Is a dog/puppy given as a gift legal?

If someone leaves a puppy/dog with you and basically says 'you can have this dog', etc but you didn't pay for it, is it still yours legally if you got it free?

I believe dogs/puppies are usually sold under the 'sale of goods act 1975' or something??? like a 'thing' rather than a 'living being' but how does this apply if the dog was a gift?

Would you need any proof the dog was given to you to register it at a vet? The chip (if was chipped) may have been in previous owners name but they got evicted and have been moved on, having left no forwarding details?

The person who has pup now found out which company chip was with and contacted them, they can't give out details but said they have tried to ring numbers given and getting no reply. The address given is the one they were evicted from.

Person who has puppy is wondering how she can prove this pup was just literally left with her as owners drove off!

They would like to give it a home that's not a problem but are wondering whether they have to report it or anything given that they can't prove thats what happened?

Thanks

Generally speaking, although laws can vary a bit by state, dogs are considered personal property under the law. Which means that they can be given away as a gift like anything else.

Most veterinarians do not require any type of hard evidence of ownership to register a pet, they aren't law enforcement officials. And registering the dog at the vet does establish a paper trail of evidence of ownership if the previous owner ever tries to contest ownership in the future.

You would have to contact the microchip company to sort out the details of switching contact information. Generally the previous owner has to give permission, which is what is going to make it difficult for you.

So was the dog actually given to them to keep or was he abandoned (owners asked them to watch the pup for a certain amount of time and never came back)? If they said you can have him then you don't have to do anything, he's yours. If it's abandonment you may have to contact animal control...they might require a stray hold, I'm not sure. But it's really only important if you think the owners are going to come back and say they want him back. As far as the vet and whatnot you shouldn't have any problems, they don't need proof of purchase or anything like that. The only thing I'm not sure of is the microchip, if they'll let you change the info without the previous owners permission. Obviously they do it for shelter/rescues but that's different than for an individual.

No they didn't say it was only for a limited time or that they would be returning for him. They gave the impression they were giving the dog to them to keep, as they weren't able to look after him anymore.

If they say can you look after my dog or can you keep my dog then its not a stray is it? As one person has given it to another? ..and as the person wants to give it a home anyway.

I guess it would be different if they'd just left the dog tied up to fence or something after they locked up for whoever came along to give it a home but the person was asked and said yes I'll give him a home at the time.

Don't some microchip companies allow you to add additional contact details if you pay for a year or something?.. what if they paid the premium to have their names and address added as 'alternative contact numbers' just in case he ever got lost?

I'm just trying to think as I'm sure a friend of mine inherited her mums dog after she died. Sure she said she just rang the vets and told them her mother had died and she was taking the dog home with her so they just put the daughters name on the local vets record, not sure what she did about the microchip though...but maybe its different if its family?

My experience has been that when someone other than the owner contacts the microchip company to change the information on a dog, the company then contacts the person listed and asks permission. I've had a number of dogs registered to me because I pulled them from the shelter for various rescues, and I get a call from the microchip company every time.