So You Lost Your Dog...Now What?

You never expected it to happen, not in a million years, your dog takes off and you can’t find him/her…now what? This article will provide some general steps in helping to locate your missing baby.
• Canvas the neighborhood and check with your neighbors, most of the time your pup won’t be far.
• Call all veterinary clinics, including emergency veterinary hospitals outside your local area. Sometimes people pick up a stray and drive it to a distant clinic. Call all animal shelters and animal control and dog control officers, all local police and state troopers, all local kennels, the highway department, dog training clubs, grooming shops get the word out.
• Place an ad in the newspaper.
• Place a bright, clearly visible poster with your dog’s picture and information in your front yard with your contact information.
• Put fliers up around town; get his/her picture out there.
• Put it on Facebook, lostandpound.com, etc.
• Visit all local animal control facilities and animal shelters, don’t rely on their information, go through and look at all of the dogs DAILY.
• Don’t lose hope…stay strong…stay aggressive…he/she is relying on you to find him/her.
• Keep in mind that your baby is lost and may become disoriented leaving him/her scared and worried. Spread out your search party to look everywhere! There is no telling where he/she may end up.
• Even the friendliest and most social pet may quickly become terrified and wild. Your own friendly pet, when lost, may hide from people, run away if he sees a person, he may even run away from you. Don’t chase them –you’ll only scare them more. Instead, sit on the ground; talk in normal tones, repeating his name and familiar phrases over and over again. A frightened animal will usually stick around, and after a few minutes or hours, come closer and closer.
Once again, personally check all animal control facilities and animal shelters daily and never give up, your baby is counting on you.