Topic: Stray dog turned up on our back porch, what do we do?

If you can't afford to take of her you may want to check to see if there are any no-kill shelters in your county. If you do plan on keeping her (at least for a while) make sure you have a vet give the dog a once over. You don't want her spreading anything to the dogs you already have.

@Kylo: pretty much what @WingedFish said. about the only time you'll see someone have the local Animal Control called on them is when they're hoarding like sixty-bajillion animals, and then they'll work with them to reduce the number of animals in the house to a reasonable level or take all of them away from the owner and file charges. it really depends on the situation though.

@OP: You seem to have already come to the conclusion that you're going to keep it as opposed to turning it over to a shelter, no-kill or not, but if it were me I'd absolutely have it checked for a microchip, I'd be putting up ads on Craigslist and with the local Humane Society to try and reunite this dog with her owners. You have no idea the real circumstances behind the loss of this animal, and leaping to conclusions does potentially good people a terrible disservice. If you're going to keep her, you at least take the responsibility to advertise that she's been found and at give her owners a chance to be reunited with her again, if they're even still in the area (she could be a dog who ran 'home' after the owners moved across the country and she couldn't be located, who knows).

Or maybe the owners ditched the dog (usually that's the case in those animal cruelty shows) since it seems like the dog was starving considering how thin it was, or it could have just been lost for a really long time. Either way I think the dog may be better off with you than on its own.

Do everything you can to keep it. If you can't, try to find someone who wants to take her in. If you can't, find a no kill shelter.

Or perhaps the owners died in some sort of accident and relatives have been searching for the lost dog? How about someone snatched the dog from its owners' yard and it recently managed to escape? Maybe a jilted lover or ex ditched the dog and its poor owner has been desperate to find her? There are all kinds of things that can have gone wrong in this scenario, and without proof either way, assuming things is an easy way of taking what isn't yours — to keep the dog without an honest attempt to contact the owners and put out ads saying you've found her really seems like straight-up theft to me. it's not something I would do at all.

You are absolutely correct in that the dog is better off with loving, kind people than on her own, but whether the dog is better off with the OP than she would be with her owner(s), one can only guess without any sort of proof.

Boy did things escalate quickly XD sorry I know you're being serious.

Rule of thumb: You can't believe anything you see in reality shows.

The way I see it there are two main possible reasons based on the dog's description.

First, she's well-trained and super friendly, so more then likely she belonged to someone who at least knew dogs well enough to train her properly, so it's a safe bet to assume the original owner was the caring type. But that conclusion depends on the second clue, her malnourished body. There's a 50/50 chance that either the owner didn't pay much attention to her, or she's been roaming alone for a very long time.

Also what @theblackdragon said, it could be any multitude of circumstances such as the owner(s) death, abandonment, and others. First and foremost for this whole situation would be finding out about a chip or some other form of identification and meeting the dog's immediate needs.

Thank you everyone for all of the advice!

First, I want to address some of the advice people have given. It seems plenty of you are animal lovers like me, and would love to take in this girl and love her forever. However, there is the one circumstance that I mentioned previously. I already own dogs that already have an established pecking order/pack mentality. For me to just take in this adult dog, would be ignoring the fact that I have no evidence of knowing how she would interact with smaller animals and how she would go about fitting in with the remaining pack. She has showed defensive reactions to my dog's offensive communication so there is risk involved.

Second, we are going to get the microchip searched for (if there is one) and we've decided that we're going to do everything in our power to find her a happy home. She most likely doesn't have a place here right now. If a miracle occurs then we might end up keeping her but as of now, we will be seeking out the previous owner, and if not found, we'll find a new one.

So here is the update regarding her condition as of now.

She slept well and had a good night for the most part. The poor thing had bowel movements all over the washroom floor and none of the stool was solid. This could indicate that she hasn't had a solid meal in days and her body is passing food through it quite fast OR she might be a little sick, though she doesn't show signs of sickness (lethargy, vomiting, not eating) in any other way. We do believe that she is house trained, because she did not urinate in the washroom and actually held that in until we gave her a walk in the yard today.

Today, we set up a large fenced in kennel with dog house, food and water and a tarp to keep half of the kennel dry. She went into the kennel very willingly and immediately went into the dog house and started wagging her tail. However for the rest of the day, she just sat in the kennel observing the other dogs, watching birds fly around, etc... She was content. She seemed a little disheartened that she wasn't staying inside though, and the thinness of her coat indicates that she may have been primarily an inside dog. We would love to bring her inside the house but again, the dogs/cat may not like it. One of my dogs is big enough to be a bite sized treat for her and he's both territorial and skittish, that is a recipe for disaster.

While outside, throwing the ball to her and helping her feel comfortable, one of my dogs, Weezer, the self appointed alpha male of the pack approached the cage. She immediately stopped playing and dropped the ball. She sat there quietly staring at Weezer and after a moment, Weezer started whimpering and cried as he turned away with his tail between his legs. She stared him down, he showed fear/submission, she then growled and barked once as he walked away. This is another recipe for disaster. I've read that in a house of 3 cats, a German Shepherd loved them all, but one day accidentally killed the one that feared him, and after that, continued to love the remaining cats. I've read that these dogs definitely have a hunting drive in them that is triggered by small animals that show fear.

All I have is small animals and some of them show fear because of their breed. I just can't risk that.

All of my dogs were originally just barking at her through the cage, she originally growled back. As the day went on, she got bored with them, they barked less and urinated around the cage more (To basically tell her how they feel about the situation). Then at the later part of the day, she was content and just relaxing in the cage while my dogs just walked around the yard, doing their usual thing. So I do think that with time, it'll will be less tense.

Other bits of info: I know some people were discussing the theory of "Well she's trained so the previous owner cared for her obviously, but her being thin says that she hasn't been taken care of in a while." I agree, and another idea we have is that she once had a good owner that couldn't take care of her anymore for some reason, the dog was then given to a less qualified owner and the dog ran away from that new owner. Why? Because of these indicators. She HAD to be an inside dog at one point in time, she's too well trained. Also, her collar shows signs that this dog may have been chained up for a long period of time, the leash loop on the collar is brown and eroded. You don't get that kind of erosion from daily walks. That's the scenario that we believe happened.

Needless to say, we'll be searching for a solution as much as we can. Thanks again to everyone for the concern and advice.

P.S. Would anyone happen to have any advice regarding socializing this German Shepherd with our existing pack? This would just make things more comfortable here for her, and our dogs.

By the sound of it's "waste" you may want to take it to get some tests. It could look healthy as a horse, but there are several possible issues that can occur with a dog's digestive track that they may not show signs of for a while. I wouldn't necessarily consider keeping it as well, by the sound of it's probable issues with your dogs, and I do believe you are taking very appropriate steps to find the owner. It's also good to see you're not getting disturbingly sentimental about it after a day like a 6-year-old would, lol.

Also regarding your question about socializing them, start out by rubbing a towel or rag on one or all of your dogs, then leave it with her. This will help get her nose accustomed to the other dogs scents, and she likely won't be as defensive with them. After a little bit, see if you can get the other dog to remain calm while she's still there behind whatever containment unit. It's all about gradual progression, I've done this a couple of times myself. :3

Since it seems you've come to a decision, best of luck to you!