Tips To Find Your Lost Dog
There’s nothing like even thinking your dog might be missing. If this happens, it good to know what to do. Here’s a helpful piece from the Dallas Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Rover bolts out an open front door to explore. Rover-Romeo detects a distant dog in heat and digs under the fence. Rover-Ranger pulls free from the leash and gives chase to an unknown destination.
One out of three pets will be lost sometime in their lifetime.
Lost pet sleuth, Kat Albrecht, author of The Lost Pet Chronicles and creator of pet detective seminars (www.pethunters.com) recommends these five tips for finding a lost pooch:
1. Conduct a hasty search. Immediately roam the neighborhood calling your dog and looking for witnesses who may have seen him.
2. Attempt to establish the direction of travel. If you can establish, via witnesses, which direction your dog is headed, you can drastically shrink the search area and increase your chances of a joyful reunion.
3. Get help. Call on friends, family and neighbors to help look for your dog.
4. Delegate. Have someone start calling shelters and local veterinary clinics. Designate a person to talk with the mail carrier and the UPS delivery person. Ask someone else to start going door to door.
5. Create lost dog reward posters and fliers. Check out www.lostapet.org for details on how to create effective lost pet posters. Albrecht recommends 5-inch letters on the poster that say “REWARD LOST DOG.” The flier should use two words to describe the dog and should follow the “Five Words — Five Seconds” rule so that anyone driving by can easily read something like “Reward Lost Dog Black Poodle.” Post these signs on major commuting routes. (Ask yourself, “If I lived in this neighborhood, what major roads would I use?”)
Finally, if someone does call, don’t be scammed. Ask lots of questions. Meet in a neutral location such as your veterinarian’s office. And don’t surrender the reward money until your friend is close in hand.
— Dr. Marty Becker, author of Fitness Unleashed: A Dog and Owner’s Guide to Losing Weight and Gaining Health Together
