After how many days can you keep a stray dog if not claimed?

I found an injured dog, took him to the vet, no tags, no micro chip, & I do not wish to leave him in the kennels & would rather take him home to give him one on one attention & spoil him. What are the laws in California for stray dogs?After making a few calls I was told that there is a 4 day waiting period to find the owner & after that the dog may become adoptable. Thank you all for your responses.

Well there is the law, and then there is common decency.... if this is a good dog there are probably very upset owners looking for him or her every single day, staying up at night, calling around.I would do the right thing and call in a notice to all the vets and kennels in your area for a "found dog"If no one answers in 2-3 weeks I would have fun with your new family member

If I were you I would just keep him, obviously he will be far better off with you. The previous owner (if there even is one) didn't care enought to give him idenification, so you're actually doing a good deed.I wouldn't give it to the shelter, dogs are so misserable there!! (Plus you'd have to buy him back later when no one claimed him!!YAY PUPPY =D

I don't know. As many as you believe you should keep him, I guess.

well you should go onto petfinder.com and put a article about the dog up with a picture because it's probably someone's dog and if that was my dog i would want the same done for me(because i will die without my baby!).or you can take it to the shelter... i don't recomend this because of your situation( you like the dog and you probably will do good for the dog) because it will likely get put to sleep if not adopted.if you know how to take care of him and post a article with his picture and breed i don't think there would be any problem.

Call your town office and find out the specifics for you area? Someone could be heartbroken about him, but if not he deserves a good loving home. It's nice to hear you stepped up for the little guy, and helped.

What I would say is that if there is no I.D on the dog He's yours. My dog has a collar with his name and my cell number embroidered on it. He also has a choke chain. The choke chain has three I.D's on it- My house phone, One has my cell and one has my sisters cell. Pleople who love and don't want to loose there babys will properly tag them.Yay! You just got a new baby. Congrats

Call you local humane society and ask the time limits for your area. Ours happens to be 4 days but you must run a found ad in a local paper. Most of our area newspapers will run a "found" ad for free or you may be able to just use craigslist. I'm so glad you helped this baby and are willing to keep him since it sounds like his first owners weren't real responsible and I know there is an over population of unwanted pets in most part of CA as there are all states. BOL!

I have recently found out that it is "decent" to place all the found ads and posts that you can within 30 days, and after 30 days and if he is still unclaimed, he is yours- officially.but having lost a dog recently ( stolen actually ) i would put up notice EVERYWHERE: craigslists, petfinder.com and other websites and local pet shelters have to have the flyers updated.