How to Find a Missing Dog or Cat
My wife and I have a German shepherd, a Siberian husky, and two cats. The German shepherd was fostered by us from the shelter one day prior to execution. We love animals and help out as much as we can. We have fostered several dogs in the past and found them great homes. For us, the problem with fostering dogs is that sometimes they get attached (and so do we), and then it’s difficult to pass them to the new owner. That’s how the German shepherd stayed in our lives.
When we do find stray dogs, we take them in. We call the local shelters and the local humane society. We also call the police department and let them know we found a dog. Depending on your police department, they might not like that, but some police departments will make a note of it. We will then post some signs up around the neighborhood and wait. We usually wait about 10 days to see if the owner will contact us. If we don’t get a call, we will take the dog to a vet for a check-up and then we’ll start looking for a new home for the dog. Craigslist is usually a great place to start finding a new owner.
Recently, my wife found a cute little Chihuahua walking in the middle of the street in the evening. She was able to pick him up and she brought him home. Unfortunately he had no collar, but judging by his health and behavior, he was an inside dog. So we called the shelters and humane society and put up some posters around the neighborhood. Two days had gone by and no phone calls. We decided to go buy him a proper collar and leash for the time that he is with us. My wife took him to Petco to try on some collars. Somehow he got loose in Petco and ran straight out the door. My wife couldn’t catch him so she called me.
Right away I called the Police, just in case someone else called them to report the dog. I left my number with them and a description. I called 3 local shelters and left my number and description with all of them. I called about 6 local vets and animal hospitals and left my number and description. I called the humane society and animal control and left my number and description of the dog. This was all done within 15 minutes since my wife called me. Then, my wife and I spent the next 6 hours driving around and looking for the dog. We questioned everyone we thought might have a lead (local homeless, outside workers, and so on). Every 1-2 hours I’d call every location previously mentioned to see if anything turned up.
The next day we canvassed the area again and called every contact mentioned 3 times. We also visited all the local shelters and posted ads in the penny saver, craigslist, and put posters around the neighborhood. We kept calling everywhere for about a week. And for about 30 days after we lost the dog, we visited all our local shelters and humane society at least once every 3 days. The 33rd day the Chihuahua showed up at the humane society and we were able to pull him out. We spent some time with him and then found him a new permanent owner. I’ve often helped out friends and neighbors with similar circumstances with much faster success.
The reason I’m writing this article is because a few months ago I was walking my dog and I saw a man in his early twenties hanging flyers about his lost golden retriever. So I talked to him and he told me that the dog was lost about 2 weeks ago. He seemed to really care about the dog but he just didn’t know what to do. When I asked him if he called or visited the shelters or humane society… he said “no.” He didn’t think of visiting them. Really??? So I decided to write an article…
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