Buddys Big Adventure. PLEASE read and share! Its every pet owners nightmare. Dog goes missing. Dog lands in shelter. Cute highly adoptable dog gets a new name and starts attending adoption events. Thats what happened to Buddy (who we were calling Steven) just this week. Heres how it happened and what to do if you find yourself facing a similar situation: Buddy went missing from his home 20 miles (and a couple major highways) away from our shelter. His family was worried sick, as you can imagine and did what any pet owner might do in that situation. They called the police station. Every day. For two weeks and counting. They were told no Yorkie has passed through their system. Unfortunately Buddy had, but the system had just enough of a gap that word didnt travel quite as it should have and to make matters more complicated, the person who found Buddy sent him to us as the countys animal control service. Yes, that makes perfect sense, but normally the station sends animals to a shelter closer to their precinct. Just one more odd glitch that made him harder to locate. Now, before we all throw our hands up and wonder why human systems are sometimes fallible...well, spend a high summer afternoon in any area police station and then spend another high season afternoon in any area shelter. Youll leave wondering how the folks staffing either facility aret just curled up and drooling at the end of every day. So, in the midst of lots of activity and with antiquated reporting systems having a hard time covering all the potential gaps, Buddy was deemed a stray at DCACC and held for the requisite 7 days to give owners a chance to find him before being placed on our adoption floor. BTW, did you know less than 25% of lost dogs and 1% of lost cats sheltered at DCACC have identification of ANY kind? Seven days came and went. Mom kept looking one place, we kept waiting for her at another. Steven was cleared for take off.... Because it is high summer, we have had a lot of adoption events. Steven was meetin and greetin at two of them just this past weekend! Because his mom was so committed to finding him, she kept up the daily calls and turned to the internet for more help. In her search, one website led to another and somehow she found the DCACC site and decided to call. The photo below is the very happy and relieved result. So, how can YOU avoid the stress this family went through (and the possible unhappy endings that could have resulted)? First: MICROCHIP your pet and make sure your information with the microchip registrar is up to date. Call to alert them if your pet is missing. (All DCACC pets are microchippped before they can be adopted.) Then spread a net of regular (daily) calls across your surrounding area. Start with your LOCAL POLICE department and the PET RESCUES/SHELTER and PET HOSPITALS nearest to you. Expand from their to your NEIGHBORING TOWNS. The next police station over. The shelters/rescues in the towns that surround yours. File a LOST report with DCACC. You can call (630) 407-2800 or fill out the online form via the link below. Visit our shelter at least once a week in-person to search for your pet. This is very important! Even if your pet was wearing tags at the time it was lost, the tags or collar may have fallen off or been removed. Also, if your pet is a mixed-breed, a very rare breed, or domestic short-haired cat, descriptions may not be sufficient to properly identify the animal. You must visit the shelter in-person at least once a week to search for your lost pet! Also visit lostpetsillinois and post your information there. For more information on how to search for lost pets, including tips on how to search within your own neighborhood, please visit the link below. And you can also help us reach more people with this important information by LIKING and SHARING this post. Remember, less than 25% of lost dogs and 1% of lost cats sheltered at DCACC have identification! Word of mouth and grass roots efforts like these are critical to helping these pets find their way home.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 14:02:00 +0000