep the dog, our guide on how to adopt a rescue dog covers the first vet visits, settling in and what to expect in the first weeks.

How rescues fit in

Paw Squadron rescues dogs and cats that have no one to look after them. Every animal we take in sees a vet and is dewormed soon after rescue, because animals from the street often carry parasites and other health problems that are not visible at first. If you have found a dog and are not sure what to do next, write to us from the Contact page. We will tell you honestly what we can do and help where we can.

For more practical guides on dogs, cats and adoption, browse PawPedia.