A dog pictured has been found freezing in a garden in Falkirk, Scotland and is unchipped.
False. The dog in question is owned by people in Northern Ireland, and the picture was taken from a Belfast Live article about the dog and its walker being attacked by lurchers in March.
A post on Facebook shows a picture of a bloodied dog with the caption: “I’m looking for the owner of this sweet pup… I just found her literally freezing to death in our back yard in Falkirk...No collar not chipped … She's hurt a little bit on her leg and not moving very good. Gave her water and food (just a little bit while monitoring him) Please help bump this post so she can be reunited with her owner.”
But the picture used was taken from a June 2022 article published by Belfast Live about a dog and his walker who were attacked earlier this year in Northern Ireland.
The image was posted in a local group for a buying and swapping Facebook group for Falkirk in Scotland but we’ve also seen duplicates in pages for Wigan, Tameside, a county in Arkansas in the US and a town in Australia. The posts are identical, bar the name of the place the dog was allegedly found.
The picture was taken in March by a professional dog walker after a dog in his care was attacked in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The bichon frise mix, called Cody, was attacked by two lurchers and the dog walker was also injured.
We often see posts like this that claim the user has found a missing or injured dog or child, is looking for a lost relative, or is trying to find the identity of an injured person. After the post has been shared many times by unsuspecting Facebook users, it will often be edited to advertise surveys or other websites.
Posts like this almost always have the comments turned off, contain mistakes in their grammar and spelling, and if you search the same caption in quotes on Facebook, many other versions of the post in other local groups will appear.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the picture was taken from an article about a dog attack in Northern Ireland.
Full Fact fights for good, reliable information in the media, online, and in politics.
Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.