Found Dogs in Houston — Where to take them? [2024]

Found a lost dog in Houston and don’t know where to go?

If you find a lost dog in your Houston neighborhood, check its collar for tags or other identifying marks that may help you find its home and owner. If you find none, you can take the dog to Houston’s local animal shelters (e.g. Houston Humane Society BARC Animal Shelter) or animal control centers.

We’ll go into more detail on which shelters to approach and how to seek a lost dog’s owner in this city. First, let’s go over the procedure of getting the stray or lost dog into safety.

What do you do if you find a stray dog in Houston?

If you find a stray dog in Houston, don’t leave the area or let the stray dog get away. Be patient and persistent because many stray dogs are naturally wary of humans.

You might want to keep a can of wet food and an animal rescue kit in your car at all times for this purpose. Food and first aid supplies can do a lot to help you befriend and soothe a lost dog.

If you come across a stray puppy, it’s important to look around for its mother and other puppies. Be especially careful with puppies around the mother, as the latter can be dangerously protective – this may be when you need to call in the experts from shelters and rescue groups.

If the dog is friendly enough to let you touch it easily, you should look for labels and wounds. After taking the stray dog somewhere safe, you should examine it for tags as well.

If there’s a number on the tag, call it and reunite the stray dog with its owner.

If there’s no information on the dog tags or if the dog has no tags, take the stray dog to an animal shelter.

(By the way, keep any paperwork, like their animal ID number, that an open-admission shelter gives you if you bring the stray dog there. This is to avoid the dog getting lost again, even if it’s in the system.)

A flyer should also be made and posted within a two-mile radius of the area the stray dog was found in if it was taken to a shelter.

However, if the dog is feral or dangerous, don’t try to handle the dog on your own—call Animal Control.

How do you find a lost dog’s owner in Houston?

It’s possible to take the lost dog to a shelter (we’ll list options later) immediately if you want someone else to find its owner. However, you can also try to do this yourself first.

Here are some tips if you decide to take on the endeavor of getting your found dog into the hands of its proper owners.

Post Online

When looking for a lost dog, many people first check common Houston dog neighborhood apps like Nextdoor and Pawboost.

Moreover, you can advertise on your personal social media accounts that you found a dog. Make sure you post a non-blurry picture of the dog, displaying its clear facial features.

You can also share on local lost and found dog Facebook groups — here are some of Houston’s most active groups that may be of use in your search for an owner.

Microchip Scan

These days, microchipping a dog is the norm. So, take your found dog to the nearest animal shelter to have its microchip scanned.

Do note, though, that scans frequently fail to detect chips on the first few tries. So If the chip is still not picked up, try again or even try scanning at a different animal shelter.

Make sure to inquire about the microchip number and keep it with you if one is present.

Control your expectations about how much a microchip can help too. In many cases, the contact information stored on a microchip is out of date, making it impossible to locate the owner.

Post Flyers

Create posters and distribute them around the area where the dog was discovered. In order to avoid being charged First-Class postage for each flyer, do not place anything inside a mailbox or attach anything to a cluster mailbox.

Verify the Owner

If someone comes up claiming to be the owner, be sure to verify that they are the rightful owner.

This is important because if the dog you found is an expensive breed or a purebred, a thief may try to claim the dog you found only to sell it off later.

To prevent this from happening, a valid ownership document should always be demanded. Even family pictures with the found dog are acceptable proof.

To be extra sure, inquire about the contact information for their veterinarian. You should call the vet to make sure they can verify the owner’s information and the right description of the found dog.

If they can only produce fake vet records or bills of sale, you should be skeptical and wary.

Be sure to get a copy of the person’s driver’s license before releasing your found dog to just anyone who comes along. It would be unfortunate if the rightful owner came forward after the dog had already been claimed.

Although this does not occur frequently, it does occur occasionally.

To be safe, it’s never a bad option to arrange a meeting with the owner at the animal hospital so you can hand over the dog there.