Daily Dog Question #18 10/22/07?

Question

In keeping with the Stray thread of the past few days http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApLWyAbJ0wZxnD2_Yp1w_Z7sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071021144734AA87Qlz

I thought I'd ask to think about this situation. Somehow, your dog is missing. It doesn't matter how it happened, or how unlikely that is to occur, he or she is gone and has been for who knows how long.

What do you do? Who do you call? Where do you start looking? How do you go about making sure your dog has the best chance of getting home?

This is a scary situation and I know it's probably happened to ALL of us at one time or another - for 5 minutes or maybe even longer.

No judgments, no wrong answers here. This is a complete brainstorming session to help EVERYONE who has or ever may lose their dog.

What do you do?

Having RECENT pictures of your dog - Face & Body are important (just like with your kids).

Bassetnut - that was the most human response yet! =)

Anyone here not familiar with how rescues and shelters work - Contact EVERY rescue and shelter in your area. Ask them to Crosspost and throw out the net. This is one the BEST resources at your disposal. These people will become your best friends. Let them help you. The will start an email chain for you and get the word out - with pictures if you have them.

Have a picture - electronic and in print of ALL of your dogs. Just in case.

tony l - you made my day ! I would hug you if I could! Will you please email me?

Oh Dog Addict! Your story just went right through me. Thank God you found her! Good info for everyone else on the color of the signs and how far you had to search.

Answer 1

Best bet is to start asking on Yahoo. Especially people from Alaska or Southern Spain.
Very helpful.
Saying that.....this situation ALWAYS suck and I don't even wanna think about it.
LATE ENTRY : my "answer" is clearly idiotic, however...how can anyone dare down rating many other completely valid ones? So many shits on Yahoo :((((

Answer 2

Mine's going to look a lot like Bassetnut's...

1. Start calling her name. She doesn't usually go far... unless a cat is involved. Silently damn cats. Look especially hard in areas there are lots of cats... or birds. Get discouraged, but keep going.
2. Make fliers with her picture. Mark her as lost on "HomeAgain." Update her Dogster saying she's lost and send message to Dogster friends, just in case. Call boyfriend, cry, and panic. Talk to parents. Enlist as much help as I can. Go back out with fliers this time, and ask everyone I see if they've seen her. Post fliers in grocery stores, gas stations, and on telephone poles.
3. Put ads on Craigslist and local classifieds online.
4. Cry. Wonder what I did wrong. Question whether my dog loves me or not.
5. Wake up at ungodly hour of the morning after dreaming she got hit by car.
6. Wander around neighborhood about once an hour, nervously looking at brownish heaps near side of the road.
7. Call all local shelters right after they open (I'm assuming I lost her in the evening before, just after shelters close).
8. Check email for any leads - look up chances of finding dog if she's microchipped and has 2 ID tags, feel a little better.
9. See one of her toys or her leash, cry, bargain with God and promise to be a better person.
10. Wander neighborhood, asking if people have seen dog.
11. Check phone mail to make sure no one called. Phone has been practically glued to me since I lost dog, in case someone calls.
12. Wander around neighborhood, clicking the clicker and/or jingling keys - making noises I hope she'll respond to.
13. Continue to be alarmed by brownish heaps that could be dead dog.
14. Wish parents' dog was better at finding my dog.
15. Eat (eventually)
16. Continue wandering, crying, bargaining, calling ALL local shelters, and checking phone/email obsessively until she comes home.
17. Visit shelters daily to check for her - "brown mutt" describes a LOT of dogs...

This is more or less what I did when I lost a dog overnight - and I was convinced she'd been hit by a car when I got a phone call the next day saying she'd been found. That was an EMOTIONAL weekend.

Answer 3

There are some great suggestions here.

I've always used the "have posters ready" and was able to quickly change one and email it to a friend of mine when one of her Sams got loose. BIG PRINTING is key, don't make people stop to read the sign.

I DO NOT put the dogs name on their tag. I don't want to make it easier for someone to keep my dog. I do put REWARD- needs Meds!!! I have my cell number, my house number and my best friend's cell number on the other side of the tag.

Visiting shelters yourself is also a great idea. Shelter workers are not always good with breeds and a Samoyed can be listed as a white shepherd mix, husky mix, white chow etc...

I have found that stopping teenagers playing basketball etc... and offering them money to find the "fluffy white dogs" helps (My Berners have never run- knock on wood***).

*I* don't vocally call my dogs unless I have them in eyesight. A human walking and calling over many blocks doesn't give the dog much of a clue of where to go... multiple people simply multiplys the issue.

I have used another dog to "catch" someone's rescued dog.

Craigslist is wonderful.

Answer 4

A friend of mine gave me a list of all the humane societies, pounds, shelters, and rescue organizations in the area. After walking and driving around calling or asking people if they saw my dog, I would give all of these places a call and report my dog missing. I lost a dog once....about 12 years ago. She got out of the fenced yard and that's what I did. I finally saw her with a neighbor who didn't know she was mine and didn't know where to go to find her owner because she wasn't wearing a tag. (back then I didn't have collars and tags on my dogs...because they were show dogs and the collars would put a kink in their hair around their neck. I had them tattooed, though). If I hadn't found my dog when I did, I would have probably made up Lost Dog posters and post them or handed them out. Now my dogs are micro chipped and have collars with tags...so if that happened, I'd hope someone would find them and give me a call. The thought of loosing my dogs really scares me....mostly because I would be afraid they would be hit by a car.

