Most people have a sympathetic attitude towards stray animals, including dogs. However, there are those who may shoo them away.
It is not uncommon for a stray dog to enter your home or yard, but sometimes they refuse to leave. In such cases, it is important to understand why this is happening.
If a stray dog refuses to leave your home, it could be due to reasons such as being lost or abandoned, having formed an attachment with your pets, illness, separation anxiety, or simply seeking shelter, food, and water. To address these issues, you can check the collar ID, inform the authorities, take the dog to a shelter, post flyers, warn your neighbors, or even adopt the dog.
So, let’s explore why stray dogs follow us and come to our homes, and what actions we can take if a stray dog refuses to leave. Additionally, we can discuss other related facts.
Why does a stray dog not want to leave your home?
We can see stray dogs coming and moving here and there in our yard very often. But what if they do not leave your house or the yard? Or else come to the house as a habit?
This could be dangerous as some stray dogs are not socialized. It can be harmful to us too.
So, let’s see why this stray dog does not want to leave your home or keep coming home as a habit.
1. Get enough food, shelter, and water.
Stray dogs are always fond of their basic needs; food and shelter. Once they get into our yard, we always offer them some food and water, as stray dogs usually starve and seem emaciated.
However, it’s not good to be so close to them, as they can become feral.
If the dog is fed every day he comes, he will get used to coming every day seeking food and a place to sleep.
Sometimes he won’t leave our home so easily.
2. May be relieved from a sick or pain
If we see an injured animal or an animal in pain, not only a stray dog, but we will also do something to cure him. We take him to a vet or give him first aid or painkillers mixed with food if there is no harm from the dog.
As dogs are closer to humans and more emotional than other animals, even a stray dog would fall in with us too quickly. If we help the dog to relieve his pain, he will like to stay with us.
We have to decide whether to keep the dog or not.
3. Intimate with pets
Once any stray dog comes to our home or yard, we can notice that they become companions to the pets, if there are any, and will get used to playing with them.
This might be a reason for stray dogs to remain in our house or else for frequent visits.
4. Separation anxiety
Many problems related to separation anxiety lead dogs to accompany humans. This is the same condition in stray dogs too.
Some people easily get fed up with their pet dogs and escape them. This will make that dog a stray dog. If any dog gets suddenly distracted by humans, he/she may get anxious.
He starts wandering here and there, searching for his owner and food, a place to sleep as before. Accidentally, he would come to your home, and the dog would start to think of us as a good owner for him.
Then the dog will be tempted to stay at our place. This is one of the main reasons why stray dogs don’t want to leave our homes.
5. Scared off by something
During the festive season, all the dogs get scared due to crackers and fireworks. They feel that it sounds like a threat to them.
So they ran away and hid in a place where the sound was not heard. When they hide in an unknown house, they may be unable to find their way back to their home.
Then they stay in the place where they hid. This phenomenon applies to dogs which are stray dogs by breed too. It is your duty to be alert when an unknown dog stays at our place.
6. Abandoned or lost
If any dog gets abandoned or gets lost recently, for any reason, he may be unable to find the way to his home. (Just like the firecracker case).
Mostly, this is common among female dogs as they are females. They roam here and there or are sometimes co-opted by a group of stray dogs.
If the dog enters our yard or home accidentally, he is a stray dog for us. As he has lived with a human before, the dog seeks the protection he received prior to us.
That’s why abandoned and lost, stray dogs tend to stay in our place.
As stray dogs are homeless and abandoned, they wander here and there in the streets searching for food and shelter. Sometimes they will come to your place during the rain, or an unbearable hunger or thirst.
Then, if he doesn’t leave the house thereafter, it matters. In such a case, the best thing to do is call the local animal control unit or any responsible institution and hand over the dog, as we are unable to restrain a stray dog properly.
After that relevant party would hand over them to the owner if there is any owner, or else to a dog care center as soon as possible.
Ms. Thilini Anuradha
What should you do when a stray dog won’t leave your home?
We have mentioned some reasons why stray dogs tend to stay in our house without leaving. In such cases, we have to be very careful about the situation.
Stray dogs are feral by nature. As well, the majority of stray dogs are frightened of humans. So we must be cautious when getting exposed to them.
What to do then, if a stray dog won’t leave our house? The following facts will give you an idea of how to act wisely in such instances.
1. Check for collar ID or something
Check for ID tags or a phone number sewn on the collar if the dog is wearing a collar. See for information on locating an owner using a license or rabies tag.
As well, we can check for permanent identification like a microchip or a tattoo. The help of a vet is needed to scan for a microchip.
Or else, we can look for a tattoo on his body, especially in his belly, inner thighs, or maybe in his ears. This must be done so carefully after confirming that there is no harm from the stray dog to us.
