Losing a Best Friend Along With the House

Not all area jurisdictions are reporting similar activity. In the District, animal control officials said they have no way of determining whether the animals they receive are economic refugees. The Prince George's County Animal Management Division reported that it has not seen a significant increase in turn-ins related to foreclosures. In Prince William County, which has suffered some of the region's highest foreclosure rates, officials say they have experienced no spike in business at the county's public shelter.

"There are a lot of rescue groups in this area that we refer people to," said Sgt. Lorie Shetley of the county's Animal Control Bureau, which is run by the Prince William Police Department. "The attitude here is, yes, we may lose our home, but we're going to do whatever we can to take care of the pets."

In Frederick County, however, a third of the county shelter's population of 30 dogs and 100 cats are from people who were forced to move for economic reasons, according to kennel supervisor Linda Shea. In some cases, they can determine the owners' circumstances through interviews they conduct with anyone turning over an animal. In others, they have traced stray animals back to one of the many houses undergoing foreclosure in the county.

In the case of a dog found in the care of a homeless man in Frederick, Shea was able to track its ownership through an identification microchip implanted in the animal's skin. When an animal control officer went to the owner's address, he found a vacant "McMansion," Shea said.

"Some people will just open the door and let them out, hoping for the best," she said.

Some owners have tried to find a middle way between turning their pets in to shelters and leaving them to fend for themselves. Tyrone Whitby, a real estate agent in Prince George's specializing in foreclosures and short sales, has among his current listings a house in Laurel in which the family dog still lives, two months after the family moved to a nearby apartment complex. They keep the dog fed and watered in the empty garage during the week, Whitby said, and tie him in the backyard for weekends.

"They said they were looking for their brother to take the dog, but so far he hasn't done it," Whitby said. "You can hear the dog in the garage. It's not good because some agents will not show a property if they know there's a dog there."

Whitby said he has not called animal control because the dog seems well fed and healthy.

Real estate agents across the country have found themselves in the pet savior business as foreclosure rates have climbed. Elizabeth Weintraub, a real estate columnist for About.com, recently wrote a rescue guide for agents after hearing about their sometimes-harrowing discoveries of abandoned pets.

"In some low-income areas, you'll find one in about every 20 homes," said Weintraub, who recently came across a malnourished dog in the yard of a house that had been on the market for months. "They just let it go in the back yard. You feel for the owners of these places, but the animals are suffering, too."