When your doggy gets lost, what should you do? You need more than 1 person. Enlist help from people your dogs know immediately. Have someone wait at home outside in case they return. Sitting patiently while making the phone calls. Police first - non emergency number. Your vet, local vets, and local shelters. Get it on the internet: craigslist, FB, twitter. Use a current photo. Withhold a piece of info like what color collar. You need to be able to distinguish real sightings. Give a number youll be at all the time - a cell. Get a notebook you can keep with you. Write down any sightings, direction of travel, phone numbers, date and time. Someone needs to go and look for your pup. Bring a favorite food. You know best how fast your dog is and whether to go by foot or in car based on that and also what spooked them. They may be hiding. The person at home should do a thorough search. While out looking, talk to neighbors to see if anyone has information about your lost pet. Also let them know who to call if they see her. Remember, your dog may act very differently once loose than they did in your house. If in fight/flight mode, your dogs sense of smell will turn off and they wont always recognize you. If your dog does not respond, treat them like a stray. Dont make eye contact, sit on the ground (DONT CROUCH), speak softly, throw food if you have it, and yawn. These are all cues to your dog that you mean them no harm. They may be scared of you. Dont get upset. It isnt personal. It is biology. Trying to approach your own dog when skittish may make them bolt. If no luck, get someone working on fliers. Print color paper fliers to post in businesses and place others in plastic page protectors (holes at the bottom) for poles, big neon posters for intersections - hang these first using the color flier in the middle, and 4 small versions on one sheet to cut and hand out house to house or as you see people. Those can be black and white to save money. Keep them simple. You have 5 seconds to catch someones attention. We do not put the dogs name if they are skittish. It encourages people to try to catch the dog. Fliers: LOST DOG Male Poodle Color photo, current, that is clear and shows face and body. Do NOT Chase, CALL Phone number Posters: LOST DOG MALE POODLE PHOTO/FLIER Call, do NOT chase Phone number. Any questions, contact HH. If we are not available, or do not have a humane trap large enough, we have reliable, experienced, well trained specialists who we refer you to. HH only uses volunteers we have trained in the field, so we can ensure your dog is not in danger by having unqualified individuals pursuing them. More than 3 dozen catches/traps in less than a year. Dogs that were missing months before we got involved and that we caught within a few days - some, within a few hours.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 16:30:00 +0000