2. Call the regional animal control unit or nearby police station.
If you are not comfortable keeping a stray dog in your home or if the dog is somewhat rude to handle and there is no evidence to find whether there are any details of the owner, call a regional animal control unit, local animal control officer, or the nearest police station, and you can hand over the dog.
The relevant party safely takes him and will do the appropriate things. There is nothing to worry about as those are responsible institutions.
3. Take to an animal shelter
It is better to keep the dog with us while attempting to find the owner, as animal shelters are very stressful for them. You can keep the dog in a well-known animal shelter, and you can put extra weight into finding the owner.
But if this dog is abandoned by breed, this shelter will be better for him as he can get his needs met than in the street.
4. Warn neighbors about this
Just imagine that you see a strange dog in your yard for 2-3 days. He eats the things left from dining and lays in the yard.
He is a stray dog. We can not predict that this dog will be a good one. Once any human gets close, the dog can be triggered and can be attacked.
So it is better to let others know about this stranger until we find the owner of an animal shelter.
It will make people not get closer, thinking that it’s our pet. As well, it may be a help to find the owner also.
5. Post fliers and announcements
We can make fluorescent Found Dog posters and display them in the locations where the stray dog was found, at least 1 mile away.
We can post notices and fliers on social media in order to find details of the owner too.
If the dog is a lost one, the owner will contact you. Otherwise, you can decide the best decision to take.
6. Or you can adapt to him.
This could be the final decision you take about a stray dog who is not willing to leave your house.
After searching, if there is no owner and you are not ready to give the dog to a caring center or an animal shelter, you can decide to keep him as your pet.
Associate with the dog slowly and take him to the vet before anything. Be sure about his health and mentality. Then, through practice and with time, this dog could be your best pet.
But the process is somewhat difficult to adopt a stray dog as your pet.
By the way, read this to understand whether a dog can have more than one owner.
What does it mean if a strange dog follows you?
If a stray dog just starts following you, it is not good to panic. Never try to run or shoo them away by shouting.
As some stray dogs are afraid of humans, a quick movement of us will trigger them. So it is ideal for letting them sniff you first. Then, if they don’t feel any insecurities, the dog will leave you alone.
If you are carrying a bag of food, stray dogs can follow you with the smell of food. It is more and more valuable if you can offer some to those poor fellows.
But do it carefully without being so close to them as you are a stranger to them.
When you go for a walking session with your puppy, the possibility of being followed by stray dogs is so high.
In that case, you can take the puppy into your hands because those dogs can attack your puppy, as there is some behavioral difference between stray dogs and pet dogs.
So, before taking any steps to avoid a stray dog you meet anywhere, it is essential to find why the dog is following you.
Can you adopt a stray dog that keeps coming to your home?
Natural selection has molded dogs into companions for humans through the domestication process. So we are tempted to adopt a new pet as our companion.
But in most cases, adopting stray dogs is legally not acceptable. Not completely prohibited, but if we want to take care of a stray dog we found as our pet, there are a set of steps to be taken.
We have to check whether there is any report of a lost dog.
It is best to inform the regional pet care unit about this pet. Then you can turn this stray over to a shelter. It is more important to handle the dog carefully and patiently as the dog is not socialized well.
Suggested Readings: Here is whether a dog can have two names?
Things to be aware of.
I think now you know how to handle a stray dog on your premises well. But there can be many things to be aware of. Let’s see what they are;
- Don’t try to shoo away the stray dog, as it makes him angry with us. It’s better to leave him to get distracted from our yard if we don’t prefer such stray dogs.
- Sometimes, the stray dog might have rabies, fleas, mange or any other infirmary. If he accidentally bites us, the condition will be serious. Always try to be away from them without getting so much closer.
- As well, if a rabies or any other infected dog bites our pet, then the pet dog also catches that infection. So be careful when adapting to stray dogs while having other pets.
- If we get caught by a stray dog, never try to touch the stray dog at the moment when he is sniffing us. It exposes you to a quick bite from the dog.
- Never call out or chase a stray dog by shouting.
- Don’t offer food in hand at once. It has the possibility of biting our hands by a stray dog.
- Don’t try to put a leash on, or to play with a stray dog as they panic unexpectedly and sometimes they begin to run and then the dog can get into an accident on the road too.
Conclusion.
No matter whether a stray dog or a pet dog, all dogs can become very close to humans. The problem with stray dogs rather than pet dogs is that they are not socialized with humans. As stray dogs roam here and there searching for food, shelter, water, or whatever they need, they can come to our home too.
Don’t be so rude to them. Be kind to them by providing them with something to eat and a bowl of water. That was so meritorious. I am not telling you to keep them but to help them as much as you can. If we keep such a stray dog in a place where he can get food and other things, we can rescue an animal who is starving to death or about to die in an accident.
So here I have mentioned why stray dogs come and won’t leave our house, what we can do in such cases and many other important facts. I hope you will find this very helpful when dealing with stray dogs who often come to your yard. And I hope to meet you on another important topic like this!
