This also comes with 3 months of HBO Now . <| sep |> I work in animal control and I totally agree . Many finders will assume that any dog running at large must be neglected or abused . They then decide that the owners don ' t deserve the dog and the dog would be better off with them . Please keep in mind , there are many stories even when the dog is in poor condition that the dog owner is a good , responsible pet owner and desperately wants their dog back . I will give you a few examples that I have seen over the years that people should consider . # 1 Dog is found running at large and no one seems to be looking for it . The finder contacts the police , local animal control , shelters and veterinarians . Finder decides that owner must not care about the dog and doesn ' t deserve the dog back , if they cared they would be looking for it . Real story The dog owner hired a dog sitter while they were out of the country for 4 weeks to arrange and attend their father ' s funeral and settle his estate . The dog owner contacted the sitter regularly and was assured that the dog was doing well . However , the pet sitter did not tell the dog owner that their dog snuck out of the front door three days after they left . The pet sitter does not contact the policeanimal controlanimal shelters because they don ' t want any documentation that they lost the dog . The sitter is certain they can find the dog within the next few weeks and the owner never has to know . This scenario happens so much more than you ' d think . # 2 A Pomeranian is found running at large , it ' s nails are overgrown , it is thin , it ' s coat is matted . The dog is sweet but maybe a little skittish . The finder is disgusted at the dog ' s appearance . They think that the dog is lucky to have gotten away from such neglectful owners and the dog will be better off in their home . Real story 6 months earlier , a young 20 yearold couple were driving through a neighborhood and they see a little friendly , gorgeous , healthy Pomeranian in a fenced yard of a wealthy neighborhood . They decide to steal the dog thinking that anyone who can afford this neighborhood can afford to buy another dog . The transient couple have no stable income and housing and they neglect the dog over the next few months , not grooming him , and not providing him a nutritious diet . The dog gets away from the couple one day and is picked up by the finder 50 miles away from the dog ' s original home . The dog ' s attentive , responsible original owner has been desperately looking for him for 6 months and never gave up . # 3 A dog is brought into a shelter , it is scared and cowering shaking and hiding her head out of fear . The finder says he found the dog on the side of the road after it was thrown from car window . He couldn ' t believe that anyone would be cruel enough to do that . He agrees that it would be best for the shelter to find the dog a new owner . Real story The person who brought the dog to the shelter was a liar . He actually lived next door to the dog and her original owner in a town in the next county . The finder complained about the dog ' s barking and didn ' t think his complaints were taken seriously enough . He felt like he tried everything . He even yelled at the dog , sprayed it with a hose , and threw rocks at it . But the dog kept barking . The owners weren ' t even willing to use an electric bark collar , sedatives , or surgery . So he abducted her , took the terrified dog to the next county as a stray , throwing away her tags and collar . He didn ' t realize that she had a microchip that helped us locate her extremely grateful family . I know this is a long post . But I have hundreds , if not thousands , of similar stories from throughout my career . I advise people to treat a found dog the same way you would want your own dog treated if it were lost . Yes , there are crappy owners out there , I know . But we really aren ' t helping the dogs , or ourselves , when we automatically think the worst of everyone . TL DR I work in animal control . Gave examples where a lost dog may appear to have come from an abusive or neglectful home , but wasn ' t .