Hmmm... point taken. I have to say that I really like the Dutch approach to sightings of solo canines. I'm afraid that many people over here see a dog without a human and think of it as 'not my business / not my problem' (and I live in a city - not a rural area). Many times I've apprehended unaccompanied dogs, and handed said pooches over to 'the authorities' with a silent prayer that the beastie has a microchip (and that the owner's details are up to date!). On one occasion, after apprehending the dog and waiting around for a while (in case someone was searching for him/her/it), I used some rope as a makeshift leash and walked the dog to an area 4km away before calling the Ranger - because I knew that the local pound in the area that we'd walked to had a 'no-kill' policy, whereas the local pound in my own area did not ;). I made enquiries a few days after, and found that the dog had a microchip, the owner had been contacted, and the pooch was safely back home. Then there was the time that there were two fully grown Malamutes wandering around late at night, and one was hit by a car outside my unit block (no obvious serious injuries, but the poor bitch was in shock). Myself, my then-partner and a couple of our neighbours joined forces to get the big beasties into the back of my partner's rather small hatchback car. To our great surprise, the dogs gave the matter some thought for a few minutes, and then just hopped up into the back of the car and settled down to go for a drive to the RSPCA shelter. I followed their progreaa on the RSPCA website, and was relieved to learn that they were both eventually re-homed (their microchips had out-of-date owner info). Um... sorry. I'll shut up with the stray dog stories now, shall I? LOL, don't mind my rambling...