The black Labrador-cross was found wandering around Dunedin recently, looking a little worse for wear and without a chip or a tag.
Most dogs found wandering around the community get picked up by the Dunedin City Council, and under the Dog Control Act, they are kept for seven days, so their owners can retrieve them.
DCC animal services team leader Cazna Savell said council officers also make attempts to find the dog’s owner by scanning for a microchip or looking for dog tags.
"And if the dog is registered and a first-time wanderer, our officers will first try and return it home.
"But if the dog is not registered, or for some reason the microchip isn’t scanning properly, and we’re unable to find out where the dog has come from, or if it’s a regular wanderer, then it will be taken out to our pound while we try and find where the owners have come from."
Before 2011, if the officers could not find the owners after seven days, most dogs like Alfie were put down, she said.
But since 2011, the DCC and Dog Rescue Dunedin have been working together to find new homes for dogs that are impounded and not claimed.
So far, they have been able to re-home about 550 dogs, and Alfie was one of the most recent to have been adopted.
Ms Savell said Dog Rescue Dunedin had been "absolutely fantastic".
"If we don’t have an adoption request directly through to DCC, Dog Rescue Dunedin come and assess the dogs, and they then adopt them and usually find fosterers, so the dogs get to go to homes.
"And Dog Rescue Dunedin have just hit the 550 mark, so that’s something to really celebrate.
"Euthanasia is now a last resort, used only when a dog is assessed as unsafe or unsuitable for re-homing."
Dog Rescue Dunedin volunteer Cait Stewart said Alfie was fostered for a while with a young couple that were also fostering a bunch of kittens for Cat Rescue Dunedin.
"He fit right in with their crowd and he never left. They adopted him straight from fostering, which is really great."
While it was difficult to pinpoint what breed Alfie was, she said he was a "very typical" puppy that you would find at probably any family home.
"As for his breed, honestly, your guess is as good as mine.
"We think maybe a bit of Lab, maybe greyhound.
"At the pound, we call dogs like Alfie a ‘pound special’ because we can’t identify him.
"But what we can say is, he’s boisterous, he loves to play, he loves his food — and he’s a very, very friendly dog."
