Julie, around 14 months old.

Missing Pet Recovery

It’s something no pet owner wants to imagine but it can happen to any of us. We can take every precaution, but they may not be enough under the right — or wrong circumstances. I’m talking about your pet getting lost.

I speak from terrible, painful experience. My dog Julie was the light of my life. Her mother, Sami, was my sweet girl, and I had carefully chosen the father of the litter. From the moment Julie was born she had been special. I knew she was the puppy I was keeping. She grew up to be the alpha girl in our house. She never growled, never looked cross-eyed at anybody. She didn’t have to. When she waltzed into a room the other dogs automatically hopped down and gave her the best place on the couch. She just had that quality about her that made her the top dog I loved her like a daughter. She was friendly, outgoing, playful. And much too smart for her own good.

In 2001, when Julie was three years old, I was taking Taylor to a dog show one day. As some of you know, packing for a dog show involves loading your vehicle with all kinds of junk which you may or may not need while you’re gone. I was making lots of trips in and out the front door to the car. My mom, who was 65 and lived with me, had the job of guarding the door to keep the dogs from running out. It proved too much for her. Five of the six dogs pushed open the storm door, including Julie, and pranced all over the front yard. We quickly got most of them back inside, but Julie and Gordie took off running and playing down the street.

I knew the moment Julie pushed out the door what was at stake. I vividly remember thinking, “God, don’t take my Julie!” But it was too late. That was the last time I ever touched her.

Gordie came back in three weeks. He climbed over the backyard fence and showed up in the dining room on his own one night, sore and limping, while I was out looking for the dogs. But still no Julie.

Five months later, just after 9/11, I took Julie’s mother to a 600-acre nature preserve where Julie had been sighted, living in the wild. We’d had many calls and sightings of her, but we were always a day behind her at first. Then she took up residence in the woods and we couldn’t track her. I thought if anyone could find her, it would be her mother. I was right. We got to within about 50 yards of her, but that was as close as we could get before Julie took off. We never found her again. We tried humane traps, food trails, clothes with my scent — everything that was suggested to us. It was no use.

Gradually I stopped looking for her. But I always kept some food on the porch in case she came home. Finally, two years later, I moved to a new city. I felt terribly guilty. How would she find me now? I feel like I will never have closure. Losing Julie was just as painful to me as having a family member die. The difference is that non-dog people don’t understand how you can feel that way about a pet. They think you’re strange for loving a dog that much.

I pray that no one reading this story ever goes through what we went through when we lost Julie.

I learned a lot about looking for missing pets that year. There are many things you can do to get your dog back if he gets out. With some better luck I think we would have gotten Julie back. Here are some things you can do:

Finding Your Lost Pet

1. Go door to door. Calling your missing pet is fine, but your pet may be scared or having too much fun to come to you. You will make more progress by knocking on doors and talking to your neighbors. Sometimes they may have been feeding your pet or even put it in their backyard or garage.

2. Fliers. Hand out fliers with your pet’s picture and your phone number. They just need to have a clear photo of your cat or dog and your phone number. Make sure you have someone to answer the phone or an answering machine. Posters on phone poles and in local businesses, such as convenience stores, are also a good idea, but remember that the most important thing is to talk to people.

3. Visit local shelters and animal control agencies. Visit them at least every other day. Phone calls are NOT effective. It’s very hard to describe a dog. Even purebreds are often listed as another breed. Your pet may not be listed in the records at the front desk. Besides, after he/she is gone for a day or more your dog may be dirty or matted and not as recognizable. Even if your dog was wearing tags when lost, or if microchipped, you need to physically visit the shelters. Collars can be removed and scanners can miss microchips.

You will need to go to the shelters at least every other day. Few shelters can keep animals for more than 72 hours. Sometimes it takes more than a few days for a pet to be picked up and brought to a shelter. 

It's important to visit all the shelters within 30 miles of where your pet was lost. In many areas stray animals are picked up by a government animal control agency which holds them for a period and then turns them over to a shelter. If someone took your pet in for a few days hoping you would knock on their door and ask about it, they might later drop your pet off at the shelter that's most convenient for them, rather the one that's closest.

Combining these three things is most effective. Knocking on doors and handing out copies of your flier to your neighbors and to the staff at all the local shelters is the most effective way of looking for your lost pet. 

Follow up these measures with the following:

Put an ad in the local paper, and in the papers in surrounding areas. Some people only look in the newspaper to locate an animal's owner. Advertising in the paper can also be important to establish you were actively looking for your pet in case someone were to claim it you meant to give it up or didn't want it. If you have radio or TV stations in your area which publicize lost pets, contact them, too.

Ask businesses that people who live in the area are likely to use to put up a copy of your flier. This includes gas stations, fast food restaurants, taverns and convenience and grocery stores. Ask if you can put a copy of your flier up in the pet food aisle. If someone picks up your animal and holds it for a few days hoping you will find them just as your pet did, they will need food.

Contact local rescue organizations and give them copies of your flier. People who are afraid animals will be euthanized if they turn them over to the shelter might contact a rescue, and rescue people often go through local shelters looking for animals they can help place in new homes. Ask the shelters if they know of anyone doing rescue in the area, even if they don't work with them.

Give copies of your flier to veterinarians, groomers, trainers and pet stores and ask them to put them up.

Give copies of your flier to people that walk their dogs in the area. They're more likely to spot animals than most people. If you go to the parks early, you may find people who regularly walk their dogs together as an informal group. Dogs on leash notice and want to investigate all kinds of things, including stray dogs.

Don’t forget the people we take for granted — the postman, meter readers, the UPS and FedEx delivery people. They have reason to know which homes have dogs and they may be able to tell you if they have seen your dog somewhere else.

Children can be one of your best ways to find a missing dog. Talk to school bus drivers and see if they will take a flier. Their routes cover large areas and they may notice your dog. Hand out fliers to children and ask if they will keep an eye out for your missing pet. More than one dog has been recovered thanks to kids.

If your pet is gone for a considerable length of time, try posting information about him/her on the internet. There are a number of missing pet networks online. Check their "found pet" listings, too.

You can also consider a professional pet detective. Some pet detectives (for a fee) will do mass mailings for you. Other pet detectives are more hands-on and have search dogs. When Julie was missing there were very few search dogs trained to search for other dogs and I was quoted a a sky-high figure from a man in Texas. These days there are many more dogs trained to search for missing pets and they can be found in many parts of the country. The costs may be more reasonable for the average pet owner now, too.

Many missing pets are recovered each year. Don't underestimate how important it is to simply have identification on your pet. A collar with ID and a microchip are highly advisable.

If your pet gets out, don't panic. There are many things you can do to find him/her. You can be reunited before you know it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 10:34 am and is filed under For Our Dogs' Sake, General Dogs' Topics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.