About a week ago I was running errands in my neighborhood when I came upon a girl who looked to be in bad shape. She was disheveled and sitting with a couple bags filled with her belongings and a small dog. I asked if she was ok and she told me she had been kicked out earlier in the day and was effectively homeless. I felt bad for her so I gave her some cash and asked if I could take her to the corner store for some food and she accepted. While we walked and chatted it became very obvious to me she was not mentally well, her stories made no sense, she made wild impossible claims about her past and her eyes were not focusing correctly. I suspected she might be on drugs or maybe off meds. She was pretty young and I didn’t like the idea of her being on the street all night so I offered to get her a room at a local motel for a couple nights. She accepted, unfortunately the motel was not pet friendly so I said I would watch her dog for her while she got a good nights sleep and figured out her next move. Initially I thought about just letting her stay with me but she was being REALLY strange and I didn’t feel safe. I gave her my number and we agreed to meet the next day.
Around 1am she called and sounded off. She asked me to bring her the dog and I said I would prefer not to because it was the middle of the night but she was insistent. I put the dog in the car and drove to the motel and found her in the middle of a psychotic breakdown. It was really scary. The motel staff were telling me she would need to leave because she had been acting erratically since she arrived and was making everyone uncomfortable. She didn’t ask for her dog (still in the car) but proceeded to scream obscenely at everyone around. The motel staff said they had called the police so I quickly ran to the nearest ATM and took out what I had (about 500 bucks) and called a cab. The police arrived the same time as the cab and after a discussion they said they would not arrest her if she left the premises. I was torn because she obviously needed help but she was not going to go with the cops without a fight. I told the cab to take her to an hotel just outside the city. I handed her the rest of the cash and said take this and go, And she asked about her dog. I said he couldn’t go with her. She said ok and I said the money is for the dog. She said ok and then the cab drove away.
I immediately blocked her number in my phone because I was honestly scared of her. By this point it was 3am and I was exhausted. I took the dog home and he’s been with me ever since. I feel terrible about the whole thing. Fight or flight kicked in and I just did what I thought was best but now I feel like a dog thief BUT I don’t want to speak to this girl again.
I am in a position where I can take care of the dog but is it morally wrong of me to keep him? My friends all have said it was likely the dog would’ve ended up lost or at a shelter anyway due to the girls mental status but I can’t stop feeling like even though I did what was safest for the dog I didn’t consider the human being. Was a wrong? What should I do now?