What to do if you find a stray dog, or have lost your dog
Check our lost or found dog lists
To check if your dog has been found please check our found dog list. We keep a record of any found dogs for seven days.
To check if a dog you’ve found has already been reported, please check our lost dog list. We keep a record of lost dogs for 30 days.
Stray dogs
If you’ve found a stray dog, and it's confined, our contracted Kennels can collect it. They’ll collect the dog within two hours, and it will need to be confined until they reach you.
Please note - they can only collect stray dogs between 7:30am and 4:00pm. Dogs can be dropped off to them up until 10:00pm.
To report a stray dog you’ll need:
- to have checked it’s not already reported on our lost dog list
- location of where found
- details of the dog (like colour and size)
Lost dogs
If you’ve lost your dog, we can take the details and put them on our lost dog register.
To report a lost dog you'll need:
- to have checked our found dog list first
- the dog's breed, colour, sex, name, collar and tag details
- location of where lost
- time last seen
What happens next?
After seven days, all stray dogs that have not been returned to their owners are passed to the RSPCA for rehoming. For more information on this, or to enquire about rehoming a dog, please contact the RSPCA on 01553 618889.
If your lost dog is taken to the Kennels before you’re reunited, you’ll incur a fine. The current fine tariff is shown below.
Charges for the collection of stray dogs
For stray dogs returned to the owner the same day (without kennelling):
- Local authority expenses - £45.50
- Government fine - £25.00
- Total fine - £70.50
For stray dogs collected and taken to kennels:
- Local Authority expenses - £45.50
- Government fine - £25.00
- Total fine - £70.50 + kennel fees
For any stray dogs that are taken to kennels, there are kennel fees of £7.61 + VAT per day or part day. Dogs that are not collected at the end of a seven day period will automatically be liable for re-homing.
Stray dogs can only be collected from the kennels between 8:00am and 4:00pm seven days per week.