What to do when your dog goes missing?

Posted on By Admin

You’ve just realized your dog is missing.  Take a deep breath, let’s start.

Here is a to-do list, hope it helps.

Search the neighborhood. Gather your neighbors and friends and start a search within a radius of about 2 km keeping in mind the size and fitness of your dog. Involve other people in the neighborhood (like the mailman, street vendors, rag pickers etc.), offer to pay for their help. The more people you have looking, the greater your chances of success. Be sure to bring a recent photograph and hand out copies along with your contact information.

Notify the police and local animal shelters. Leave your dog’s details (name, breed, gender, size, colour, special markings etc.) with them along with your contact information so that they can reach you if someone contacts them or brings your dog in. Visit them every day to check.

Leave a bowl of water.  Animals ‘see’ with their noses. The scent of something familiar can travel a long way and lead your pet back home. Leave worn clothing along with a bowl of water or a favorite toy at a spot familiar to your dog. Do not leave food as it might attract other animals and scare off your dog.

Start putting your dog’s favorite food along with a bowl of water outside your house in case he returns when you are not home.

Put up posters with a reward. Make them big and eye-catching. Add a recent photo of your dog. If you want to catch people’s attention, offer a sizable reward. Include the word REWARD in bold letters. Put up the posters in public places like street poles, petrol pumps, parks, bus stops, grocery stores etc. Go through the yellow pages and contact all the vets, kennels, veterinary hospitals and pet stores in the area.

Use social media. Thanks to social media, it is now easier to spread the word. Post a picture of your dog with your contact details pasted on it as part of the image. Use all platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Facebook has local pages for missing dogs, see if your area has a page and post the picture there too.

Get professional help. Hire someone to scan pages like Facebook, OLX and Quickr for ads offering your dog for sale, and to follow up if anything turns up.

Contact your local paper boy.  Pay him to insert mailers into local newspapers. The mailer raises awareness in the community and adds more eyes to the search.

Use the classifieds. Run an ad in the classified section for missing pets. Check the found ads as well.

Be optimistic. Keep walking and driving in search of your dog. The best time to look is early in the morning when the light is good and traffic is less.

Now that you have put up the posters and visited the shelters, and you are checking the social media and classifieds regularly, it is time for you to wait patiently and continue your normal life. Most people find their missing dog.  I hope you do too.