Lost Dog!! What do you do?

Have you ever experienced any doggy parents worst nightmare–losing your dog? Or, have you ever found a dog and didn’t know what to do.  This is the time of year where many people go away and leave their dogs with neighbors, dog walkers or friends. If your dog is not comfortable, they may slip their collar and run off. This happened to a friend and the dog ran off and was never found. This past weekend, a dog was found by the staff at UCSD, the dog had no tag and no chip.  A friend of mine lost her dog and the neighbor had her for many days.  Thanks to Marianne’s research while looking for Sweet Pea, she shared with us some valuable resources:

1/ Make sure your dog is chipped and the information is current. VERY IMPORTANT as this is the first thing that should be done if you find a dog. Take him to a nearby vet or the Humane Society and get him/her scanned.

2/ Does your dog wear a tag and license?  Put your name and cell phone number on the tag. I have mixed feelings about putting your dogs name on there as you don’t want whoever finds your dog to keep him/her.  I have “Needs Meds” on Jack’s tag as most people would be more likely to return a “sick” dog. If you have the license with the tag, they can run the license on the county website and your information will populate.

3/ After the scanning, most people will call their local County Animal Services Dept to see if their dog has been turned in. The dog is put in their data base along with a picture.  If you find a dog, you can take it there and after 3 days if nobody claims it then you get the first right to keep the dog.  You will have to pay the adoption fee.

4/ Craigs List:  Many people post the lost dog on Craigs List Lost and Found section for free.  Make sure you put a good description and any pertinent information.  A picture also helps.

5/ Flyers:  Post flyers EVERYWHERE in the vicinity where the dog was lost or found.  Very large across the top:  LOST DOG so people can see if from their cars. Put a picture, dogs information, your contact information on the flyer. Take to local vets, pet stores, dog parks, Starbucks and many other businesses have boards where you can hang flyers.  Post on street corners where walkers stopping to cross can see it and also cars stopped at the light.

6/ Other sites to post your lost dog:

**www.FindToto.com  How it works: For a fee, they enter the exact address of where your pet was last seen into our mapping system, serving as the center point of the search area, which then pulls the data of phone numbers in a radius starting from the center point out.  It sends out thousands of calls to numbers with a “toto alert”.

**www.LostMyDoggie.com How it works: For a fee, enter your dogs information and where it was lost or found.  The system will send out an automated message to all of the residences in the area.

**Next Door  How it works:  Join for free and you can post items, events or lost pets for your neighborhood. 

**www.LostDogsSanDiego.com How it works: A free listing can be entered into their system whether the dogs is lost or found.  They are linked to all of the County Animal Shelters therefore if your dog is at any of them, the information will come up.

**Facebook: Scared and Lost Dog San Diego:  How it works:  Post your dogs information on the page, another resource for those searching in San Diego.  Check to see if their is a FB resource page in your area.

Tips:

• If you are going to be going on vacation.  You may want to leave a harness with the dog walker.  Most dogs have less ability in slipping out of a harness than a collar.
• Train your dog to sit by the house or car door when it is open and wait. Only allow fido to move when the command is given.  This will keep your dog from bolting and getting hit by a car and/or running away.
• Make sure you have all tags, chips and licenses up to date.  We once found a dog and the chip was still registered to her former state.

There is nothing worse than losing your pet.  But keep looking, we have seen pets reunited with their families after many months on the road. If you want to watch a cute movie about a lost dog, check out First Dog on video.

Found dog on Thanksgiving in UTC, San Diego