Answer 5

Just thinking about it makes my blood go cold. I live in the middle of nowhere, with literally several miles of forest and farmland behind my property. If either of my dogs took off in that direction, it could wander for hours or even days without ever being seen.

Bassetnut is right ... first thing I'd do is PANIC!

My dogs are microchipped and licensed with the county. They also wear ID tags with my cell-phone# and rabies tags with my vet's phone#. I AM going to get new tags with "REWARD" printed on them (great idea).

I would call (in this order):

Animal Control/County Pound
Local Police in every nearby town
County Sheriff
Home Again Pet Recovery Service
Vet's office
Shelters
Everyone I know

Then, print flyers ... excellent idea to have those made up ahead of time or at least have it in the computer ready to be printed. Never thought of that, but I'm going to do it in case, God forbid, I ever need them. Take a copy to the Pound, police stations, vet's office, every store, library, barbershop, community bulletin-board that'll let me post them.

I AM also going to buy a package of that flourescent-colored computer paper in case I need to make signs. (Thanks, Dog Addict! You're right about the bright color!) I'd put those on every phone pole and road sign.

Drive around and pray. Think it might be a good idea to have signs to put on my car that say "LOST DOG" and my cell-phone#. I've seen people driving around slowly after I've spotted a dog I don't recognize, and I've assumed they're looking for it, but I don't have a way to reach them.

This is a very rural area and plenty of people let their dogs roam. My fear is that even if my dog was seen, no one would think it was lost, and no one would report it. And all the ID and microchipping in the world does no good unless someone can get close enough to capture the dog and read the tags.

I'd be visiting the Pound and the shelters to look in person. Banging on the door of every house in the area.

I've never used Craigslist, but I'd post it there. Also place ads in all the local papers. And, yes, I'd be bargaining with God.

And now, excuse me while I go hug my dogs!

Answer 6

1.) Call animal control, vet, and local humane society. Make sure to tell them she's chipped so every dog matching description gets scanned. That way shelter dragnet can be activated.
2.) Search around on bike with slip lead attached to frame since all our dogs will come running when they see us on a bike. Ask everyone if they've seen dog running around.
3.) Call microchip company.
4.) Panic
5.) Wait for phonecalls while making lost dog posters.

Answer 7

I would look all over the neighborhood first where i walk them. asking people that are out if they have seen them. (chances are if one is missing so is the other.)

I did make up fliers the other day never thought of having them ready.
Shelter would be my first call, then my aunt cause she could call others who do rescue ect.
then all the vets.
I would make BIG signs out of wood to post in high traffic areas.

I has happened when they where younger they got out of the yard a couple of times. cause i thought it was secure...but you would be amazed at how they can squeeze through a small gap. they never went far, and once my nieghbor 2 houses down brought them home.

Answer 8

First I would call all the local vets and petshops and anywhere that would take pets if they found them wandering around I would do this while walking the neighborhood and calling my dogs name. Then if the dog had been gone awhile I would put out some food and make some posters to hang up. They would say something like lost dog reward answers to Shelby and my phone number with my first name. Then I would hang up the fliers and continue to look around town. I would call family and friends to help in the search and maybe even the local police. I don't think I would be able to sleep at night if my dog was wondering the streets.

Answer 9

I have current pics of all my animals so I would start there. First I would search my neighborhood extensivley, then if nothing I would call both MADAC (Milwaukee area domestic animal control) and the local shelters. Put an ad on petfinder. My dogs all have tags and microchips which I make sure are current. I would put signs up at the grocery store and the pet stores in the area as well and an add in the local newspapers.

Answer 10

Gosh! The thought of it makes me physically ill!

The first thing I would do is contact my city and the man who is suppose to be in charge of strays. (he's a retired cop and he prefers to shoot strays and wilds) Then I would contact my vet and put up fliers, posters, photos of my dog all around town and offer a reward. I would literally go knocking door-to-door with a photo. I would have many copies of the photo, so I would leave a photo with them. I'd put the "missing" fliers on cars, at the PO, bank, grocery store, hardware store, pharmacy, telephone poles, EVERYWHERE! I'd also go to the neighboring towns and do the same.

Answer 11

This happened to us, when I was 6. Our black lab lady bug went missing. She used to make her rounds around the neighborhood visiting everyone, and one day she just didnt return. Everyone loved her, everyone. She was so friendly and sweet, and I can remember how protective she was.. she used to sit on me when I would try to go up by the road.

My mom called the pound. shelter and neighbors. She was just gone. My mother thinks she was stolen. And you know, it realy was her fault for letting our dog roam around the neighborhood without a leash. That was irresponsible.

If my dogs went missing I would freak. They would have to be stolen out of my home while I was actually in it for that to happen, because I rarey am without them. I work here, and I take them everywhere I go usually.

Id call the local dog officer. Then the shelters throughout this state!! wow, I so would do it too! I wouldnt call my neighbors, Id be banging on their doors. Id probably even call the cops.

Id be hysterical. I am so freaked out right now, I cant even think. See what you've done? lol